4 ms·
This doesn't surprise me. I'm currently trying to get a refund out of PayPal after what looks like a massive flaw in their refund process. I paid for something
by leejo 7y ago
This doesn't surprise me. I'm currently trying to get a refund out of PayPal after what looks like a massive flaw in their refund process. I paid for something on eBay and it appears to have been a compromised account. The original auction, feedback history, etc, looked legit. The flow was this:
1) I pay for a product on eBay using PayPal, using my creditcard (direct from card, not from any existing PayPal balance).
2) Seller marks item as shipped but then 5mins later issues an e-check refund (rather than a refund on my creditcard).
3) Seller cancels and deletes the original item on eBay so i can no longer raise a dispute there.
4) The e-check refund continues to bounce as clearly the compromised paypal account can't pull those funds from the other source.
5) The refund being in limbo means my dispute with PayPal gets closed as "a refund was previously issue" (which did, and will continue to, bounce).
The important part is 2 - since I paid for this on my card the refund should have gone direct to my card. However, since I paid for this on my creditcard I've raised a chargeback with the issuing bank, which should hopefully make PayPal sit up and put a bit more effort into sorting this out.
- lonelappde 7y agoYou put in way too much effort. Call your credit card company first. Your credit card company profits from vendor (PayPal) mistakes by charging fees, so they are always happy to help you.
- mtnGoat 7y agocalling the Card issuer is always my first stop. CS these days is abysmal at most companies.
- strbean 7y agoUnfortunately, any platform with any kind of lock in will have you over a barrel here. Try disputing a card transaction with Steam - your 18 y/o account with thousands of games and dollars invested will be gone in a flash. Same goes for Google/Amazon/Microsoft/etc.
- mtnGoat 7y agoyikes, ive never tried with any of those, but that would certainly suck. in my experience most platforms have a pretty fair compliant resolution policy though.
- LorenPechtel 7y agoDoing a chargeback tends to burn any future business with the company--a big deal when you have a long standing account with them.
- fencepost 7y agoI've raised a chargeback with the issuing bank, which should hopefully make PayPal sit up and put a bit more effort into sorting this out. Or just close your account and ban you.
- leejo 7y agoPossibly, a blog post will follow if that happens. PayPal has aways been a firewall around my creditcard number and I've never linked any other current account for pulling funds as, having worked in the payments industry, I know what a shit show it can be and that (in most cases, especially like this) the creditcard issuer will stand with the cardholder and not the merchant. Now i'm using other methods to pay for most e-commerce transactions: one time PANs, a distinct debit account that I keep a minimum amount of funds in for this stuff, etc. So PyaPal are no longer seeing anything like the level of use they once did from me. They can ban my account if they want, the issuing bank have already said they will proceed with the chargeback if PayPal don't issue a refund.
- fencepost 7y agoWhat may save you is terms on the card about refunds needing to be credited back to the card - pretty sure that used to be the case and probably still is. I think it was originally to prevent under the table cash advances, but also to protect merchants from giving refunds then being hit with chargebacks. If the bouncing e-check was done through PayPal as well then they may have screwed up by allowing it.
- kirykl 7y agoTry Privacy.com for a better creditcard firewall
- thedanbob 7y agoI've been bitten before by the fact that if you don't use PayPal, eBay's interest in helping you with a refund dispute is exactly zero. And now I learn this. I guess PayPal + credit card is the way to go if you want any chance of a successful refund.
- neuronic 7y agoUnless you're getting boned with pseudo credit cards which are debit cards in disguise. Direct banks such as ING or DKB in Germany are offering those cards but dear god if you have a dispute. Money is gone from your checking account right away and you don't get the convenient fraud protection of actual CCs.