Money stolen by PayPal

Aquarius.

Aquarius.

Power Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2012
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Hello,


A customer recently opened a dispute. "Unauthorized Transaction", he claimed. However, the service (Youtube Views) was delivered, the video was NOT deleted, the views did not drop. It was clear that this guy wanted to scam me out of my money.

However, before I had a chance to respond or defend myself, the dispute was closed in less than 24hours, and the money refunded to the buyer.

Status Details: We have reviewed the case. Because you have not met Seller Protection performance requirements , the transaction will be reversed. The case is now closed.

I was not provided the reason why I did not "meet those requirements", but instead I was taken to the "User Agreement for PayPal Services". The whole TOS. Not the specific reason. TL;DR, of course.

How did this happen? I'm confused.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Usually PayPal gives you some time to answer or at least defend yourself, or provide evidence that the service was delivered properly. But those bastards fucked me over before I had time to catch my breath and find out what was happening.

Now I'm afraid that my money can be stolen by any "customer", without a chance to stop this. Of course, I will be switching my payment processor as soon as I can.
 
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First, the money was not stolen by paypal. Stolen implies they kept the funds and I am sure they didn't. Also, they did not fuck you over. They are protecting themselves. It's that simple. You are correct that usually Paypal will give you a chance to respond, but they have changed their terms (and continue to do so), so your best recourse is to contact Paypal. Pick up the phone and call.

Having said that, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself. First, only accept payments from VERIFIED accounts. You'll turn away some business because of this, but if you are selling a service, like you appear to be, then it's the best way to protect yourself. Second, if you want to step things up, then add "shipping" to whatever your service is. If you can provide some kind of tracking to show something has been delivered, then you are much safer.

Accepting payments from verified accounts only will go a long way to protecting you. However, there is a limit to what can be done. What if someone uses a stolen account to purchase from you? If there is a credit card chargeback then Paypal will simply take the money from you AND bill you $10 because they have to cover chargeback fees. I've experienced what happened to you and more, like many other people on this forum. Wait until CC chargebacks come in five to six months, then you'll be really happy.

Welcome to the joys of selling online, especially selling digital items online.
 
creztor said:
First, the money was not stolen by paypal. Stolen implies they kept the funds and I am sure they didn't. Also, they did not fuck you over. They are protecting themselves. It's that simple. You are correct that usually Paypal will give you a chance to respond, but they have changed their terms (and continue to do so), so your best recourse is to contact Paypal. Pick up the phone and call.

Having said that, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself. First, only accept payments from VERIFIED accounts. You'll turn away some business because of this, but if you are selling a service, like you appear to be, then it's the best way to protect yourself. Second, if you want to step things up, then add "shipping" to whatever your service is. If you can provide some kind of tracking to show something has been delivered, then you are much safer.

Accepting payments from verified accounts only will go a long way to protecting you. However, there is a limit to what can be done. What if someone uses a stolen account to purchase from you? If there is a credit card chargeback then Paypal will simply take the money from you AND bill you $10 because they have to cover chargeback fees. I've experienced what happened to you and more, like many other people on this forum. Wait until CC chargebacks come in five to six months, then you'll be really happy.

Welcome to the joys of selling online, especially selling digital items online.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this info. I know it wasn't technically stolen. But I was fucked over by them (Yes I Was - I did not get a chance to respond in a dispute), so it's as just as bad as brazenly stealing from me.

Yes, I will be calling them directly. No, I won't be making the argument that they "stole".

Is there a way to set up PayPal so that it accepts only from VERIFIED accounts?

edit: To prevent these bullshit disputes, I'm seriously considering switching to 2checkout. [As far as I know] They do not allow the opening of disputes over virtual goods and services, so that should protect me. Let me know if this is still the case.

futurestunner said:
idk, my paypal has seller protection now.
Click to expand...

What do you mean? That feature isn't enabled by default? It should be.

Does it cost extra or something?
 
Last edited:
If you are in the USA and have a merchant account or whatever, then yes, I believe there is a way to only accept payments from verified accounts, but I believe it is accounts from the USA only. I don't know because when I looked into it you had to have a US paypal account and I don't.

I fully understand the "fucked you over". Switching to 2checkout will not solve your problems. I'll go so far as to say it will make them worse. 2checkout will be primarily credit card payments and oh god that sends a shiver down my spine. I guess another alternative would be to use phone verification, like the one maxmind offers. The problem with that is there are ways around it and it will stop some legit purchases going through.

I understand how annoyed you are. Nothing worse than delivering your product/service only to find out later you lose the money AND maybe get hit with a chargeback fee.
 
This may be of help to you in the future.
Code: 
https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/security/seller-protection-learn-more
 
fredfred547 said:
This may be of help to you in the future.
Code: 
https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/security/seller-protection-learn-more
Click to expand...

This link only for USA user.For non usa user, you need to visit our own country FAQ
 
Call paypal and tell them you want to know who handled your case. Take that persons name down and report to supervisor for being a lazy ass. This can be resolved you just have to speak to the right person and get the motherfuckers to listen to you.
 
That was a heavy handed move by paypal and I sympathize with you, op. Just chalk it up as cost of doing retail business. Shrinkage is what it's call in the brick and mortal world. You're bound to lose a small percentage due to theft. Hopefully only a very small percentage of your customers are effing thieves.
 
This is happening in every place in paypal. Especially if: The buyer is not satisfied. Services are not qualified Or a buyer wants to scam you. The best thing you can do is just follow the paypal policy. And contacting the support when you feel a lot of problems. To trade with a huge amount of money. it would be a problem if a buyer flips your money. In some places I see buyers always lose. Because PayPal protects buyers
 
thanks for sharing this.we need to be more careful before delivering the tasks..so that buyers can not rip us off:confused:
 
I used to be in this position as well a few weeks ago. There are 2 disputes from the same buyer and Paypal refunds them for " special reason " - I don't even know what the hell that means but it was not that much money so I didn't call Paypal plus that buyer was a big pain in the a*s anyway. Good riddance.
 
Aquarius, the reason why you couldn't even answer to the dispute, and I find it odd that nobody mentioned it here yet, is that the buyer didn't complain about your service. "Unauthorized Transaction" means he claimed that he was not the one who purchased your gig, or was hacked, or whatever, but in this case, it's just like saying your credit card was stolen.

It is not a regular dispute, it is a one way dispute where only paypal can be the judge.
 
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