Could use some Paypal advice- Sent payment to incorrect party - Out $1500+

Ted 1

Earlier, I made a purchase for $1,550 via paypal. A California national was listed, I contacted the seller- and he agreed to do the transaction OFF of ebay. Seller has 100% feedback with 1200+ transactions.

So, I sent the funds 'pay for goods and services' via paypal. As soon as it was sent, the name read "Chris Evans"..and payment was suddenly converted to Canadian.. Huge Red flag went up since the seller's actual name is BOB and he is from JERSEY.

Contacted the seller, he didn't receive any notification....I found out I left out a letter in the email address. Hours of being on hold, transferred, Paypal says they can do nothing since payment has been "completed". CC company says I have to work with Paypal. I really don't know what to do- a stranger has $1,550 of my money- i feel hopeless, as if it's highly unlikely I'll receive a refund, or even reach the recipient via email.

Any advice is greatly appreciated- these funds were part of my bonus from work.

For informational purposes, transaction was made this a.m. , incorrect recipient who has my money, is listed as "unconfirmed"...

Thanks- Theodore

sellitstore

Is it possible that "unconfirmed" indicates that there isn't an account with the exact email address that you entered and the money hasn't actually been delived to anyone else's account.

I'd contact Paypal again and ask if an account exists with the email that you have entered and also I'd try emailing that address, explaining the problem and see if there's an honest person (or no person) at the other end of this transfer.

Ted 1

Thank you for your response.

I sent a couple emails already to the party, they went through, so it's an actual email address. No response of course.

I'm hoping that, since it's an unconfirmed account, that the money kicks back my way.

Timbuk3

OMG, I hope it works out smoothly for you, good luck !!!

Ted 1

Thanks. Feeling quite depressed about this, to be honest.

numbersman

Question....you stated that you paid via PayPal "goods and services",right?If the wrong person got the funds, it is unlikely he will be shipping you your item.So,if that's the case, why won't PayPal give you the protection that it gets...after all, they got their 3%.The seller, eBay or not, must have shipping proof/confirmation at the very least.If you claim to PayPal that you have not received your item, you are entitled to your money back.You must have emails you can provide to prove your case if need be.

grote15

If it's unconfirmed see if there's a cancel option when you log into your PayPal account.

In any case, payments over $750 for goods require a signature confirmation upon delivery so you'd be able to file a dispute via Paypal buyer protection.

Tookybandit

Sorry to hear, I hope the situation is remedied for you.

mainejoe

Yes, if it's an "unconfirmed" transaction you have the option to cancel it. That option should remain until the transaction (funds) are accepted.

jt88

Paypal should be able to get your money back since you are paying "goods and services",. You can file a claim to get your money back. I would not worry too much since you are using credit card. That's another protection. The worst is not pay the credit card because it is unauthorized. You were making a misstate.

mainejoe

Any outcome yet Ted? Inquiring minds would like to know

Ted 1

@mainejoe said:
Any outcome yet Ted? Inquiring minds would like to know

Paypal sent an email saying 'case denied', in that the payment came from my account.

They are failing to see, understand or even investigate the fact I willingly told them I sent it to the wrong email address. This is a mess.

sellitstore

Google "paypal sent money to wrong person" or similar to get some ideas.

You are not the first person with this problem. Use others experiences.

Hope that you find a solution soon.

Ted 1

@sellitstore said:
Google "paypal sent money to wrong person" or similar to get some ideas.

You are not the first person with this problem. Use others experiences.

Hope that you find a solution soon.

Thank you. That I did, and I was hit with a bunch of stories about how people were able to request a refund as soon as they sent it. None of them had stories showing payment had been completed.

I have even gone to lengths of finding every Chris Evans on Facebook, from Canada, in hopes I will reach this person.

synchr

The Ninth District court had ruled that PayPal's arbitration methods are unfair

Ted 1

@synchr said:
The Ninth District court had ruled that PayPal's arbitration methods are unfair

Yep. I've already considered the funds are long gone. Time will tell.

What gets me the most is I confirmed with the seller his email address before sending! He failed to see exactly what i'd typed, agreed that it was in fact his email, and the rest is history. Either way, .next time I will verify and reverify, especially before sending that amount of money.

Ted 1

Now it's telling me "case denied" and then it says "payment will be returned to the original payment method"

CRH4LIFE

Horror story, I hope it gets resolved!!

Timbuk3

I have my fingers crossed, good luck !!!

GRANDAM

I find it hard to believe that you have no recourse?

Call PayPal again and ask for a supervisor,,,,,,,, raise heck,,,,,, keep calling,,,,, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Ted 1

@GRANDAM said:
I find it hard to believe that you have no recourse?

Call PayPal again and ask for a supervisor,,,,,,,, raise heck,,,,,, keep calling,,,,, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

I regret that I didn't post an update.

Funds were returned to me, three weeks later. But what a mess! All over a single letter.

So, folks, always confirm and reconfirm the email address before sending funds through Paypal

Steve_in_Tampa

Good to hear it turned out OK.

I agree 100%. The importance of the email address is paramount . Just last week I paid for two notes from Robert Azpiazu through PayPal and it showed the payment as “Pending “. I emailed Bob and asked why he hadn’t accepted the funds and sent a screenshot of the transaction....he looked it over and told me the email was off by one letter. I canceled the wrong payment and paid again using the corrected email, and it went through immediately.

Timbuk3

I'm glad it worked out, thank you for sharing your experience to help others !!!

redsealusn

So who returned it? Did the person decide to be honest and refund it back to you or did Paypal just do it?

Unknown

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Ted 1

@redsealusn said:
So who returned it? Did the person decide to be honest and refund it back to you or did Paypal just do it?

Paypal.

The gentleman never responded to emails by myself, or paypal.

jt88

I knew you would get your money back

JBK

@Ted 1 said:

@redsealusn said:
So who returned it? Did the person decide to be honest and refund it back to you or did Paypal just do it?

Paypal.

The gentleman never responded to emails by myself, or paypal.

Could be an email the guy never uses. Maybe he forgot he even has the email or PP account.

I sill get occasional emails from PayPal for an account I have not used in years. Maybe the person forgot all about the account but PP kept it active.

tomtomtomtom

I'm glad that it worked out...must have been a nasty few weeks before the refund.

logger7

That experience would make you super cautious and/or vigilant on these transactions. I was going to recommend a dedicated lawyer or private detective. You were lucky, usually paypal will hold the funds unless they are tied to an ebay or similar selling account. People don't just paypal money without there being a good reason.

On a couple transactions years ago, two ebay orders that I got mixed up ended up with one buyer getting the $260 item for $50 and vice versa. I had to give the buyer of the more expensive item their money back and the person who got the more valuable item cheap did not communicate. There are a lot of unethical people out there.