To Catch an eBay Thief

 WAY Back in January I sold a really pretty and versatile high end candle holder/decorative piece. Here’s a few of my photos from the listing showing it can be a candle holder, vase or crudités holder.

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The buyer purchased the item, and we sent it to her via UPS.  She messaged me telling me telling me the item broke.

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“Hi, I just received my order today.  Unfortunately the metal base and 1 of the glass cups are broken.  I would like to get a refund on this order ASAP.  Please see pictures for your reference.  Thank You”

We responded and told her we would contact UPS, and that they would pick up the item from her.  To please have all the packing material, original box and the item ready for them, and that the would call her and arrange a time to pick it up.

Three days went by and she sent me another message:

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Then almost every other day she would send me a message.  Most of those messages had some kind of threat or foul verbiage.  I called UPS, and they verified that she would not allow them to pick up the box.  I passed this information on to the buyer.  I received more threats.  Finally she left negative feedback.  I called eBay and it was removed. I sent her one final message asking her to please get in contact with UPS so that she could give them the broken item, and I could refund her money.   She filed a chargeback with PayPal.  While on hold with PayPal, I realized this chick live in Beverly Hills, and she has a unusual name.  I googled her name, and found her Facebook page.  You’ll never believe what she was selling on her Facebook page…

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She’s selling my item!

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Plus.. she has her own “Design page”  Where she has my item again!

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I sent all of this proof to PayPal.  They told me they would add this to my claim, but it was really her credit card company that would make the final decision.  As you can imagine.  The credit card company sided with their cardholder…

 Look what I got today in an email:

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PayPal Credit Card Chargeback is this Normal?

I was notified that I had a PayPal Chargeback on Friday.  I went to look at the transaction on eBay, and noticed that the item was shipped in October, and the delivery confirmation shows delivered.  I checked and I sent the item to the buyers confirmed address.

I sent the buyer an email:

“Hi, I was just notified by PayPal you did a chargeback on my patches that were sent to you in October.  Can you explain the problem?”

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The buyer responded:

“I had major fraud during that time so we had to cancel any orders to flush out legitimate orders. Call me and we can make arrangements.  Betty”

Really? You chargeback EVERYTHING because you want to flush out legitimate orders?  Who does that?  I’ve never done a chargeback.  Is this the common response?  It would seem to me a very dishonest way to handle credit card fraud.

The good news is that PayPal is backing me, and the money is back in my account.