Strictly Mint Card Co. file a paypal chargeback - update - resolved

zep33 · July 23, 2009 7:26PM

First time this has happened to me so not sure what steps I need to take here.

2009 Heritage Master set that was paid for on April 30th and shipped the following day, May 1st

I sent it from work via UPS with signature confirmation but I won't be able to get the tracking # and check it until I get to work this morning.

Why would they wait till now and never contact me over the past 2 and half months if they hadn't received something? Being too busy doesn't cut it

Looks like they leave bulk feeback and didn't leave any for anyone in between April 17th and May 13th and I was never left feedback. Think they just looked at their feedback needed to leave, saw my transaction still there and decided they never got it?

Why the hell didn't they ever contact me? Should I contact them now? Should I call them up when I get to work and have the tracking # or just deal through paypal?

This really pisses me off. I don't have $320 to spare right now to cover this crap.

I suppose it could all be a misunderstanding but to just file a chargeback with zero communication is ridiculous.

They don't seem like a bad company by their feedback. Anyone else ever dealt or had an issue with them?

csmtampa · July 23, 2009 7:40PM

I would check the confirmation info and see if it says it was delivered. Then I would DEFINITELY call them first thing when they open and ask about the situation. $320 is a lot of money, especially when it's unexpected 2 1/2 months later.

Maybe its just a mistake on their part?

zep33 · July 23, 2009 7:45PM

<< I would check the confirmation info and see if it says it was delivered. Then I would DEFINITELY call them first thing when they open and ask about the situation. $320 is a lot of money, especially when it's unexpected 2 1/2 months later.

Maybe its just a mistake on their part? >>

yeah, that's what I'm gonna do as soon as I get to work. I'm 99% positive I used sig confirmation because it was over $250.

What sucks worse is my Paypal balance is now $308 in the negative, I have things for sale, and unpaid items due to be paid that I won't have access to and the email from paypal says that the credit card issuer decides about the chargeback and could take up to 75 days to make a decision.

zep33 · July 23, 2009 9:51PM

just got to work, found the tracking #. It was sent with sig request and insured for $350. Was delivered and signed for on 5/5.

Is that all I'm gonna need or are they still going to be able to say they never got it?

Seems like I covered my butt pretty well on that one right?

jlzinck · July 23, 2009 10:14PM

<< just got to work, found the tracking #. It was sent with sig request and insured for $350. Was delivered and signed for on 5/5.

Is that all I'm gonna need or are they still going to be able to say they never got it?

Seems like I covered my butt pretty well on that one right? >>

If they are claiming they never received it I would assume you would be OK.

jeffcbay · July 23, 2009 10:51PM

I THINK if you enter your delivery/signature confirmation number into your Paypal Dispute, that should unlock your funds right away, or very soon there after. I would also email the buyer and say YO, you got this, remove the hold! (and stuff)

PoppaJ · July 23, 2009 11:09PM

Hi Mike,

I had a very similar situation about 3 weeks ago. The package I sent was via USPS Insured w/Signature Required.

All I did was place a call to PayPal; the rep checked the USPS info and within the hour, my account was back to normal.

Hope you get cleared up real soon.

PoppaJ

epatmythes · July 23, 2009 11:52PM

Ditto to what Poppa said...

However, in two recent cases with me... be sure to keep an eye on your Paypal for the next couple days. Both times I spoke to a rep, they said it was resolved only to have the claim "automatically" put back on the funds 24 hours later... Took another 2 calls each time, but both ended up resolved... In my favor.

Definitely recommend calling Paypal directly though, not just letting it go through their automated process (which can takes days or weeks).

WinPitcher · July 24, 2009 12:22AM

I did not read all the posts but I am confused. How can they do a PP chargeback after 2.5 months?

I was under the impression that one had 45 days to do such chargebacks?

Or are they doing a chargeback through the CC company?

Steve

Bunker · July 24, 2009 12:42AM

Man that does suck! I had that happen to me before. I was selling some seated dimes and 43 days after the auction was over some one did that to me for $7800 bucks. They never sent me an email, they just took action. It took me about 3 weeks to get it taken care of.

I wound up settleing with the guy. He sent one coin back and I issued a partial refund for $1500. The ebayer only had 20 fb's at the time and emailed me every other day while the auction was running asking questions. I should have blocked him, but didn't.

I wound up reselling the coin for $150 more and received positive fb.

mealeworm · July 24, 2009 12:49AM

I really can't speak for this buyer, but I think it is a possible scam that some buyers use. They wait right to the end to file a claim hoping that maybe the seller will lose or get rid of Dc and other tracking info. They file a hand full of claims and see if any stick. I had a buyer do this a few years ago and once I emailed the info he just went away. I was thinking it was strange but then about 2 months after it happened again. I always thought that if a buyer really was missing something wouldn't they atleast email you???

good luck
Dave

lsutigers1973 · July 24, 2009 12:55AM

What Dave said. I had 2 buyers in the last week send me an email asking why they haven't received their cards for auctions that ended over a month ago. I have a habit of saving my DC recepits for about a year. When I sent them the DC # showing it was delivered, they both apologized and both said they sent the email to the wrong seller. Whatever, nice try.

Allen · July 24, 2009 12:57AM

PayPal pisses me off so much. I posted on here before when I got burned for about $275 while following all of their rules. I was planning on selling a large lot (10K+ sale price area) a few months ago and I was afraid to because I might get screwed on PayPal by an eBay scam buyer.

zep33 · July 24, 2009 1:02AM

Well, just got off the phone with Paypal and the buyer. Paypal can't/won't do anything until August 1st because that's the day the credit card company will look at the results that have been figured out. Even though Paypal has all the pertinent info, they say that can't do anything until then.

Next, I called the buyer. I was very nice as I have no need to open an additional can of worms. What he is saying is he was trying to catch up on all his feedbacks (like I had thought) and found some he thought he had never received.
Now I can understand some of his confusion since I had shipped the cards from work and the address was different from the one on the transaction details page. He says he thought he had emailed all his missing sellers - think he said he had about 10 outstanding orders, gets a ton of stuff in everyday, tries to match them all up, etc.. but sometimes can't match them. He said he bought around 20 heritage sets around that time frame. I gave him all the info he should need to try and figure out which one was mine. I do think, but I'm not positive that I included a packing list in the shipment but cannot remember exactly whether I had or not.

He did seem like a nice guy, said he's gonna look into it and give me a call here at work if he tracks it down. Hopefully he'll figure it out and this will all get resolved.

Still not the least bit happy about the way he went about this. A simple email or message to me could have gotten this resolved without Paypal freezing my account

I'll post again when I hear something back.

parkerj · July 24, 2009 3:27AM

I have sold many many heritage sets to your buyer, without ever a problem. I would suggest that his story is legit, and its just a mixup, and it will all be worked out. and you are totally covered if you have signature confirmation.

- jim

hankcaddy · July 24, 2009 3:45AM

<< I really can't speak for this buyer, but I think it is a possible scam that some buyers use. They wait right to the end to file a claim hoping that maybe the seller will lose or get rid of Dc and other tracking info. They file a hand full of claims and see if any stick. I had a buyer do this a few years ago and once I emailed the info he just went away. I was thinking it was strange but then about 2 months after it happened again. I always thought that if a buyer really was missing something wouldn't they atleast email you???

good luck
Dave >>

i also have been getting questioned 2/3 weeks after item delivered,
i think some people are hoping your not keeping track of items or keeping tabs on tracking

storm888 · July 24, 2009 5:02AM

As noted, it is important to retain ALL DelCon and SigCon tickets.

"Forever" is a good time limit.

......

Credit Card chargebacks filed through PayPal present special problems
that are not present with a REAL merchant account.

In a PP CC transaction, PP is the "merchant of record." ALL communications
on the issue must be handled between PP and the CC-company. The EBAY
seller is not even informed who the CC-company is.

In a CC transaction via a REAL merchant account, the EBAY seller is the
"merchant of record." The seller conducts ALL communications with the
CC-company and is easily able to quickly defeat unwarranted chargebacks.

When PP is acting as "your defender," you are likely to be killed. They have
NO interest in defending your financial interests; they lose NOTHING when
a seller gets burned. In fact, if an EBAY seller loses a CB, PP charges that
seller a $10 fee AND removes the disputed monies from the seller's account.
(If the account is empty and the seller refuses to pay, PP hires aggressive
collection agencies to chase the money.)

...........

This morning, in front of Congress, Sheila Bair, FDIC head, said that one
of her most important goals is to see that "non-banks providing bank-like
services become subject to the same regulations and oversight that
chartered banks are subject to."

This shot across the bow of PP, means that there might be some hope
that PP will, eventually, be forced to abandon its serial policy of unfair
business practices.

..........

The widely-held belief that there is "a time limit" on the filing of a CC-chargeback,
is almost TOTALLY false.

Notwithstanding ANY language to the contrary in ANY credit-card UA, a
card holder can initiate a chargeback at will, at any time subsequent to
the transaction.

In cases of alleged "unauthorized use," we are currently seeing EBAY sellers
being hit with CBs on transactions that are 3-YEARS old. (I have PERSONALLY
had CBs filed on REAL merchant accounts, more than 2-years after the sale.)

......................................

In the instant case - even assuming the buyer was acting in good faith - the
buyer showed a complete lack of regard for the seller. No matter that the
buyer is a "great EBAYer," I would not want to do biznez with him.

csmtampa · July 24, 2009 5:08AM

I doubt they were trying to rip you off, The Stictly Mint Card Company has been around for like 20 years and have a pretty good reputation. Although their advertised prices were usually high.

WinPitcher · July 24, 2009 5:17AM

Then they should know better and email the seller before they act.

Steve

storm888 · July 24, 2009 5:30AM

<< Then they should know better and email the seller before they act.

Steve >>

/////////////////////////////////

That's right.

I, too, doubt the guy was trying to steal. Though many
folks do try to steal by filing bogus CBs in the hope that
the seller will have no way to disprove the INR allegation.

This seems more of an example of an EBAYer not giving
a darn about the impact that HIS mistake might have on
an innocent seller.

Knopfler · July 24, 2009 6:10AM

<< I have sold many many heritage sets to your buyer, without ever a problem. I would suggest that his story is legit, and its just a mixup, and it will all be worked out. and you are totally covered if you have signature confirmation.

- jim >>

I also have sold them a bunch. Actually sold them six 2009 master sets during that time frame. I better go check and make sure they left me feedback!

PowderedH2O · July 24, 2009 7:28AM

Have any of you had cases filed where the buyer had left the seller positive feedback already? I've had a couple of buyers that I thought were a bit sketchy, but when they left positive feedback I figured I had all my bases covered. Is that not always the case?

storm888 · July 24, 2009 7:50AM

<< Have any of you had cases filed where the buyer had left the seller positive feedback already? I've had a couple of buyers that I thought were a bit sketchy, but when they left positive feedback I figured I had all my bases covered. Is that not always the case? >>

///////////////////////

Positive FB having been left by a subsequently claim-filing
buyer is an element of a seller's defense to the claim, BUT,
alone, it is almost NEVER dispositive to any PP claim. (The
defense works better against a credit-card CB that is filed
with a card issuer. The issuer will at least ask the buyer,
"If you did not receive the item, why did you previously
leave FB stating that it was a great item?")

PayPal's position is that buyers are stupid and often leave
FB for the wrong items AND for the wrong sellers. Thus,
they will not decide a claim solely on the basis of FB having
been left.

akuracy503 · July 24, 2009 7:53AM

<< 

<< Have any of you had cases filed where the buyer had left the seller positive feedback already? I've had a couple of buyers that I thought were a bit sketchy, but when they left positive feedback I figured I had all my bases covered. Is that not always the case? >>

///////////////////////

Positive FB having been left by a subsequently claim-filing
buyer is an element of a seller's defense to the claim, BUT,
alone, it is almost NEVER dispositive to any PP claim. (The
defense works better against a credit-card CB that is filed
with a card issuer. The issuer will at least ask the buyer,
"If you did not receive the item, why did you previously
leave FB stating that it was a great item?")

PayPal's position is that buyers are stupid and often leave
FB for the wrong items AND for the wrong sellers. Thus,
they will not decide a claim solely on the basis of FB having
been left. >>

Storm, do you work for Ebay/Paypal? Affiliated?
You are the floating knowledge base article when it comes to ebay/paypal matters.

Quite interesting...

zep33 · July 24, 2009 10:18AM

Well, after not receiving a call back during the day, I called back twice, several hours apart and both times he was "out on the road". The 2nd time I left my home number and asked her to have him call me back.

He just called me back a few minutes ago, said he had the cards and will take care of the dispute in the next few minutes.

..........

VitoCo1972 · July 24, 2009 10:25AM

<< Well, after not receiving a call back during the day, I called back twice, several hours apart and both times he was "out on the road". The 2nd time I left my home number and asked her to have him call me back.

He just called me back a few minutes ago, said he had the cards and will take care of the dispute in the next few minutes.

.......... >>

Well done, Mike. I have to say, I usually toss DC receipts a few months after they've been delivered. Never again will I do that though. I'll just start a file. Glad to hear everything worked out. I was afraid i was going to have to chime in with, "I'm sorry this happened to you."

zep33 · July 24, 2009 10:42AM

<< 

<< Well, after not receiving a call back during the day, I called back twice, several hours apart and both times he was "out on the road". The 2nd time I left my home number and asked her to have him call me back.

He just called me back a few minutes ago, said he had the cards and will take care of the dispute in the next few minutes.

.......... >>

Well done, Mike. I have to say, I usually toss DC receipts a few months after they've been delivered. Never again will I do that though. I'll just start a file. Glad to hear everything worked out. I was afraid i was going to have to chime in with, "I'm sorry this happened to you."

>>

LOL I was very surprised no one dropped that one in here somewhere. I was gonna make that the 2nd post just to get it over with.

No email from Paypal yet though. I won't rest easy until I see that and the funds back in my account no matter what he said.

grote15 · July 24, 2009 11:00AM

It may be an honest mistake, but I think he should have been more reassuring to you over the phone, something along the lines of that he will re-send the payment if the chargeback is not reversed. Frankly, I'm skeptical that it is a mistake. Why wouldn't he e-mail you first? And then he claims he thought he did? As a seller these guys know how the paypal system works...Sounds fishy to me...

zep33 · July 24, 2009 11:11AM

I'm not throwing anyone under the bus but it was very uncool and unprofessional how it was handled.

At least some of us have now learned to never, ever think a transaction is complete. I was lucky that I sent it from work and was easily able to bring the information up.

If it had been from home, that information would have been long gone by now.

WinPitcher · July 24, 2009 2:31PM

but it was very uncool and unprofessional how it was handled.

Yup.

Glad it seems to have been worked out.

Steve

zep33 · July 26, 2009 9:45PM

Well, 3 days later and I'm still in the negative.

I need to pay for an auction I had sniped and print a label for something I've been paid for since this took place and I can't do either.

Now I'm really pissed

zep33 · July 26, 2009 10:26PM

Another call to Paypal this morning took care of it.

They did say but there was a note from the buyer but did not specify.

Also told me since I had the Paypal Seller protection, they were going to restore my account - which they did.

I have a feeling it was done more because of that than the buyer doing his duty

Hope he doesn't want to buy one of my Heritage sets next year

Strictly Mint Card Co. file a paypal chargeback - update - resolved

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