I think I just got scammed on Ebay. Need Advice.

Okay so a little over a month ago I sold some $50 PSN Codes over Ebay. Everything went good till today just got this from Paypal:

We were recently notified that one of your buyers filed a chargeback and
asked the credit card issuer to reverse a payment made to you on Jul 30,
2009.

The buyer claims that this purchase was made without authorization to use
the credit card. Their credit card issuer needs additional information from
you about this transaction.

I sold two of them to this person and e-mailed them to him soon after and now I get this more than a month after it happened. I have to respond to the claim but I never shipped anything. So do I ship out and then provide Paypal with the tracking info? This isn't and item not received claim but an unauthorized use of credit card claim so I don't even know if shipping the stuff out will help. I already paid the ebay fees for this so I guess I am not getting that back. Whats the best thing for me to do now?

[quote name='jd302426']Okay so a little over a month ago I sold some $50 PSN Codes over Ebay. Everything went good till today just got this from Paypal:

We were recently notified that one of your buyers filed a chargeback and
asked the credit card issuer to reverse a payment made to you on Jul 30,
2009.

The buyer claims that this purchase was made without authorization to use
the credit card. Their credit card issuer needs additional information from
you about this transaction.

I sold two of them to this person and e-mailed them to him soon after and now I get this more than a month after it happened. I have to respond to the claim but I never shipped anything. So do I ship out and then provide Paypal with the tracking info? This isn't and item not received claim but an unauthorized use of credit card claim so I don't even know if shipping the stuff out will help. I already paid the ebay fees for this so I guess I am not getting that back. Whats the best thing for me to do now?[/QUOTE]

I think the best course of action here is to call up Paypal and have them tell you exactly what is going on. It doesn't seem to be clear what this is, especially if its been a little over a month ago. You could be getting screwed, which is why you should just call Paypal now and see whats up.

Good luck and keep us updated

OUch >.< Definitely contact PayPal. I've heard too many horror stories like this. Hope things work out in your favor.

Same thing happened to me in July.hopefully you still have any correspondence(auction,emails,payment info). Also, if you look at the payment screen on Paypal it will let you know if the transaction is covered for seller's protection.Paypal allows up to NINETY DAYS for you to get charged back! Yeah,REAL cool. Person basically received my items and then did a chargeback,but I kept all info and forwarded it to Paypal,got my money back. Good luck!

always get shipping confirmation. then when they try to say they didnt get the item, BOOM, proof that they are lieing

[quote name='Squarehard']I think the best course of action here is to call up Paypal and have them tell you exactly what is going on. It doesn't seem to be clear what this is, especially if its been a little over a month ago. You could be getting screwed, which is why you should just call Paypal now and see whats up.

Good luck and keep us updated[/QUOTE]

Even though it's been a month, it could be legitimate. Some people are too lazy/ignorant to check their credit card except for when their bill arrives (or might not have online access to their credit card). *If* that's the case, then yes, it could be a month or so before they realize something has happened.

Most likely, though, this person is probably trying to scam you. Good luck.

It's a scam and you are screwed. If you don't ship anything it's against EBay rules so you automatically lose; once the scammers figured this out they all started challenging the payment. Also, unless you use delivery confirmation Paypal doesn't accept it was delivered; of course this would put your shipping cost higher than the maximum allowed by EBay on many items, but what do they care.

Had this happen to me a couple years back and it was one of the things that guided me away from the ebay/paypal/satan combination.

I even shipped to the confirmed address and had proof of it, but since it was an "unauthorized charge" none of that mattered.

Paypal just said that they couldn't do anything for me and I lost almost $300!

This happened to me a couple weeks ago. Got a chargeback for a 12 months Live code I sold back in June. I contacted the guy (who had a stereotypical scammer name) and he said "do not worry, it's just some confusion with my bank. happens a lot". Luckily it was dropped a few days later and nothing was refunded. The bad part is I never got an email about this. I only found out about it because I logged into Paypal and noticed the active dispute link.

[quote name='jd302426']I sold two of them to this person and e-mailed them to him soon after[/QUOTE]

Unless eBay & Paypal has changed their policy in the last few months, there is no protection from digitally delivered goods because there is no online tracking number for the package that would have been mailed to the winner. eBay frowns upon digital goods for this reason.

Since you didn't mail anything, you have no proof.

You can fight if you feel like it, but you will never win.

I still had the codes with me 2 scratch-off things. Sent them to him yesterday with DC, dont know if that will help.

Did the guy leave feedback at all? if he left positive feedback and attempted a chargeback (as happened with me once) I got to keep my money.
But also, since you didnt have any proof of delivery from before, you are prob not gonna have much luck. Ebay doesnt actually allow selling of digital content, so you should have sent the cards ASAP.

It all depends on your luck.

Paypal's decision is different case by case. It all depends on who is working on your case.
I've had cases lost even when i given the rep all the e-mail correspondents that shows buyer has the item. Paypal could careless what you say.... Just hope you get a good rep~

So Ebay allows gift cards but not PSN cards which are in the same section as the gift cards at the store?

Ultimately, it all comes back to my favorite acronym: RTFM- read the frakkin manual (or TOS, as in this case). Gift cards can be sold, as the card is deemed physically necessary to conduct a transaction- in their view. The expectation is that the card will be sent to the buyer- an expectation that was not met in this case. You can try to fight it, but unless he left you feedback, he's leaving you hosed. This is a pretty black & white matter. Sorry.

[quote name='Haggar']Unless eBay & Paypal has changed their policy in the last few months, there is no protection from digitally delivered goods because there is no online tracking number for the package that would have been mailed to the winner. eBay frowns upon digital goods for this reason.
[/QUOTE]

This. You're screwed OP.