WARNING, Paypal just made me lose $20 THOUSAND dollars from a scamming buyer

[CobaltBlu]

Amen and I could not agree more.

My BFF that is the paralegal was supposed to talk to one of the partners at her firm today.......hopefully she calls me tonight after she puts the baby to bed. She is a bulldog and wants to also file suit on the buyer just for the hell of it to shake them up. Thus far, I am definitely going thru with a suit against PP. I am waiting to hear back from her though so I can determine the order to do things.

I like to be prepared for stuff so I can go in with ammo and guns blazing.
My main concern is if I should do a court ordered subpoena BEFORE filing suit for paypal's "investigation" paperwork so that I KNOW exactly what this person sent to PP saying my bag was not authentic. For all I know, she used a good computer program and made up some Hermes letterhead, wrote a letter and signed it as an SA or craftsman (which H would NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS do). I mean, seriously. Paypal OBVIOUSLY does not follow up or validate anything.

Or, she submitted a fake bag for authentication.

I think it really has to be one of those two things.

1. Faked letter of non authenticity, or
2. Fake bag sent it to be authenticated and deemed fake.

I feel I need to have this information prior to filing suit. My friend said all of their "investigation" will be available to us during the "discovery" portion of the suit so I will eventually know anyways.

I just feel personally, that I would like to know beforehand.

IDK.

I dont blame you.


In another wild and probably unlikely scenario....

It could (hypothethetically of course) also be that she got the bag authenticated by someone who didnt know what they are doing, and said the bag was not authentic because of something they did not know, like the type of leather or whatever. I have heard of people worrying, for example, about ruthenium hardware, just because they did not know what it was....

We often have people come to the AT thread worried because of some little unknown detail.

Your seller may have gotten a bum authentication.....maybe.....

I mean, I guess there is a one in a million chance that this was not a scam, and hopefully no bags were harmed....which is ANOTHER reason for paypal to take their time with a case like this....the potential of having someone destroy an expensive item is as ridiculous as can be, KWIM.....

 

[CobaltBlu]

Oh yes........I was all over google for hours when this first went down and there was a TON of it. Smashing up a $30 flash drive is one thing but a $11K bag? I am just incredulous still.........Paypal is well........there really are no words.

To your other post, what if someone bought a fake Ferrari that was sold as legit? Does PP order it to be torched?? This method they deal with stuff has no rhyme or reason.

The ONLY thing I can think of is that LVMH and other companies sued the crap out of PP for fake bags, etc.

Maybe that is why they are uber-sensitive about that issue and just wipe their hands of it?

I wrote my bank today just for the hell of it and said that Paypal basically coerced me into depositing $11K into my account, took it, and never gave it back after I sold an item that should have been returned to me for a credit. I want to make them miserable as much as I can.

and.....did they sue Paypal, or EBAY??? So, as a "banking institution" shouldnt paypal have different policies than an auction venue??

 

[kristie]

I dont blame you.


In another wild and probably inlikely scenario....

It could also be that she got the bag authenticated by someone who didnt know what they are doing, and said the bag was not authentic because of something they did not know, like the type of leather or whatever. I have heard of people worrying, for example, about ruthenium hardware, just because they did not know what it was....

We often have people come to the AT thread worried because of some little unknown detail.

Your seller may have gotten a bum authentication.....maybe.....

I mean, I guess there is a one in a million chance that this was not a scam, and hopefully no bags were harmed....which is ANOTHER reason for paypal to take their time with a case like this....the potential of having someone destroy an expensive item is as ridiculous as can be, KWIM.....

I did consider this too. However, even if the buyer was given a bum authentication, she still has a free $11K bag that we know is not sitting in the trash.

You know what is funny??

Less than TWELVE HOURS after the buyer submitted the "documentation" PP found it in her favor and gave her the money back.

Yeah, they REALLY "verify" the sources..........I bet as soon as that fax came off the machine, they found it in her favor. No follow up, no nothing.

 

[kristie]

and.....did they sue Paypal, or EBAY??? So, as a "banking institution" shouldnt paypal have different policies than an auction venue??

I was told by the PP rep it was PP that was sued.......but then again, a lot of them are morons so it may be incorrect.

Here is the Ebay one..........but Ebay and PP are linked so.....hmmmmmmmmm. It states the suit was against Ebay and PP:
http://www.companyexposed.com/ebay-the-counterfeit-capital-of-the-world/

 

[Jennifer_C]

Wow. I just read this thread in one sitting. OP - my heart goes out to you for the stress you're going through I wish you the best of luck.

 

[LouiseyPeasey]

I also think after having read more on this, that some of this policy was put into place to address things like counterfeit flash drives and small electronics, which were inexpensive and easily destroyed, and usually fake and not good potential for a scam like described here. Also, there was some issue that by asking buyers to mail counterfeit items back to PP or the seller, PP was colluding in fraud, because it is illegal to use the US mail in this manner.

So.....this ill advised policy was a knee jerk reaction to something that should have been solved by a specific policy, not a blanket one.

Does anyone remember, a few years back, Paypal used to have buyers send items determined to be fake to some address in Texas (I think) where they would be destroyed? There were a few hot threads here when it was discovered that there was a business at that same address selling large lots of mixed designer merchandise at ridiculously low prices... presumably the fakes sent in for "destruction". I don't recall if there was anything directly traced back to Paypal, but the policy was changed.

 

[kristie]

Does anyone remember, a few years back, Paypal used to have buyers send items determined to be fake to some address in Texas (I think) where they would be destroyed? There were a few hot threads here when it was discovered that there was a business at that same address selling large lots of mixed designer merchandise at ridiculously low prices... presumably the fakes sent in for "destruction". I don't recall if there was anything directly traced back to Paypal, but the policy was changed.

YES!!! The threads are floating on this forum somewhere........If that doesn't show how scandalous they are.......

 

[BeenBurned]

Does anyone remember, a few years back, Paypal used to have buyers send items determined to be fake to some address in Texas (I think) where they would be destroyed? There were a few hot threads here when it was discovered that there was a business at that same address selling large lots of mixed designer merchandise at ridiculously low prices... presumably the fakes sent in for "destruction". I don't recall if there was anything directly traced back to Paypal, but the policy was changed.

YES!!! The threads are floating on this forum somewhere........If that doesn't show how scandalous they are.......

It was liquidation.com.

They were getting the bags and reselling them in lots. Many of the "lots" were mixes of authentic and fake.

No effort was made to authenticate the items.

 

[lomei]

*hugs* that is just outrageous

if i were you i'd go to the press so that the public can be aware of how paypal treats sellers vs. Buyers.

fully agree!

 

[lomei]

this is not fair for the seller, so horrible!

 

[meandmylouis]

All PP is doing is protecting themselves from chargebacks. Pure and simple. That is their only goal in these dispute "investigations."

But even there is a chargeback, the money will comes from seller, and not PP, no?

 

[nikki2229]

I have done the same thing. I have removed a couple of my account too. They cannot be trusted!

I agree. I only have 1 cc attached to my PP account and the bank account attached to it is strictly used for PP. I never keep more than $30 in there.

I am truly horrified and saddened by the scams that have been run by the lovely ladies on here. I truly wish everyone luck on fighting back against scammers.

 

[inspiredgem]

Amen and I could not agree more.

My BFF that is the paralegal was supposed to talk to one of the partners at her firm today.......hopefully she calls me tonight after she puts the baby to bed. She is a bulldog and wants to also file suit on the buyer just for the hell of it to shake them up. Thus far, I am definitely going thru with a suit against PP. I am waiting to hear back from her though so I can determine the order to do things.

I like to be prepared for stuff so I can go in with ammo and guns blazing.
My main concern is if I should do a court ordered subpoena BEFORE filing suit for paypal's "investigation" paperwork so that I KNOW exactly what this person sent to PP saying my bag was not authentic. For all I know, she used a good computer program and made up some Hermes letterhead, wrote a letter and signed it as an SA or craftsman (which H would NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS do). I mean, seriously. Paypal OBVIOUSLY does not follow up or validate anything.

Or, she submitted a fake bag for authentication.

I think it really has to be one of those two things.

1. Faked letter of non authenticity, or
2. Fake bag sent it to be authenticated and deemed fake.

I feel I need to have this information prior to filing suit. My friend said all of their "investigation" will be available to us during the "discovery" portion of the suit so I will eventually know anyways.

I just feel personally, that I would like to know beforehand.

IDK.

It would be important to know which scenario this was.

If it was the latter, the security tag becomes a critical issue. Is it mentioned anywhere in the documentation the buyer provided to PP? I'd be willing to bet that little tidbit of information was somehow overlooked. No security tag = no proof that it was your bag that was the one submitted for authenticity.

 

[chloehandbags]

There is no way someone could have a bag just like mine with the same stamp.

That is why I am saying if PP orders destruction of my authentic Birkin for being "fake," I want to see pics of THAT bag with THAT stamp on it destroyed KWIM if they are going to accuse me of:
1. Selling a fake
2. Giving the seller her money back AND letting her "keep" the bag.

Yes, but the whole point here, kristie, is that you advertised one bag and the buyer then claimed that you sent him another.

So, of course, in that situation, he would not need to have a bag just like yours, with the same stamp; as he is claiming you baited and switched him.

 

[Love Of My Life]

I did consider this too. However, even if the buyer was given a bum authentication, she still has a free $11K bag that we know is not sitting in the trash.

You know what is funny??

Less than TWELVE HOURS after the buyer submitted the "documentation" PP found it in her favor and gave her the money back.

Yeah, they REALLY "verify" the sources..........I bet as soon as that fax came off the machine, they found it in her favor. No follow up, no nothing.

the time frame here is also very suspicious.. less than 12 hours??

wondering if the buyer is in cahoots with someone at pp??

this happened much too fast.. she was able to file a claim,

get an affadavit..less than twelve hours...that in itself doesn't

add up....and pp told her to destroy the bag???