When you are selling to someone you don't know, like on ebay:

Sell defensively.

Assume that whatever can go "wrong" will; assume that the other guy is going to try to rip you off;
and prepare ahead:

only use pics of the actual item in the state that you are sending it; describe in detail how it will be packed and shipped; state "sold as is"; state "no refunds under any circumstances" including for damage during shipping; always require signature on delivery; require buyer to obtain insurance; and include a statement in your auction that by bidding on your item, buyer acknowledges all of your conditions of sale ("no refunds," etc.) and agrees to abide by them.

If you do these types of things, you will at least minimize the chances that someone will be able to take advantage of you. In cases where you want to make exceptions for honest folks, you still can, but at least you are covered for the rip off artists.

Well chaps I'm never listing anything as mint or new even if it's fresh off the press (as the case with this item). Really sad that you have to jump through a bunch of hurdles as a honest seller but this business really burst my bubble for good. Doubt I'll even ever sell again.

I really do think this guy is pulling something though. He emailed me asking for a partial refund prior to the claim and when I said no filed a claim. After paypal said he is entitled to a full refund on the condition of a delivery confirmation sent to them as proof don't you think he would have mailed it by now? It's been 4 days? In his dispute he claimed he just wants to resolve this quick and needs my address to send it back. Sounds like he was in a hurry to send it back then why the delay now? Also I've checked around the usual sites to see if he was trying to resell it and came across my auction in a thread with a bunch of people saying "Wow that went cheap, and I would have paid way over 300 for it!" I'm thinking the damn thing is still mint and he wants to resell it. He's just greedy and wants to try and rip me off for what he paid for it and make 200% profit.

It does seem weird that he's being so casual now about it. He can't even use the old 'It's a workday and I haven't had a chance to get to the PO." excuse because now a Saturday has passed...

aarrrgghh supposedly delv conf has been sent (some weird 21 digit number- supposed to be 20). waiting to see if it shows up in an empty tube, really shredded up, or even at all. talked to paypal and they said they have a claim they do if any of those things happen. still agitated.

on the good news front my annoying neighbor is moving out this summer.....

So for all you sellers out there being messed with by buyers listen up.

You can win. You just really have to work at it. If you think someone files a fraudulent claim (SNAD) on you harass Paypal as much as possible. I threatened them with getting a lawyer this morning, and after talking to 2 reps finally was able to get someone with power to change the dispute. This jerk who filed a claim gave them a delv conf # but it hasn't updated in over a week. After speaking (and slightly freaking out on) to 2 reps, a manager finally noticed what I have for the past week. That once you submit a delv conf # electronically to the USPS site it's only valid for 48 hrs max. It doesn't take a week to update. The manager finally said this: "Wait I'm inclined to close this dispute in your favor because I personally know from shipping things myself that the number can't be good anymore, you get your money back right now Chris"

THANK YOU PAYPAL! Too bad they could not have done this before I missed Lemon Kirby. But in the immortal words of George from Seinfeld "I'm back baby!" On to M1 Matango!!

C.

Congrats Chris.
Since you've got your PP working.
Let me finally send over some funds for that GID Maza.

It's really good to hear things worked out in your favor. Good job on sticking to your guns.

LOL. What I really need is a new computer!! I have two macs with different issues. Both display. One with a bad video ram card (which is so annoying because you could be in mid type, blue dots appear, and the shadow of death comes down to restart-repeat process 20 times) and the other with a burnt out backlight lamp for the laptop. I often have to use the wii to get online at home, but now my g/f just set that up again with some WPA security and that wont work. Being me is quite frustrating at the moment.

Yeah hopefully this guy won't try an appeal.

Sometimes the good guy does win!

Good news, Lixx!

hooray! I'm glad you beat the idiot!

Glad to hear that good people do, indeed, win.

This was a cliff hanger of a thread! glad you got everything cleared up tho Chris, it's always good to hear of the honest folk winning once in a while

Great news!!
Still sucks that you had to endure all of the stress and bureaucracy to make them understand.
A lot of people would of just said oh fuck it...your persistence paid off!

Sure enough yesterday paypal dismisses claim on the grounds that buyer never sent print back and delivery should have happened (no movement for over 9 days on USPS site) by now. Wouldn't you know as soon as I get home last night I had a little orange USPS slip saying they tried to deliver print.

Now the buyer is obviously upset and filing another claim. I picked up the print and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it (no creases as he claimed- which was a huge relief for me). I have already sent him a message via ebay saying I will refund him immediately and no need to file another claim. I'm honest. Man this is one helluva ride I hope I NEVER have to take again. Well there goes that 300 I would have bought new Matangos (or some sort of toy I'm sure) with. At least I'll be in the clear (and broke) after tomorrow. Wonder if I should be mad at someone, whether it be USPS, Paypal, or him for being and absolute nutjob with a print that was perfectly fine.

i'd say focus the hate on the nutjob buyer. what a douche.
hopefully this is all in the past for you soon.

congrats man. Paypal (I have little to no faith in their customer service dept.) actually came through for me on one occasion. I also managed to get my money back from a scammer, so its nice to know this isn't a completely isolated incident. and yeah, it took serious effort and badgering on my part as well.

What a roller coaster ride! And you proved positively that he was trying to scam you out of money by accepting a 'settlement' from you on a prnt that is still perfect. I guess I'm just an ass, because I think I would have been very tempted to just keep the cash and the print as well. (or maybe you could offer to 'settle' with him as well and refund him his originally payment minus the 'settlement' amount he so generously offered to let you pay him.)

Of course, if you are settling, then you'll be minusing all of the shipping and handling charges, right?

I just had my first dispute filed against me and I won. I could have seen this going against me simply because of the way the PayPal system works and how it seems to favor buyers (I know from work related disputes, though this was a personal acct. dispute). I think I discovered one key thing is to CALL PayPal and talk to representatives. They were very helpful with me and also they gave me this email address: complaint-response@paypal.com. If you have a dispute you can send evidence to them referencing the case # but they request that you scan everything and send it as attachment.

Oddly enough my case was scheduled to close on Jun 9th "Awaiting tracking information from buyer" but no tracking had been provided and today is the 11th so I called them and explained and I just got instant-fund release.

I know this is kind of separate story but I just thought I would try and help 'cause nothing infuriates me more than illegitimate PayPal disputes.

_Ethan

Talking to the reps is key. If you get one who is lazy and keeps trying to prolong things, giving you information you already know, just ask to speak to their manager. Paypal doesn't like to hear the words lawyer or class action....

Usually if they see that a tracking number has been given on a dispute return and has not updated on the USPS site in over a week they will drop the bogus claim. Then again in my case it magically showed up the day after it was dropped. Go figure?