Getting ripped-off via paypal

[Zumina]

I got taken for $80 via paypal. I paid someone for something they advertised on PBN and they pretty much fell off the face of the earth. I started a paypal investigation about a week ago (considering it had been 3 weeks since I payed the guy) and they just sent me an e-mail saying the seller is at fault, but they can't recover any of the funds. Is there anything I can do at this point? I know sending someone a MO and not recieving anything is mail fraud, but do the same rules apply for paypal?

[Crighton]

Next time use Paypal and transfer funds into paypal using a credit card. At the very least you could dispute the transaction with your card company.

[GA Devil]

with your paypal confermation you should have his address. Contact local authorities where he lives. You can fax them the printed reciept of trasaction.

[Zumina]

his and e-mail adress are the only things that appear on the tag. My paypal account is linked to my debit card and the funds I sent to him originated from my bank account. It kinda irritates me that paypal will not release any of his information....

[gibby]

Notify your bank...your bank has a lot of push when it comes down to these sort of things. Good luck!!

[Konigballer]

Paypal investigations are such a joke, they need to hire death squads to find these kind of people.

[Zumina]

Paypal investigations are such a joke, they need to hire death squads to find these kind of people.

Yah, it really fries me. They can refund your money if he has adequate funds in his account. This guy didn't have any cash in his account, which means it was withdrawn somehow. Whether it was through his bank account, check, or another purchase, there is a sufficient paper trail to find out which rock he lives under. However, paypal doesn't give that information out :mad:

[Thermus]

I'm in a similar situation. I went through the investigation deal and got 10 of my 650 dollars back. Thats not even half of the money they made through the fees. I think its pretty ridiculous that they won't even give you the money they profitted from the transaction.

Very poor customer service. I stopped accepting payments with paypal a while ago, and will never use them again, except when dealing in smaller amounts of money (under 30 or so dollars). They are just a terrible company.

[bambam]

Yeah.. Paypal and ebay are infamous for those sort of things....
They need to revamp thier policies...
I do use them and been burned before but now, I proceed with caution especially for high amount of $$$ involved.

Not sure if you will ever receive anything back from them but going though your bank is a good start. Cancel the transaction with paypal...
Yeah..Yeah...Paypal could say in return, "you agreed to our fine print...blah..blah..blah... to take funds out of your account..blah...blah...blah"
But at least you have started something that caught Paypal's attention...
This is a better step to take than doing their "wait 30 days before filing blah...blah..blah..Compliant forms X,Y & Z....
With Paypal dealing with your bank, they WILL have to act so they could not potentially lose money....

Well, let me tell you, I do have spare time right now to give advise to anyone that could fall into this catergory...

It's somewhat a long read..so....here it is...

Two things you could of done is ask the seller if he/she can do C.O.D. either using UPS or USPS....Tell the seller you'd be willing to pay for the COD charges in addition to the shipping (if additional).
Also offer to pay for insurance on the package to assure the seller his merchandise is covered in case of lost and/or damaged deliveries...
Using this method, the buyer and the seller are protected though it'll cost the buyer a few extra bucks which could be an incentive for the seller to agree to do COD.
In addition, UPS and the Postal Service are very strict about COD deliveries and who the person they are delivering the package to....
Once the package is in their hands, it will get in your hands ONLY when you pay the amount on the COD tag or else the carrier will have no choice but to return the package to the sender.

For more info go here http://www.usps.com/send/waystosendmail/extraservices/collectondeliveryservice.htm
UPS may have similar policies...

The other thing you can do is to mail a money order using the Restricted Delivery option of the Postal Service.
This service permits a mailer to direct delivery only to the addressee or addressee's authorized agent. The addressee must be an individual specified by name.
No body can sign or receive the money order besides the person it was intended for...
They must show legal and valid ID before the mail is handed over...
If this person is a fraud, no signature is acquired and the mail goes back to you....simple...
And if the person does sign for it and screws you over, you will have a legal document with a name and address to do an investigation with...

I feel connected with this subject cause it happend to me...Not a lot of money was lost but it the principle involved....
But these are the steps I take to make sure both parties are real and most important, COVERED.....

Hope this helps you out,
John D. (aka bam²)