Got shafted by a crappy seller--options?

[k8track]

Perhaps one of you can advise me in my situation. I paid for a DVD boxed set with Buy It Now at the end of September. Although the feedback number was a bit low (14 I think), it was still 100 percent positive. A couple of days later I checked back and there were a couple of negatives added. I had a sinking feeling I was going to be screwed, so I tried contacting the seller. Nothing. I tried calling the two phone numbers provided and tried emailing the seller, but nothing. So I filed a claim with Paypal before the 30 days were up. In the meantime I contacted the people who had left the negatives, and it turns out these sellers screwed over a bunch of people--they took the money and didn't send out a darn thing. Paypal recently contacted me and said even though they found the seller was at fault (that's great to know, that makes me feel a ton better), they couldn't reimburse me because the seller's account didn't have sufficient funds. Well, no kidding there were insufficient funds, that's pretty much what "taking the money and running" entails. I filed a claim with Ebay and am hoping to get a partial refund (if I get it, it won't be the whole $66, but $41 is better than nothing, I reckon).

My question is, have I exhausted all of my options? I filed a claim with the post office (the sellers provided a tracking number of the item they were going to "ship"), but the only thing they found was that the item never did ship (of course). Do I have any other recourse, any other option I haven't realized or explored?

[Funk Buddy]

Did you pay with a CC via PP?

[SoulBlazer]

Yeah, that's the last option. If you used a CC through PayPal then you can file a claim with your CC company. If it was a debit card, you can try with your bank -- but that's harder. That's why for big items I'll aways use a CC -- extra layer of protection.

[Griking]

You can file a complaint with the I.F.C.C. (http://www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp)

They've helped me get my money back once before in the past.

[boozi2]

I had the same thing with paypal and those fuckers did the same thing as well. My suggestion is that you call your CC company if you used your CC when you paid or go to your bank if you transferred it from the bank. They are pretty useful in regarding to frauds and all that stuff. I received my $$$ back in no time (1-3 days after the request was made to cancel the transaction). And it was $60 too.

[k8track]

I paid with Paypal, taking the money from my bank account. I'll certainly give my bank a call, although since it was done back on Sept. 28, I don't know if it's been too long or not.

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

[Lady Jaye]

Good luck! It happened twice to me and it's always unsettling when it happens.

[k8track]

Now things are really messed up.

I went into my bank on Saturday to see if I could recover my funds through them. They filled out an "ACH authorization revoked" form and submitted it to Paypal.

On Monday, I received the following message from Paypal:

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"You recently attempted to transfer funds from your bank account to your PayPal account.

Your bank has declined the funds transfer.

We were unable to cover your payment to [the skunks who stiffed me] with funds from your PayPal balance. While this transaction had already been flagged as unauthorized, our external processor could not be prevented from completing the representment process. Your Back-up Funding Source will not be charged to make up the funds. This could mean that your PayPal account balance will go negative, but this is merely an interim accounting step that will be corrected when we have completed our review of this transaction."
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So I was alarmed, and logged in to my Paypal account, and sure enough, my account access was limited, with a negative balance. Today, I received this message:

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"Your PayPal account balance recently became negative. Negative balances are contrary to PayPal's User Agreement. Please add funds to your PayPal account as soon as possible to bring your balance to zero or any positive amount. You may add funds via check, money order, or an electronic transfer from your bank account."
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I'm still hoping that this will work itself out; I hope the phrase "but this is merely an interim accounting step that will be corrected when we have completed our review of this transaction" means that somehow my account will be cleared.

This just keeps getting worse, and I just keep getting shafted.

[Iron Draggon]

OUCH. Let's hope that Paypal has improved tremendously from what's been said about them over the years. I wouldn't worry too much about it, since they did say that they were looking into it. I'm sure that last letter was just their standard form letter for negative accounts, but it does suck that your access is limited in the meantime, while you wait for them to fix the mess.

[Solar77]

Screw em. Open a new Paypal account linked to a different bank account with a different email address.

[k8track]

...linked to a different bank account...
Good idea. It's just a toss-up between my Swiss bank account or my account in the Cayman Islands.

[Solar77]

...linked to a different bank account...
Good idea. It's just a toss-up between my Swiss bank account or my account in the Cayman Islands.

har har. I'm sure you might have more than one bank in your area. Just open a new checking account somewhere with $25 in it and fund all your future paypal purchases with a credit card.

You really dont even need a checking account. You can open up a paypal account without one and use credit card only, but you have something like a $500 spending limit.

[LiquidX01]

You can file a complaint with the I.F.C.C. (http://www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp)

They've helped me get my money back once before in the past.

I had this one seller on ebay not to long ago who refused to send me my items after I paid, He claimed he never received my money order. I later recieved proof from the post office that the MO was cashed by him and I later filed a complaint with the IFCC...No word of a lie, the next day he emailed me saying my items were shipped.

I figure just the presence of getting an E-Mail complaint from the IFCC made him change his mind. :)

[k8track]

According to my bank, when they did the ACH authorization revoked form, Paypal had to get the money from somewhere, so they took it out of my Paypal account (instead of the crooks' account, which was probably closed by that time), leaving me a negative balance. They're telling me that my account will have limited access until I can restore the funds.

My bank account was credited the missing money, but if I want to make my Paypal account square, I'm gonna have to give it back up, leaving me back at square one.

At this point I'm seriously considering contacting the authorities in Powder Springs, GA (the home base of the crooks) and giving them the info to see if there's anything they can do. I mean, I've got the peoples' address and two cell phone numbers; there must be something the police can do. Can anyone advise me in this matter? Should I go forth and contact their local police, or would it not be wise to do so for some unforseen reason? Anyone have experience with contacting authorities in another state in this kind of internet commerce matter?

[SoulBlazer]

I'm not sure $66 is enough for the authorities to do anything abou it. If it was greater then $500, yeah, that's one thing, but.....I'd continue to fight it out with PayPal and if you can't get anwyhere with them, then close the account and make a new one with a new bank account and a new credit card.

[k8track]

It just bugs me that I know these peoples' names, address, and phone numbers, and yet can't do a darned thing about it. I didn't know if $66 would be enough to justify calling the cops or not. I wonder if any of the other people they stiffed tried that tactic.

[Flack]

I can't see any harm in trying. Worst case, you're out the time and the nickel for the phone call. I don't know the exact laws but I believe it has something to do with the amount. Less than x amount is an issue for local authorities, and over x amount is where federal employees get involved.

You could always get lucky, maybe the local authorities are bored and might just make a house visit, which could end up scaring the crooks into sending the stuff.

Before losing all hope, check out this story from 2003 about the guy who got his laptop stolen via eBay ... and got even.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/local/profiles/chi-021214appletech,0,2655074.story