I’ve been paying particular attention to emails from paypal and eBay today as I’m trying to deal with a fake buyer at the moment, so it brought a smile to my face to receive the following email from Paypal:
Dear Everton
It’s easier than ever to be covered
We’ve made some big improvements to our Seller Protection policy and wanted to share the good news. It’s now easier than ever to be covered against claims and chargebacks – and make sure every payment you receive is yours for good.
What’s improved?
- *No more confirmed addresses for eBay transactions – Now you can post items you sell on eBay to any buyer address. The Seller Protection policy will cover you.
- No coverage limit – You’re protected for every eligible claim, so you can sell as much as you like and you’ll be fully covered
- Seller Protection covers 190 countries – Go ahead, sell worldwide. You’re covered across the globe
These improvements apply to all eBay sellers, not just PowerSellers. There’s nothing you’ll need to do in order to become eligible. And best of all, they’re available at no additional cost.
Enjoy safer selling on eBay with PayPal Seller Protection.
Yours sincerely,
The PayPal Team
The change to the Seller Protection policy has come at a perfect time for me, as I was just about to stop using eBay as I was getting tired of worrying about being ripped off. I wish Paypal and eBay had introduced this a few months ago, before I got ripped off selling my Playstation 3 on eBay. The buyer paid me via paypal but asked if they could pick it up in person. Before we could even agree a date they turned up on my doorstep (they got my address by requesting it from eBay) 2 hours later. I was very annoyed that they’d turned up unannounced and I told them they’d have to come back when I’d had a chance to pack up the PS3.
A few days after handing over my PS3 I got an email saying that it was ‘broken’ and that they wanted their money back. I asked exactly what was broken as I’d checked everything was ok before packing, and they eventually said the Scart cable didn’t work. Given that I’d never used the Scart cable I conceded that it was possible it didn’t work, so I said that they could bring it round and if it didn’t work (I borrowed a mate’s cable to doublecheck) I would give them their money back. The buyer agreed and I waited for his arrival.
Whilst waiting for the agreed date, I realised I had no way of verifying that the PS3 the buyer was bringing back was mine, and not another broken one they might have switched. Lesson 1: Always write down the serial number of sold goods. I then also started worrying about what I’d do if he came round with a few mates and demanded his money back. After discussing this with a mate and the weird emails I’d been receiving, he decided to come round as backup just in case. Lesson 2: Always post items
‘Luckily’ the buyer never showed, but what I received instead was a notice from Paypal saying that the owner of the paypal account I’d sold to had said their account was stolen and they hadn’t purchased my PS3. I convinced Paypal to challenge the chargeback and my evidence included emails from the buyer taunting me because they were going to keep my PS3 and get their money back! Paypal lost the case, despite other eBay sellers contacting me saying that the same buyer had done the same to them. So, in the end I ended up down one PS3 without a penny to show for it :’-( I wasn’t covered under the old Paypal seller protection because I didn’t post the PS3, whereas under the new terms I’m protected if the payment is received by Paypal.
I’m currently having to deal with another eBay fraudster who tried to trick me into sending them my Nokia N96. Because of the PS3 incident I’ve been extra careful, so when I received a paypal payment notification where the buyer requested postage to Nigeria I got suspicious. On further investigation I saw that the buyer’s ebay account had only been created the previous day, and the email was actually a well constructed spoof email that wasn’t actually from paypal. I contacted eBay and to their credit they cancelled the account immediately – I only hope they’ve done it in time before others are ripped off.
What is funny is that the fraudster is still sending me authentic looking emails, this time from eBay, threatening me with supension and legal action if I do not send the Nokia N96 phone immediately!
