I'd like to publicly give paypal a double thumbs up.  I was ready to accept a $120 rookie mistake when I sold to someone in the Russian Federation who had only had their account for a couple days.  Shipped off a Spongebob set via First Class international.  Received a chargeback notice after shipping, saying the purchase was unauthorized.  Now I know (but then I didn't) that paypal seller protection covers you in the event that you ship via a traceable service (USPS priority express).  I'm pretty sure that these people go searching for sellers that list first class international as an option as I had ANOTHER sale two days later from a different person in the Russian Federation....again, a new account.  Well, I canceled that one and then gave paypal a call regarding the chargeback to ask if there was any way I could help other than the information I'd already sent over.  Several weeks later, and I get an email from paypal saying they've concluded their investigation and have no recourse to get the money back, but they will not be taking the funds from my account, they'll be covering it themselves.  That is just all kinds of awesome, thanks Paypal!

They have insurance for this sort of thing. 

How do other ebayers protect themselves from this sort of garbage?

I'd like to publicly give paypal a double thumbs up.  I was ready to accept a $120 rookie mistake when I sold to someone in the Russian Federation who had only had their account for a couple days.  Shipped off a Spongebob set via First Class international.  Received a chargeback notice after shipping, saying the purchase was unauthorized.  Now I know (but then I didn't) that paypal seller protection covers you in the event that you ship via a traceable service (USPS priority express).  I'm pretty sure that these people go searching for sellers that list first class international as an option as I had ANOTHER sale two days later from a different person in the Russian Federation....again, a new account.  Well, I canceled that one and then gave paypal a call regarding the chargeback to ask if there was any way I could help other than the information I'd already sent over.  Several weeks later, and I get an email from paypal saying they've concluded their investigation and have no recourse to get the money back, but they will not be taking the funds from my account, they'll be covering it themselves.  That is just all kinds of awesome, thanks Paypal!

That was a decent thing for PayPal to do. Nice.

wow - good job for once  they pulled through

 

i wish they pulled through when i was scammed off a $5,000 watch

I was ready to accept a $120 rookie mistake when I sold to someone in the Russian Federation

 

Oh boy... I'd never ever sell to any of post-soviet countries except those which are already in the EU.  Postal service is HORRIBLE there!  Trust me, I had several packages stolen.  It's a well-known fact.  There is no way to track them too.

I'd like to publicly give paypal a double thumbs up.  I was ready to accept a $120 rookie mistake when I sold to someone in the Russian Federation who had only had their account for a couple days.  Shipped off a Spongebob set via First Class international.  Received a chargeback notice after shipping, saying the purchase was unauthorized.  Now I know (but then I didn't) that paypal seller protection covers you in the event that you ship via a traceable service (USPS priority express).  I'm pretty sure that these people go searching for sellers that list first class international as an option as I had ANOTHER sale two days later from a different person in the Russian Federation....again, a new account.  Well, I canceled that one and then gave paypal a call regarding the chargeback to ask if there was any way I could help other than the information I'd already sent over.  Several weeks later, and I get an email from paypal saying they've concluded their investigation and have no recourse to get the money back, but they will not be taking the funds from my account, they'll be covering it themselves.  That is just all kinds of awesome, thanks Paypal!

I'm getting tons of buyers from Russia buying items from new accounts. Sometimes using the same shipping address for 3 or more paypal/ebay accounts. As far as I know Priority shipping to Russia is also not trackable to their front door. I've had about 12-15 canceled transactions out of Russia in the last month. Probably close to $2500 worth of paypal funds.

wow - good job for once  they pulled through

 

i wish they pulled through when i was scammed off a $5,000 watch

Ouch!!!

wow - good job for once  they pulled through

 

i wish they pulled through when i was scammed off a $5,000 watch

How were you scammed?  Did you have it insured or trackable?  Signature needed?

 

I only ask so hopefully someone might read and not make the same mistake.

How do other ebayers protect themselves from this sort of garbage?

 

You always follow seller protection rules to the letter and you only ship internationally by a method that provides tracking.

 

Also, USPS Priority Express includes up to $200 in insurance.

 

Betsy is right, there are buyers who troll for seller who ship by non-trackable methods and exploit them.

 

Betsy, we had an email exchange about this a while back as I recall...is this event what triggered your message to me?

How were you scammed?  Did you have it insured or trackable?  Signature needed?

 

I only ask so hopefully someone might read and not make the same mistake.

This was quite some time ago....

 

the buyer back charged it after i sent it out. Paypal said that even though i got a signature, they were not liable for UPS giving it the the wrong person and having them sign the wrong name.

You always follow seller protection rules to the letter and you only ship internationally by a method that provides tracking.

 

Also, USPS Priority Express gives you $200 in insurance.

 

Betsy is right, there are buyers who troll for seller who ship by non-trackable methods and exploit them.

 

Betsy, we had an email exchange about this a while back as I recall...is this event what triggered your message to me?

Yes, this was the instance! I really expected to lose the money, so it was a nice surprise. Thanks for your insight too, it's been very valuable

This was quite some time ago....

 

the buyer back charged it after i sent it out. Paypal said that even though i got a signature, they were not liable for UPS giving it the the wrong person and having them sign the wrong name.

That's terrible! Yikes!

Yes, this was the instance! I really expected to lose the money, so it was a nice surprise. Thanks for your insight too, it's been very valuable

 

I had hoped that it wasn't related to a chargeback, but hey, now you know and you avoided a potentially expensive learning experience.

 

I expect we'll hear lots of these stories here in the coming months, and the ending likely won't always be so pleasant.

 

A bit of simple advice for everyone. Take a few minutes out of your busy schedules and read PayPal's seller protection rules.

Just curious, case like this, if I don't feel comfortable with buyer's rating, or his account status (e.***. account opened only for a few  days), can I simply cancel the transaction after the auction is ended without buyer's consent?  What should I tell the buyer?

I've shipped goods online all over the world for over 15 years and the two problem countries I usually come across are Italy as Russia so proceed with caution when dealing with potential buyers from there.

Just curious, case like this, if I don't feel comfortable with buyer's rating, or his account status (e.***. account opened only for a few  days), can I simply cancel the transaction after the auction is ended without buyer's consent?  What should I tell the buyer?

 

Basically no.

 

You can put in buyer restrictions, but it won't necessarily stop someone with a newly created account or low feedback from buying your item. If you simply cancel the transaction you'll be opening yourself to negative feedback from the buyer and you'll still have to pay transaction fees to eBay. If you're not comfortable one approach to can take is to insure things in these cases or require signature delivery regardless of the value of the item.

 

Personally we have no problem selling to low feedback buyers, or those with new accounts. Everyone has to start somewhere. We recently sold a $2k purse to someone with 0 feedback and an account that was opened the same day as the purchase. There were no issues and they left positive feedback very quickly.

Emes,

 

Just to confirm, Priority Express is the only trackable shipping option to international shipping addresses.

Emes,

 

Just to confirm, Priority Express is the only trackable shipping option to international shipping addresses.

 

No, it's not the only method. USPS also offers Global Express Guaranteed, but that costs even more that Priority Express International. I'm about 90% certain that Global Express Guaranteed is just a USPS rebranded Fedex service.

 

We never ship internationally FedEx, UPS, or DHL, but I'm sure they both have options with online tracking.

Thats why I don't ship internationally except for with Ebay;s GSP now.

No, it's not the only method. USPS also offers Global Express Guaranteed, but that costs even more that Priority Express International. I'm about 90% certain that Global Express Guaranteed is just a USPS rebranded Fedex service.

 

We never ship internationally FedEx, UPS, or DHL, but I'm sure they both have options with online tracking.

I guess I should have asked, is Priority Express is the cheapest USPS option that offers tracking door to door.

I guess I should have asked, is Priority Express is the cheapest USPS option that offers tracking door to door.

 

Sort of, but not exactly. 

 

I don't do this, but Frog would know, there are some countries where FCMI offers tracking, but it depends on the weight of the item.

 

Also, there's a minor trick you can do with FCMI to some countries. If you make the FCMI shipping registered (which costs more) then it's trackable door-to-door. Some countries won't accept this though, and registered mail can be a pain. When I use registered mail domestically it's because I'm sending a coin or something valuable off to be graded, and you have to wet and glue down those strips of brown paper all over the package.

Sort of, but not exactly. 

 

I don't do this, but Frog would know, there are some countries where FCMI offers tracking, but it depends on the weight of the item.

 

Also, there's a minor trick you can do with FCMI to some countries. If you make the FCMI shipping registered (which costs more) then it's trackable door-to-door. Some countries won't accept this though, and registered mail can be a pain. When I use registered mail domestically it's because I'm sending a coin or something valuable off to be graded, and you have to wet and glue down those strips of brown paper all over the package.

Gotcha. Up until about 2 months ago I was still shipping all kinds of stuff Priority all over the world without problem. Thankfully I never had any problems. Only problem I had was 3 years ago I sent a 10123 Boba Fett in a small flat rate box knot knowing it was (or is) really considered first class.

Gotcha. Up until about 2 months ago I was still shipping all kinds of stuff Priority all over the world without problem. Thankfully I never had any problems. Only problem I had was 3 years ago I sent a 10123 Boba Fett in a small flat rate box knot knowing it was (or is) really considered first class.

 

That's the thing about this that I think really sucks. If you offer options that meet seller protection requirements, then you make your prices too high for many international buyers. But, when you ship by methods that don't provide tracking, you accept a risk, but it's a risk that only rarely materializes, yet when it materializes it can be a big hit.

 

I suspect we could sell triple what we do internationally if we offered shipping options that were significantly lower cost.

That's the thing about this that I think really sucks. If you offer options that meet seller protection requirements, then you make your prices too high for many international buyers. But, when you ship by methods that don't provide tracking, you accept a risk, but it's a risk that only rarely materializes, yet when it materializes it can be a big hit.

 

I suspect we could sell triple what we do internationally if we offered shipping options that were significantly lower cost.

I've considered this on my cheaper items. Let's say $40 or less than can be shipped First Class. Let's say I lose 5% off packages. Would that be made up in the 50% more sales I do internationally? Probably. It's always going to be risk vs reward.

This is finally happening to me.  I sold a SSD drive back in August, and now I received a notification from Paypal saying that I have a case opened against me, claiming the charge was unauthorized.   This was an eBay purchase and fortunately I have everything to prove the item was shipped/delivered.  The buyer even left me a positive feedback back in September.   Right now the case is still under investigation, but it's really bothering me because Paypal has temporarily removed the funding from my account balance.  I don't know how long the investigation will take, but I guess it will be several weeks?  I should have withdrawn every single penny, it really sucks.

 

Another thing that is bothering me is that it seems like on eBay seller page it only keeps the transaction records up to the last 60 days.  If it wasn't the the buyer left me a positive feedback, I weren't even able to locate the transaction.

Kenchu, you can locate the transaction by copying and pasting the eBay item number into eBay's search (you can get the item number from the disputed PayPal transaction if it's not showing up on your feedback page).

 

As long as you shipped with tracking (and signature if over $250) and it shows delivered/signed for, you're fine. You can call PayPal and ask them to manually close the dispute in your favor - they'll often do this right over the phone.