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Woke up to a CHARGEBACK from buyer on PayPal?
 

This is unbelievable! I used to be selling hats on eBay for quite some time (not anymore) and back in March, I sold one to someone in Portugal. It cost a total of $64 with shipping. Only NOW am I receiving a notification that they've done a chargeback because of "unauthorized use" on their credit card - for $64. Am I even protected by PayPal for this? will be a waste of my time AND money since I've already sent the hat! Months ago!
It didn't have tracking or signature confirmation since 1) it would've been crazy expensive and 2) I'm pretty sure eBay only requires that for $250+ items, right?
Also, the buyer never bothered leaving any feedback and never communicated with me. All I have is the confirmation email of purchasing the shipping label for his/her item.

How is any of this my fault? I just innocently did my job as a seller.

You did your job - yes. Sadly, not much you can do against the malicious CHARGEBACK. PP will hit you with a fee and will NOT protect you :( It's sad but the truth. Don't bother wasting your time defending...it will fail ESPECIALLY MORE SO that this is international.

Learn and move on.

Outrageous shipping charges and scammers; that's why I have never shipped internationally.

Always try and get a signature on deliveries if you can..

Do you have delivery confirmation or tracking of any kind?

And specially if you don't print the label off Paypal, it would be even harder to
dispute the charge back.

So yes, never ship international unless it's worth it and buyer pays for signature confirmation shipping.

No tracking and no delivery confirmation due to it being international...
I agree it would have been crazy expensive. But if youe going to ship internationally you should charge this amount - the cost goes to the buyer anyway so why not do it?
Question - did this person have a high feedback? did you have ANY suspicion dealing with him before you sent the item?

A couple of years ago I had a chargeback on an international shipment. The buyer did not respond to my email for additional information. There was no way to prove delivery because it was international shipment from the US to Australia. Several months after the chargeback the package came back to me ~ I was shocked it came back. I had the product back and was only out of postage but it was still a huge hassle when I was dealing with PP regarding this issue.

Wow, lucky you got the package back though...

I charge double on first class international. Why? Because it helps me recover fees on lost packages and chargebacks. Which are the norm with first class international packages. Ordering internationally is like a buffet of free cheap items if the buyer wants it to be. Just say never got it, nothing they can do . They do it to me all the time, which is why they pay 2x postage fees and anything of nominal value goes express and i still make $10ish on that too. Because a certain label company hasn't updated their flat rate envelope pricing lol.... still same 27.55 where really the commercial price is $38

Whoever just said that I was lucky to get my package back - I hope you're being sarcastic because I didn't lol...

Anyway, I provided them with some pretty good stuff in my defense.

It's been over 114 DAYS since the initial transaction took place. And if their credit card was supposedly used with "unauthorized access" then the BUYER should be proving that. I shouldn't have to prove anything, since the fact of whether I shipped it or not - isn't the problem here. The problem should be solved between the unauthorized buyer & the credit card holder - not me, the innocent seller who did my job perfectly and did nothing wrong.

Nevertheless, I provided them proof that I bought the shipping label through PayPal and that the address on the shipping label matches to the CONFIRMED address that the buyer had. I also provided an e-mail I found which was just a "notification" e-mail, telling me that I received a payment from this specific buyer (back in March). In that e-mail, it showed information such as his Confirmed address and also had something in green, saying that I was Eligible for Seller Protection.

I also told them in my defense that that this might be a case of buyer fraud and that I'd be willing to take this to ic3.gov (in association with the FBI) to further prove how wrong it would be if this transaction is reversed AND the buyer still gets to keep the item.

Getting the package back was directed towards me regarding my earlier post. I sent a package to Australia from the US and I received the package back many months after the chargeback was filed and resolved in favor of the buyer.

Sorry for the confusion, I was referring to Sooner...

didnt leave feedback, the bas****d

For Western Europe Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece I won't ship to anymore. Unfortunately they have been too many times I got burned. France has been a toss up as well. The Scandanavian countries I have never ever had a problem with. Germany, Belgium, Switzerland have been pretty good as well.

Paypal will not do nothing to help you. You are at the mercy of the credit card company. They will actually look into it a little bit, and if they determine their cardholder is due a refund, they will automatically deducted on the next cycle and will withdraw the amount from your account.

I've noticed credit cards are getting more strict on when they decide in favor of the buyer... it doesn't seem as easy as it used to be.

signature confirmation wont show or help anything, never understood why people say get signature,,

all they do is knock on your door, and you sign, it isn't like you have to show Id or any form of identification.. you show nothing.. just answer the door, you can sign any name you want too,, if its a scammer they will sign the name it is shipped under. if it is an unauthorized charge, that person would still win... whats the signature protecting ? they are not claiming they did not get it..

they are claiming they did not authorize it.. lol

Signature confirmation will not protect from chargeback sadly.

And for good reason. I have had dodgy postmen sign for the package themselves and never deliver the item to me. I only get the item after kicking off at the sorting office. When I do that, it magically turns up the next day.

why is it that a seller is not protected from scammer buyers neither on ebay nor paypal and the buyer can do whatever the heck they want???

They are protected... but if someone is out to screw you and know what they're doing, there isn't much you can do. This doesn't happen often, but when it does you just have to eat it and move on.

i've never had ebay or paypal take my side even if i am right.

I've never had paypal force me to lose an SNAD without them making the buyer send the product back.

re returns, what if it is a stealth address?

You communicate to him that returns go to wherever you can get mail.

Sadly, bad customers are just a part of doing business, like everything else. If you can't confirm signature on delivery, the case is lost. Write off the money and move on, the faster the better.

Yeah, PayPal adds insult to injury, they charge you a $25 fee on top of the chargeback. Ouch.

Here in the U.S. only if you ship to Domestic Confirmed address. I have been able to forward some messages with a buyer before and take a Computer Snapshot of the positive feedback a few times. Unfortunately, you and screwed on international transactions. However, I think they do keep track of behavior like this on eBay and paypal now so it is less likely to be a recurring thing from a single seller. But anytime you sell a high ticket item this can be a nightmare.

WTF are you serious?
I had a $60 charge back few days ago, uploaded proof of shipment and added some words to appear a good seller, anyway, will they charge me for more 25$?

they asked me for proof of shipment and when i submitted the copy they just refunded the buyer and said that i was unable to provide proof of the item being shipped!

Must try to avoid PP as much as possible for international shipping

but how if they pay via paypal?

I say from my bad experience, don't ship to Germany, France, Italy, Bulgaria. It's so frustrating to wake up every morning to "Item not received" mails. Really. It's just make me so anxious and not relaxed. Even when I try to chill with friends and I think about it I get so anxious and it creeps on me. So no more international shipping if you ask me (Beside Israel ah? ;) Ordered around 40 items I believe from the US only, they all arrived in like 3-10 days... that's awesome. small country with great postal service.
Successful international destinations from my experience are: Holland, Belgium, UK (They charge for I think 8Pound for every package that arrives from outside the EU), so consider that as a big minus even though sometimes it passes without a charge. I will stick to the US ebay only. Less profit for me but living in stress is awful.

UPDATE


Just got an e-mail now at 5am from PayPal (3 months later)

My heart dropped and I got nervous for a few seconds as I read the words CHARGEBACK and PAYPAL in the e-mail subject, since I thought someone could've just opened one against me.

Anyway, the e-mail is telling me that I WON the wrongful chargeback from the buyer. Saying that his card issuer decided in my favor :) I didn't even use tracking or signature confirmation by the way. I just argued to them that "the buyer should be showing proof that it was in fact an unauthorized purchase; and me having to prove whether it was delivered or not is basically irrelevant to his claim." I completely gave up on fighting it 3 months ago and now I'm pretty happy to receive my $64.98 back :)

This AND getting an old legit eBay account re-instated & limits raised ~ all in the same day :)

Congratz mcmx - way to see it through to the end

And from now on you will be using Tracking or Signature right?

If i was still selling these items I mentioned in the OP, it would have cost me $65-$75 to use tracking. I wouldn't have sold any if I charged that in my ad or if paid partly myself I would have made almost nothing. But yeah for my more expensive items, of course.