Need urgent advise. PayPal problem

[SimpleDomaining]

ok. i sold domain yesterday. i posted it here for sale. buyer paid via paypal and i pushed domain (in domainsite) to him. we both got good feedbacks.
today i got surprise from paypal, it was empty. that money i reseived are "on temporary hold" by paypal because of this:
"This payment has been selected for review and we have opened an investigation.
We suspect that this transaction may not have been authorized by the PayPal account holder.
We have placed a temporary hold on the funds until the investigation is complete.
Please provide some additioal information about this transaction."

The only information they let me provide is to push on button "resolve", because status is requiring my (sellers) action. Whats happening when you push that "resolve" button? WHat are my steps?
now i made a little research and i see that my domain now owned by somebody in Florida, while paypal have been sent by different name from CA.

any advise would be appretiated. thanks.
im i being scamed?

 

[VYFX]

ok. i sold domain yesterday. i posted it here for sale. buyer paid via paypal and i pushed domain (in domainsite) to him. we both got good feedbacks.
today i got surprise from paypal, it was empty. that money i reseived are "on temporary hold" by paypal because of this:
"This payment has been selected for review and we have opened an investigation.
We suspect that this transaction may not have been authorized by the PayPal account holder.
We have placed a temporary hold on the funds until the investigation is complete.
Please provide some additioal information about this transaction."

The only information they let me provide is to push on button "resolve", because status is requiring my (sellers) action. Whats happening when you push that "resolve" button? WHat are my steps?
now i made a little research and i see that my domain now owned by somebody in Florida, while paypal have been sent by different name from CA.

any advise would be appretiated. thanks.
im i being scamed?

This is long, but I've seen things like this happen literally hundreds of times with online games and other virtual items in the past..


I used to play an online game called Ultima Online. Many people in the game were "e-rich", or absolutely loaded with in-game currency. When the money got to be too much for some users, many turned to eBay to get rid of their in-game currencies and goods. Unfortunately, since virtual goods are not physically track-able items (i.e. FedEx tracking number, etc..), it's very hard to prove the virtual goods were ever sent to the buyer as they rightfully should have been. Thus, many buyers would reverse the PayPal payments arguing they never received the goods-- even if they had-- since they knew it was impossible to trace whether or not the item(s) or in-game currency was ever delivered.

Many people do this with domain names, too. A buyer will purchase a domain name and send money through PayPal, then reverse the payment once they receive the domain arguing that they never received ownership of the name. This will begin a PayPal dispute (it will show up in your Resolution Center). This is most likely what happened in your case.

Your first step should be to not click the Resolve button yet. Contact the registrar where the domain was registered under your name and ask for records (in writing from the official registrar) of you as the legal owner of the domain on the day you received the payment. Also ask them to provide proof of a transfer of ownership on the domain name. Next, contact PayPal and ask them exactly what happened. The "buyer" most likely reversed his payment, and if this is the case PayPal will let you know. If the payment was reversed when it should not have been send PayPal the records received from your registrar. This will prove that before the payment was received you had legal ownership of the domain. After the payment was received you did not, but rather the "buyer" did. This shows a transfer of ownership AFTER the payment was received. PayPal will then see that the domain WAS transfered as it should have been and the payment was reversed afterwards, which is clearly against PayPal's ToS. The money should be refunded.

Also, the second you receive money through PayPal for any type of virtual transaction, request a payment either by check or (preferably) bank transfer. Once the money is out of your PayPal account there is nothing PayPal can do to the money (i.e. no 'holds', etc..). If the money was transfered out of your PayPal into, say, your bank account, the BUYER would have to be doing all of this paperwork mumbo jumbo rather than you.

Good luck,
Brian

 

[SimpleDomaining]

thank you for answer. how long i need to wait until reporting him here to admins?

 

[ApeXX]

I would go ahead and contact NP Management... They may have received reports from other people claiming he scammed them also.

Good luck! I think Paypal has a tendency to side with the buyer in an intangible item transaction dispute.

 

[rocko78]

gugush, Im sorry you have this matter.

I can't give any advice to you but I would like to know if the buyer is Verified? Did you transfer to the same people that show PayPal account?

I hope you can resolve it soon.

 

[SimpleDomaining]

account was verifed, but the name under email and name showing now under new domain ownership are different.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

If you have not already posted in the "Contact Management" section, please do.

Best of luck,
-Allan :gl:

 

[SimpleDomaining]

oh i did. i got domain back. so i think this threat can be closed. thank you for all your help.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

Glad to hear it :tu:

-Allan :gl: