eBay

phoenixhobbies · ‎06-21-2022

Hello,

A buyer submitted an "unauthorized payment" dispute 9 days after item shipped without messaging me first with their consern. The item they purchased and I shipped has tracking. It is still curentley on it's way to the buyer. I have not taken any action yet, but messaged the buyer asking for more details to better understand their situation to help. I also asked if they would like a refund, they must send back the item first.

They have not responded to my messsage yet. I'm giving them 48 hours until I use the "Challenge Dispute" option. It was a cheap item, $30 CAD with shipping so, it's really nothing, I'm more just baffled by the situation, and that my funds are on hold.

The buyer is from the United States and has 100% feedback, with only 37 reviews since 2020. Call me parinoid, but the only reasons I can guess why this happend is, either they wait for sellers to send positive feedback then make a dispute to make their account look good (Which I have not sent any feedback yet).

Their child got a hold of their account and bought it. The account is using stolen card info or they legitly did buy it and did not reconize the transaction on their card statment and got confused. Either way, I am in the right, and eBay has my side, I will not loose my money, right?

More so the reason i'm complaining is, it's a pain in the butt that your funds become held until the dispute is completed. Any suggestions as to why and what I should do and any ideas for me?

Thank you for your time and help.

pjcdn2005 · ‎06-22-2022

Since the package was delivered, eBay should cover you even if the bank rules against you.

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marnotom! · ‎06-21-2022

If you sent the item to the address on the transaction details page and there's evidence that it was delivered to the ZIP code on that address, you should--in theory, at least--be protected against the Unauthorized Use chargeback.

If there's an attempt made to resolve the chargeback before the item is delivered and that evidence is not available, it's probably just a matter of you appealing the outcome once there is proof of delivery.

Suggestions? Stop hounding your buyer and stop thinking this chargeback was initiated by them. There are other ways to get credit card information besides having the physical card (Google Pay and Apple Pay come to mind) and this item may well have been purchased through fraudulent means.

While Unauthorized Use chargebacks are pretty rare, they can happen and it's a risk online sellers accept, just as brick and mortar retailers accept the fact that a (one hopes, small) percentage of their merchandise will get stolen, damaged, or what have you.

As for why the payment is on hold, my understanding is that a hold on disputed funds in a situation like this is initiated by the credit card issuer, not eBay or Adyen. Somebody else may be able to provide more information on that.

Somebody else also should weigh in and advise whether it's a wise idea to challenge the chargeback if there's no online viewable evidence of delivery as the item is still in transit.

msau4301 · ‎06-21-2022

This is unfortunate, I have had a couple of these things happen to me but it had worked out (I hope it works out for you also!)

"The child got a hold of their account and bought it." Had this one happen but I was lucky they messaged me fairly quickly and I cancelled it before it was shipped. You would think even if a child did put item in the cart and pay, the email confirming order would have gone to the parent registered.

"..or they did buy it and id not recognize the transation on their card statement". Had that one happen too but that was back in the PayPal days and the seller name was usually different the user name. This could still be the case though, I've seen items on my own statements and wondered what it was (even Subway shows up as something bizarre!) so you are right to have reached out and now wait and challenge dispute if you can. Maybe message them again one more time?! Sometimes an eBay message may get lost in their messages if they have a lot of activity (watched item reminders and such).

Since you said it was an "unauthorized payment dispute", was it through a credit card company? or eBay?

If it was eBay they would be able to see the order was placed and it would be better than if it is the credit card company. I hope it works out for you. But definitely take the steps to challenge it if need be.

ilikehockeyjerseys · ‎06-22-2022

It hasn't happened for a while, but I had one or two of these from US orders. I have also had customers contact me before paying because their payment would get rejected.

I think it is possible that orders from US buyers to Canadian sellers sometimes get flagged by their credit card companies because they are international orders. While it does say eBay on the statement, it is in between a bunch of random characters, so it would be easy for someone who isn't the best at managing these things to get confused if their bank calls them up and asks if it is a legitimate transaction, or if they see it on their statement and flag it. There is also the currency conversion element if you list in CAD, and their statement is in USD. The amount being different might confuse the person into not realizing it was a purchase they made.

37 reviews since 2020 is not a lot. Which means, they might not be a very active eBay user. Sometimes when there is an issue with a buyer's order, they simply don't reply. This isn't because they are avoiding you. Their account is older, hooked up to an e-mail they don't look at often, and they do not sign into eBay unless they want to buy something, which doesn't happen often.

They might be a scammer, but given the low price of the item, and how you described the account, I'd lean towards it being a buyer who isn't very active, and the transaction somehow got flagged.

ricarmic · ‎06-22-2022

What I have done in these situations is actually call the buyer (assuming their phone number is present).

If a buyer opens a chargeback for one item, some banks/cards will open them for ALL transactions, it depends on the bank/card (this has happened to me).

I've also had a buyer mistakenly use a card after it had expired, which caused this kind of chargeback. (I got to listen to a lively "discussion" between him and his spouse when I called and it was realized by them what happened).

As far as I know if it has tracking and shows delivery we're covered, but the hold will persist until it is resolved. (Has it arrived yet?)

phoenixhobbies · ‎06-22-2022

Tracking shows it is still in transit. I'm hoping it arrives by this Friday, before the dispute deadline. So I have proof of delivery to challenge the dispute...