How to deal with PayPal disputes

I know everyone has been there some time or another with selling on eBay or amazon and other online selling but my question that has been eating at me for couple of days here i tell my story below

So I listed an Apple iPhone 3GS For a buy now of $202 and i listed it with free shipping which is not a problem and since I didn't mind paying the one off $89 dollars for shipping worldwide so i listed it around midnight next day i notice I received a payment from a person from India and they made a immediate payment.

I was really happy to see that so i started to get the phone ready and take it down to the shipping company with the printing slip and buyers shipping address only to find out early next morning eBay email me and to tell me the seller is not registered on eBay and to cancel the shipping so I ran back down to the shipping company to find out if the package has not been shipped and thank god it didn't.

After doing that I still had the buyers money and it had been cleared after the 21 days only problem now about 3 weeks ago I received a dispute open against me on my Paypal account under Unauthorized payment. and its a credit card charge back. I told Paypal my story and still waiting on the result.

so my questions are these

1. Who's liable for this?
2. How long can a dispute like this last
3. How can i prevent this from the future.
4. How can eBay even let this happen anyhow.
5. Would i likely to win the case since have a physical proof of that quote to ship the item to India

Has anyone had this type of thing happen to you ?

Hello William,

An unauthorized payment occurs when money is sent from a PayPal account and the account owner did not authorize or benefit from that payment. For example, if someone steals a user’s password, uses the password to access the user’s PayPal account, and sends a payment from that account, that payment is unauthorized. In addition, payments sent using a stolen bank account or credit card information are also unauthorized.

1. Who's liable for this?

To be honest, there are several scenarios to this. The buyer may be liable due to removing himself from eBay, thus registering him as unauthorized. Or different account details were encoded on either eBay or Paypal.

2. How long can a dispute like this last

PayPal will place a temporary hold on the transaction amount while we make sure the transaction is eligible for coverage. Once we validate your shipping documentation, if the transaction is covered under Seller Protection, we will lift the temporary hold and restore your access to the funds. If it is not covered, we will return the funds to the buyer's account and you may be responsible for PayPal's chargeback fee, if applicable.

3. How can i prevent this from the future.

According to the seller protection program:

To be eligible for Seller Protection, you'll need to meet each of the following requirements:

You must send the item to the shipping address on the Transaction Details page.
You must respond to PayPal's requests for documentation and other information in a timely manner.
The item must be a physical, tangible good that can be shipped.
(Example: a DVD is eligible but an MP3 file is not)
Your primary residence, as listed in your PayPal account, must be in the United States.
We recommend that you ship the item within 7 days of receipt of payment. Or, if the payment is for pre-ordered or made-to-order goods, it must be shipped within the timeframe specified in your item listing.


4. How can eBay even let this happen anyhow.

I am not sure entirely but I do know that there was something wrong with how the buyer had access to eBay and had processed a transaction when he is unauthorized. It may again be due to the details of his account - they might not have matched at all.

5. Would i likely to win the case since have a physical proof of that quote to ship the item to India

Do you still have a snapshot of the transaction detail between you and the buyer? If you are responding to a claim or a chargeback for an unauthorized payment, you can fax or upload scanned images of your proof of shipment in the Resolution Center.

Hope this helps.

i still have the proof which is on stand by if paypal requests such information. i might do that asap and see if that can weigh in my favor.

Why would you keep the money? It isn't yours.

The two most likely scenarios which have occurred are:

1) Someone set up a PayPal and/or eBay account using a stolen debit/credit card to verify, and ordered the iPhone you were selling. eBay caught the conflicting info and cancelled the account.

2) Someone set up an account for the purpose of ripping you off, ie. ordering the phone then disputing it once they figured it was too late for you to get the phone sent back (glad for you that that didn't happen.)

Either way, and even going down into the next few possible scenarios, it's almost certainly some idiot scam being pulled, with you as either the victim or the unwitting accessory. Why challenge the dispute?


Frank

Sounds to me like someone had a credit card (or just the number) stolen or an account hacked, and then the hacker/thief tried to order a product with it. It's good it was caught in time by both eBay and you.

Do know that buyers are not responsible for purchases made with a stolen card. So what do you do with the money? I strongly encourage you to refund it. You still have the product. And now with a charge back claim, if you are looking to hold onto the money, you won't that claim.

i did since the dispute was over paid the seller 202 usd back.