Paypal tale of the week!

derryb

Ever wonder what happens when more than one person pushes the "Buy it Now" button at exactly the same time? I found out tonight:

Seller throws a $5 raw gold eagle on ebay for $125 buy it now. I see it pop up as I happen to be searching at the same time. Buyer requires immediate payment during checkout. Get to the last screen and see that familiar "Sorry, unable to process your transaction." This of course means someone was able to checkout quicker than I was. Go into my paypal account shortly thereafter and notice a payment of $125 for the same $5 gold eagle. Go back to ebay account and there is no $5 gold eagle in items won. Email seller, explain situation, and request refund of the payment. Get a little worried and call paypal. They say, open dispute for item not received, so I do it. I then emal seller and let him know that paypal dispute is open per paypal instructions and I will gladly close it upon refund.

Later in the evening I get a message from the seller: "You should have your refund by now. That was a strange thing to happen. I had 29 disputes at the same time and have been making refunds for the last hour. Too many people jumping on the good deal at the same time I guess."

Of course I emailed him back: "Got any more gold eagles?"

PS: which one of you guys got the $125 gold eagle?

airplanenut

Don't file a dispute off the bat... each one counts negatively against the seller when it comes to fee discounts, and clearly he didn't do anything wrong.

Edit: if it's not an eBay dispute, I suppose that might not actually be an issue.

derryb

Paypal instructed me to do so, even after I explained the situation. Dispute was through Paypal, not Ebay.

grip

Hate to be the seller with 29 disputes

jmski52

As many as 29 competitive bargain-oriented bullion shoppers on ebay at any given time? Whoa!

Ahrensdad

Seems like the seller left money on the table to me....That's kind of funny, if you're not the guy making all the refunds.

airplanenut

<< <i>Paypal instructed me to do so, even after I explained the situation. Dispute was through Paypal, not Ebay. >>

If it's an ebay item, they're linked and either one counts against the seller. That said:

1- It's possible/likely that if the item didn't go through on eBay's side, it won't be linked properly since there's no corresponding transaction
2- I can't help but think PayPal would love nothing more than to get you to file a dispute... helps their/eBay's bottom line

nankraut

There is a keyword here: RAW; Mebbe that "great deal" isn't so great if the coin is a gold plated counterfeit?? I find it hard to believe that a seller wouldn't have some idea of what gold prices are these days.

segoja

If the dispute is resolved I don't think it counts against the seller. Only unresolved.

Could be wrong, but I don't think so.

09sVDB

Agreed my first thought is "coin" is not a coin or a fake.

Russ

<< <i>Paypal instructed me to do so, even after I explained the situation. Dispute was through Paypal, not Ebay. >>



The PayPal customer service department is populated by idiots.

Russ, NCNE

Russ

<< <i>If the dispute is resolved I don't think it counts against the seller. Only unresolved.

Could be wrong, but I don't think so. >>



Both resolved and unresolved disputes count. Unresolved is more severe, though. If you look in your seller dashboard, you'll see that there are two categories for claims.

Russ, NCNE

derryb

<< <i>

<< <i>Paypal instructed me to do so, even after I explained the situation. Dispute was through Paypal, not Ebay. >>

If it's an ebay item, they're linked and either one counts against the seller. That said:

1- It's possible/likely that if the item didn't go through on eBay's side, it won't be linked properly since there's no corresponding transaction
2- I can't help but think PayPal would love nothing more than to get you to file a dispute... helps their/eBay's bottom line >>


As stated in OP, there was no record of sale with ebay.

derryb

<< <i>Hate to be the seller with 29 disputes >>


computer glitch with paypal at that very moment processed payment for item from 29 people who did not win the item.