Do you buy or sell stuff on eBay? Then you should be using PayPal too for sending and receiving funds.

ebay-Paypal

Tell me one question – “What do you understand by ‘Unconfirmed’ address in PayPal? Hint: This ‘unconfirmed’ you will see either on the receiver’s or sender’s information page or may be when you are trying to print the shipping label.

So tell me what it is? OK, I will try to explain.

When you open an account on PayPal, PayPal asks you to confirm your address on file. Though there are various reasons the address can be unconfirmed but you have to make sure it is confirmed. I assume it is confirmed with the bank account details you provide or something like that.

Now I tell you why I am stressing on this ‘unconfirmed’ thing. Here is what happened:

Some time back I sold one item on eBay for around $90. The item was bought with ‘BuyItNow’ on eBay with an immediate payment through PayPal. Since the payment was quick and it reflected in my PayPal account. I checked sender’s address on PayPal and it matched that on eBay. So I prepared the package for shipment and shipped it with United States Postal Service (USPS) Priority Mail the next day to sender’s Florida address.

The item reached the mentioned address in 2 days. (I had the Delivery Confirmation #). I got the payment and the buyer got the item. All set right.

But no, there is a twist in the story.

The buyer files a complaint on PayPal saying that he didn’t receive the item. PayPal contacts the seller, means me, and asks for the shipping confirmation. Meanwhile the payment is ‘Temporarily Held’ until the complaint is resolved. I provided the shipping confirmation #. Later after a couple of days I got a mail saying that the PAYMENT HAS BEEN REVERSED to the buyer.

REASON: The seller was not covered under their so called ‘Seller Protection Policy’ as I shipped the item to the UNCONFIRMED buyer’s address. And as per this policy, if the item is shipped to the unconfirmed address, the seller is not protected from fraud though the buyer is. No matter how much proof you provide for shipment, it is of no use. Because they are not going to look at the proof you are providing.

Where is Fraud? Yes I know you were thinking about that fraud.

The buyer closes his eBay account as soon as he get the payment back. So now that idiot has his money and my item as well.

  • Isn’t it fraud?
  • Shouldn’t there be a requirement not to allow these kinds of people to trade on eBay unless they have a confirmed address?
  • Should not PayPal had considered the fact that the item was shipped as I provided the shipping confirmation # and hadn’t beaten around the bush stating their lame ‘Seller Protection Policy’.
  • Who incurred loss because of the faith people have on these two organizations, eBay and PayPal?
  • Shouldn’t at least I (the seller) get priority since I provided proof of shipment?
  • What is the proof that the buyer didn’t get the item?
  • Did PayPal checked if the item really reached there? What is the use of providing the shipping confirmation # to them.

However, eBay refunded the Final Value Fees of around $3 because they figured that the buyer was no longer a registered user on eBay. So that was the only refund I got and I lost $90 + $9 (for Shipping) + $3 for listing the item on eBay + the item.

CAUTION: Next time if you are selling stuff on eBay, make sure you are dealing with only CONFIRMED address buyers, otherwise the same might happen to you. Although, if you are a buyer, you can trick this policy for your use if you want. But I will not recommend that.

I am not sure, if there is anything I can do to get my money back. If you have faced the similar situation, then please let me know if you could do something….else please….

Beware!!! of the FRAUD on eBay and PayPal.

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