ADVICE: "Inquiry by PayPal" Claim

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

Hello all. You may remember me from past PayPal claims such as this one, where I had to call PayPal constantly from May to September for theft. I'm back again with another thrilling PayPal saga to boggle over because I do not believe 2016 wants to leave me feeling fine.

About three weeks ago I finished a fursuit, posted it for auction and within an hour someone autobought it. I've had this happen a handful of times so I was very excited, except my heart dropped when I saw that the person who was buying it was also bidding on a few other auctions. I sent them an e-mail and they quickly responded, they were in fact a real person, and promptly paid for their item. I mailed the partial out the next day and they received it, very happy with the result.

Fast forward to today, the day before Christmas Eve. At 3PM my PayPal balance was $0.00. At 11PM it was -$902.84.

A claim was placed on my account and, unlike any other claim I have ever seen before, the reason for it was "Inquiry by PayPal". I thought this was something my client had placed and sent them a serious e-mail. After a brief exchange (me more confused and them relaxed) it turns out that they didn't issue it and that PayPal did it.
Except... Did PayPal issue it? I asked my client and they paid with their card through PayPal. The payment was processed instantly when I received it earlier in December. It went without being questioned for nine days.

I gave PayPal a call, a very rude representative told me to call back tomorrow because "I don't know anything about that and you're asking the wrong person." So apparently their own representatives in the resolution center do not understand what's going on.

At this point I'm completely lost. This is a very large sum of money and I cannot afford to just lose it and have my client keep the fursuit while PayPal shrugs it off. I replied to the claim with a tracking number, supposedly my client is unable to do anything from their end. I asked them nicely to call their bank and see if they're reading the transactions as fraud activity.

Has anyone else ever gotten this or know what I should do? I'm not around this weekend due to the holidays. Google search showed some people had it resolved in 24 hours, some had it open for weeks. The buyer is not a minor and did in fact purchase it with their own card. The account I'm using has been active since 2001 so it's not anything on my end.

Comments

[mortymaxwell.livejournal.com]

It seems strange that they are so calm about it and seem to be taking the path of least resistance. If it happened to me, I would want to know if there was suspected fraudulent going on with my account, and I'd be calling my bank.

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

I asked them to call the bank but I have to agree. I was typing paragraphs, calmly explaining how illegal fraudulent activity and theft is (since they have the fursuit) and they would just reply with an incomplete sentence like, "Oh no".

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Did you tell them you'll be looking into taking legal action against them for fraud? You have their personal information and their address, it's a substantial enough chunk of money for the courts to take seriously..

Are you still submitting a post?

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

No because I wouldn't be taking any legal action for something like that. It would be a waste of money and I don't like lying.

I submitted a post but it was rejected, the claim was resolved last Friday in my favor. Apparently I'm the only person out of 8 who contacted me in private about this person who got their money back.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it was resolved in your favor, but had it not been, it would have been worthwhile pursuing IMO. But I'm glad it wasn't necessary.

[mpd-84.livejournal.com]

I'd say keep contacting Paypal till you get someone who does know what's going on (and maybe file a complaint about that rude rep).
As for the buyer. I wonder if all those auctions made their bank think it was fraud? Does the person's online stuff seem new? Maybe do a google search on this person and see if this is a frequent issue with them?

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

This is the second bad rep I've gotten at PayPal, the last one was with the case referenced above in my first sentence and even she wasn't nearly as rude as this guy was. Sorry you weren't trained to do your job but don't take it out on me.

Their FA account was new but inactive. They use Furry Amino, a phone app, for their social media. Nothing came up regarding their username anywhere else. They had positive feedback on Furbuy. It just pains me because, if they do end up getting the money back, I don't know what I'm going to do. It sounds like they're more than willing to be cooperative with me about giving me back the funds if PayPal takes them away from me (they're only on hold right now) but the sequence of events at the moment couldn't be any worse.

[celestinaketzia.livejournal.com]

Tweet the @ask_paypal twitter as well as call them. Googling the phrase also brings up this (https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/About-Payments-Archive/Inquiry-by-paypal-temporary-hold-placed-paypal-support-help/td-p/687201), and this (https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/Merchant-services-Archive/How-long-does-an-quot-Inquiry-by-PayPal-quot-take/td-p/32292).

Looks like this specific transaction got flagged and Paypal will release it eventually. Wouldn't hurt to tweet them or DM them though.

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

Didn't think to tweet to them, thank you! I did a lot of Googling differently worded phrases, most of it was what you linked: People in Europe or an eBay seller who hadn't yet shipped the item and waited several days. There was one link in particular that hit a note with me and it was this link to an Etsy transaction where PayPal released it after 24 hours. (https://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/discussions/discuss/6498475/page/1)

I'm just nervous because for all of the resolution stories, there were a few opposites I read that were people who had their money taken back and they were unable to do anything about it or they had their money held for two weeks or more (one guy said 21 days).

[lackoflollies.livejournal.com]

When I sold my fullsuit for $1,300 and some change, Paypal put a temp hold on it as security in case it was fraud. It was released like.. 2? days later.

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

Oh nice, that was kind of them. At least it went through quickly but they couldn't contact the buyer, too much work.

[mortymaxwell.livejournal.com]

Hopefully, it is not a charge back and just a case of Paypal wondering why they are spending so much. Your post said they were buying a lot of stuff. If they are going on a spending spree, that could definitely make Paypal wonder what's going on. In the future, this person might want to space out their spending sprees.

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

That's what I'm thinking too but I was always taught that banks see large, numerous purchases all at once are almost always seen as fraud and that purchases from far away usually carry the same fate, it's why you're supposed to call your bank a week before you go on vacation so they can prepare for the purchases from a different area.

[likeshine.livejournal.com]

Hope it works out OP! You've had enough shenanigans already this year.

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

There's five days left in the year, fingers crossed!!

[houndofloki.livejournal.com]

I'm coming to this post really late, but it could be something that works itself out. When a customer makes several large online purchases in a short period, sometimes their bank or credit card will automatically flag the transactions as potentially fraudulent (especially if this purchasing behavior is out of the "norm" for that customer.) It would be nice if they contacted their customer before freezing transactions, but they don't always.

Did it work out for you?

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

You're not late at all!

I called PayPal a second time today, got to the security department and they told me exactly what I saw on my screen. The only additional information that I got was that it can take up to 10 days for them to review my claim and that they're going to try to review it before this Friday.

My client called her bank and it turns out they have no idea what she's talking about so it's PayPal who decided to withdraw and hold my money.

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

Update, I haven't checked my PayPal balance this morning but did see that someone else is having the same exact issue with this person except for a higher amount and that PayPal sided in the client's favor. I don't think they got paid after PayPal refunded them.

... So I could potentially be out a $900 fursuit if PayPal sides with them because she doesn't appear to have enough concern to pay me for what she received.

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

Looks like I'm going to be making an A_B on this person some time today. I've been contacted in private by several people, they also had claims put up with the same thing and the bewaree owes over $5,000 in fursuits so far. One poor girl's claim closed today in the bewaree's favor, meaning she's out $500 and apparently facing eviction. :[

The bewaree stopped replying to my e-mails about the claim but keeps "liking" my posts on Instagram. I'm at a loss if the claim goes in their favor because I'll be out $930 and a fursuit.

[celestinaketzia.livejournal.com]

That sounds good, but please keep in mind that these individuals can't be mentioned in any post you submit. They are welcomed to come and make their own posts if they'd like.

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

That's what I was going to ask about next since I'd be submitting about my transaction with her. Would it be okay to submit the list I had to make for the bewaree of the people who she owes money to, the obvious censored, since the bewaree asked me to do so? She bought so many fursuits she lost track of who she owed money to.

[celestinaketzia.livejournal.com]

It depends on the context in which you submit it to us. I can't give you an answer without seeing it, and we may still reject it for proxy.

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

I left it out for now, if a mod or admin requests it in the comments I have it saved. Thank you!