After many failed attempts to resolve this issue, I decided I would share this with the community to help prevent this from happening to others.

I had bought a set of FI HFCs from the forum classifieds but a day after receiving them, one of my friends sold me his Berk HFCs for a great price. I decided to reach out to Brad Patton (Patton6964) who had shown interest in the HFCs if I did not go ahead and purchase them. Brad was eager to buy them since I offered to him at the same price I paid ($245).

Brad said that his company provides free UPS shipping so he sent me a shipping label and I told him I would have the package dropped off within a couple days. In the meantime, he sent me the payment through PayPal. For some reason, the money was not showing up in my account so I called PayPal to see what was wrong. It turns out there was a small glitch with that transaction so Brad would have to first cancel the payment and repay it for it to go through.

When I asked him to do this, Brad was quick to respond and told me he would take care of it. My local UPS store had some issues with a mixup of packages so the HFCs were delayed in being shipped out by a week. I waited till I was able to resolve this shipping issue before asking Brad to pay the $245 he owed - this is where the problem begins.

Brad keeps claiming that even though he cancelled the PayPal payment, he was still charged $245. I called PayPal 3 times and each time they said the money was completely refunded back to him and is visible in his account history. Brad on the other hand claims that he called PayPal and they were not able to help him get any of the money back. Each time I tried to have him attempt to resolve it, he said theres nothing he could do about the situation. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I asked him to come on a conference call with me and PayPal so we could get this issue resolved quickly. He told me he would be free after work so I told him we would set up the call then. When I reached out to Brad to join the call, he did not respond and since then has not responded.

Brad has refused to pay and will not be returning the HFCs to me either. For you guys out there who may do business with Brad in the future, I highly advise not to.

 

So did you ship him the HFC's in good faith thinking he would resolve the payment or did you ship him the HFCs after being notified by PayPal of the initial payment (that really was a glitch)?
While (based upon if what you are saying is true- and without Patton6964's side of the story) it appears that the buyer was negligent, I would think that PayPal should also hold some responsibility on their end for this (since its their glitch that caused you to proceed) - especially if the transaction was done as a sale of goods.

 

I shipped the item once I got the confirmation from PayPal that he paid me the $245. I didn't know there was a glitch, instead just thought it would take a day or so to show up in my account.

 

First rule of selling is you don't ship until the cleared payment is in your possession. With paypal it's easy. The funds either show up in your account or they don't.

Keep the item shipment and payment transaction separate. Shipment doesn't happen until payment is completed in its entirety.

Once a payment is received, you ship using your own shipper/account. While it's great his company offers free shipping, consider the following. Lets say something happens with the shipment, lost, stolen, etc. Assuming the claim against the shipping company is won, they pay shipping account holder, which in this case is the buyer, not the seller. So now the buyer gets money from the shipping company and can file a paypal claim against you for non-receipt of item. You end up being out the item and the money!

 

You're definitely right. It was my naivety that put me in this situation and I am glad to have learned this early on rather than making this mistake with a bigger transaction. Who knows, it's the holiday season so maybe I'll receive a Christmas miracle

 

I'm confused. Did you actually ship the item?

 

That's the whole point, he's out the money AND the cats..

 

Thanks. That's what I thought I read originally. Seems the older I get the shorter the attention span while multitasking.

Who is he going to file the claim with? Paypal's instruction is clear on not shipping something until payment has cleared. Paypal won't go into the buyer's account and pull funds. UPS won't assist as he's not the account holder/shipper technically. He can file a police report for theft (buyer's or seller's PD?). However given the small amount, they won't bother investigating it.

At the end of the day, I think it's a $250 lesson the OP will have had to learn unless the buyer can be convinced to do the right thing.

 

He's still active so I sent him a PM bc we deserve to hear his side of this story as well.

Patton6964
Last Activity: Today 02:31 PM

 

Lets not BAN quite yet, I'm in for the other side of the story first... Either way, he has the item and OP doesn't have the money soooooooooo?

 

I hope this is a simple misunderstanding, as this has always been an amazing community. Best of luck with this gipl!

 

No banning till both sides of the stories can be heard. Also hoping this is all just a misunderstanding.

 

The OP's buyer was on as recently as a few hours ago. With his name clearly present in the thread subject it's likely he's already read it. I say give him a few days to respond (just in case ¿?), then drop the ban hammer if nothing.

 

I just bought a R2C intake from this seller just 3 days before this thread went up. Received the item, installed it, and my car did not blow up yet. He was actually very good seller and shipped the item within 30 min of me sending the payment. I am also hoping this is a misunderstanding. Just checked my paypal account and no illegal activity besides what I paid him. Anyways, you can always take it to judge Judy. It will make for an entertaining case. The whole g37 community will be watching that episode for sure

 

Haha, hopefully I won't have to...that would be a nerve-wracking experience I'm glad to hear you had no problem with him, maybe you could convince him to sort it out with me