Refund From Compromised Account

[salv34]

Hello, first time poster here and fairly new ebay user. 

So last week I purchased an item from a seller in the United States and used paypal. A few minutes later, I receieve an email from ebay claiming that the seller's account was compromised and that the transaction was canceled. The listing was also taken down. I was worried so I logged into my paypal account and and canceled my payment immediately. I believe the payment was still pending so I had the option to cancel it. I would also like to mention that I had zero funds in my paypal account so the payment was taken from bank account (used debit card). After I canceled the payment in paypal, it shows the payment as canceled and above it, shows refund pending. I also logged into my ebay account and the payment is displayed with the hour glass symbol saying the "payment is being processed." It's been like that for a week. I also contacted the seller if they could issue a refund but received no reply.

A few days later, I logged onto my bank's website and saw that the amount for the item has been deducted from my account even after I canceled the payment in paypal. On paypal it also showed the seller's email but it doesn't seem to be a valid email address. I used various websites to check if the email was real but didn't find anything. So far, I haven't received any reply from the seller on ebay and I didn't even bother contacting the email linked in paypal because the person who accessed the actual seller's account probably just put a fake email address down.

How should I go about this? If the refund on paypal still says pending, do I just wait until the seller issues one? This is assuming the actual seller has access to the account again. Or would the refund be transferred to my bank account after a few days? Any advice or clarification would be appreciated. Thanks!

***Also posted an image of what is displayed on paypal***

ebay payment.jpg ‏31 KB

[momcqueen]

If this were happening to me, I'd call Paypal Customer Service directly to see it ironed out. They are usually very capable and it will alleviate your worry and waiting to see what happens. It's probable that your action of Cancelling the payment has thrown a wrench into the normal automated process and has therefore caused this hiccup with the endless pending that you see.

Good luck.

[retroman_studios]

Keep in mind that even though you cancelled the transaction, PayPal still had that debit scheduled as part of it's batches with the Canadian Banks. Before PayPal will credit you, it has to ensure you have the funds, because it is still a possibility that a person's account could not have sufficient funds and a NSF would be charged.

You most likely will see a pending for about a week and it will resolve itself and PayPal will reverse the debit and likely deposit the funds back in your account.

But a phone call is in order.

[lady.stark]

Very good advice you already got here!

But also keep in mind that the seller cannot refund you since he never got the money when his account was hacked.