Consumer Fraud Online transaction - Paypal paid - buy claims he did not get what he paid for - Ebay

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aewmlw

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Hi, I have been losing a lot of sleep! I had a listing on Ebay for a comic collection, I stated in the auction that I was not an expert, looked as no restoration was done to the books, my est value looking on web-sites and books was $50K+. All my books were purchased over the past 30 years at Garage sales, comic shops, comic stores. I also listed my opinion on conditions. Stated again that I was not an expert. Did however have my local shop look at them and he said he could get about $25K for the collection and offered $12,500 for everything. Thought I could do better then that.

I Posted over 60 pictures from Auctiva (an online picture site for Ebay). There were 1600+ books, statues, signed books, etc. These sat in my closet for years and boxes and thought my children do not care about them, lets sell them, take a trip, get somethings done around the house, etc.

I started the listing at $35,000. Had a lot of interested buyers. A lot of phone calls, locals that came and looked, emails. Nobody was buying. Had them listed for about 2 weeks. One of the locals stated to take the statues out and autographs except for a few of the high value autos. I did that, took some books out and re-listed at $15,000. Calls, emails, etc started all over again. Had a gentlemen in WA interested. Said he just wanted my older books. No statues, nothing, just the older ones. Sent him pictures, spoke to him on the phone a number of times. Told him on phone, email that he better make sure this is what he wants as I will not except any returns of refunds. These were going to travel from MI - WA and the more handling involved, the conditions could change. He agreed. Stated in one email taht his wife was not happy about this purchase.

I had them professionally packaged at my local UPS. Insured all of them. It cost me $250 to do this. Told him the cost and he should receive by Friday. It was Mon. He wanted me to over night or 2 days them so he had the whole weekend and guaranteed them to be there before Friday so he can go through them. It was an additional $500 to do. I told him no. I would gladly do this if he were to pay. He declined. I shipped them out.

Boxes arrive on Friday evening. He calls me. He said they were not what he expected. He said the conditions were not as good as the pictures were. I told him to give me a couple hours as I was out of my house and would be back then.

I emailed him. Stated what he thought was problems. Out of the 600+ books he received he was not happy with some of the conditions. He said some of them look restored to him.

He gave terms:

1. he mailed this back next week sometime and wanted a full refund

2. I send him the modern books and refund him $5000

3. I send him the modern books, autographs, and statues and refund him $2500

I declined. I did agree to send him all my modern books and autographs (2K-$4K value) to "go away".

He declined

I told him that he received my most valued books and he agreed to them. I asked if he was shorted anything or if the box looked tampered with. I also told him that this is what we agreed with. You saw my pictures and we spoke on the phone. I even offered him and referred him to local vendors to do any assessments he may want.

He paid via Paypal.

He contacted me last night almost 3 weeks of the last talks (thought it went away). Said he was giving me one more shot. He couldn't find the address I gave him originally and wanted to send them back. I again told him there were not any refunds. He said he is filing a claim with his credit card company and they said to send these back to me immediately.

I canceled my Paypal account this morning. I hear horrible things with them with disputes. My questions are:

I am not a store or merchant. This was a collector to collector transaction, does he have any rights?

Canceling my Paypal account and if the credit card company goes after Paypal, can they legally pull funds from my bank account?

Lastly, does he have any rights if he decides to sue?

I have kept every receipt transaction, every email, and the Ebay listing. He is claiming fraud to the Credit Card company and I am afraid he is doing this to me (fraud)? Did his wife chew his butt off for spending that much money? I do not know what to do.
 
If the package shows up at your home refuse it and have it returned to sender.
It was the buyer's responsibility to inspect the items before making the purchase. So long as you did not misrepresent what was being sold Ebay will likely side with you. It sounds as if you have plenty of correspondence to show if anyone comes asking questions.
This is a case of buyer's remorse. It is not your problem, it is the buyer's.

Having canceled your Paypal account won't necessarily stop them from accessing your bank account. I would bet that there is language in their User Agreement when you signed up that addresses this. If you are truly concerned, open a new account and move your money.

Personally, I think that with the explanation you give here you are likely safe.

The credit card company is unlikely to take action unless there is fraud involved. They won't do anything at all so long as the buyer still has the items he purchased.

IF YOU ACCEPT THE RETURN YOU WILL LIKELY BE ON THE HOOK FOR A REFUND!
 
Thank you for your response! The transactions did not go through Ebay. He had me cancel the auction early and do a "private" transaction. He only wanted certain books. He used the Ebay listing as a "reference" of what books he wanted. That is why I thought it was a "collector to collector" purchase and he had "buyers remorse"
 
Any other thoughts? This is really sressing me out. I was in no wrong. Thought I covered everything.
 
Ebay or not, the response is the same. If no fraud then there is nothing to worry about. Better safe than sorry- move the money if you don't want it to disappear.
I really don't think you have anything to worry about. The best option this guy has is to come to your state and sue you... and if he does so he has a very poor argument to make.
 
Ok. Making me feel better. Even though I am not a merchant, could he even sue me since the transfer went through Paypal?
 
Yes he can sue, but it will be difficult to do from out of state and he seems to have a very poor argument to make.
Keep all your correspondence. All that documentation is what will save you if it should go that far.
Personally I wouldn't worry much about it... just refuse a returned package and move the money to an account that Paypal can't access (just in case).
 
Yes he can sue, but it will be difficult to do from out of state and he seems to have a very poor argument to make.
Keep all your correspondence. All that documentation is what will save you if it should go that far.
Personally I wouldn't worry much about it... just refuse a returned package and move the money to an account that Paypal can't access (just in case).

You have been very helpful! Thank you! One last thing, in did have credit cards on my payapl account, I am ok with those? They could only use my checking, correct?
 
You have been very helpful! Thank you! One last thing, in did have credit cards on my payapl account, I am ok with those? They could only use my checking, correct?
PayPal is very sneaky. They could use credit cards as a back up funding source. But, credit card companies reverse charges easier and faster. You can always cancel the cards and get new numbers.

I suggest you never do business over eBay again. In the meantime, wait.
 
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