Paypal - reversed "by bank" and now upheld? Long post-sorry!

[VickyA]

I have only completed anout 20 transactions of ebay, and only recently starting selling bits, to clear out the garage.

During the post strike (!??) a buyer with over 200 positive feedbacks won a pair of boots from me and paid immediately by Paypal. I offered to wait before posting 2nd class signed for as advertised, or to send by courier immediately. he said post was fine. I sent them on the 10th Oct, and they're not there yet..

Meanwhile... at the end of last week I had an email from Paypal saying the payment was reversed by the buyers bank, and asking for details of the transcation - I checked in Paypal to see if it had really been reversed, and it had, so I responded with the details. At the same time I contacted the buyer through ebay messages asking if there was a problem - he said no, he was aware of the post issues, and his bank had contacted him to say that THEY had reversed the transaction, he would look into it on Monday.

Today, I've got an email from Paypal saying "We have conducted a review of a payment that you received. In this case, returning the funds to the sender was determined to be the appropriate action, and we have completed a reversal of the payment. Good selling practices, like trackable delivery, prompt postage and communication between buyer and seller help prevent disputes."

Am I being scammed? I've written again to the buyer being friendly, and asking them to pay again through paypal or to send me a cheque once the boots have arrived (stupid I know, but I feel bizarrely guilty and want to come across as uber reasonable) and am waiting for a response.

Any help or comments would be gratefully received!

Usually when that happens it has either been a dodgy payment from the buyer, but if the payment was reversed by their bank they have obviously asked them to cancel the payment. And I don't understand why they would have to wait until Monday to sort this out with the bank? I'd give paypal a call to get more details and maybe check the buyers details for a telephone number to discuss.
In the meantime, check the tracking number everyday and as soon as it is received make sure you let them know you have proof of this, you could then always ask them for payment. Unfortunatly you may end up losing out anyway. What is the user name? Do they have good feedback as a buyer?

similar happened to me. One of the risks of using paypal.
If you provide a tracking number to paypal and you were eligible for seller protection on that particular transaction then you shouldn't lose out.
I lost out

The only drawback with the tracking number is that they say the item must have been signed for by the recipient. therefore if anyone else living at that address signed for it you are not eligible. Seller protection policy is a load of rubbish, so many people hate using it for these reasons.

sounds strange, the post is still very slow but I can't believe the bank would reverse a payment without them being told to by the buyer. i know when I had a company take a bill out of my bank account multiple times its a bit of a faff to reverse things so does seem odd. Also if the buyer had a problem why didn't they go through the appropriate channels.

The buyer's just replied to my email saying his bank refused the paypal transaction and are looking into it - he sounds genuinely baffled like me. He's offered to send a cheque or repay through paypal if I send my details - any mention of "details" just rings alarm bells, so I've just said to send a cheque.

We'll see - as long as it's not an obvious con which is ringing alarm bells with you guys, it's only a pair of old boots I had in my wardrobe ("Worn in, not worn out" - I should be in copywriting ) so I've not actually lost anything apart from postage if it all goes wrong.

Thanks for your ideas anyway!

its possible he didn't have enough money in his bank account to pay it. You could just send him a paypal money request to his paypal account using his email and then if this one doesn't get paid or gets returned then ask for a postal order as they would have to pay cash up front to the post office.

He's emailed to say he's putting a cheque in the post first class tomorrow. It sounds like his bank have acted completely unilaterally, which is a bit odd... I'll be legging it to the bank when it comes at any rate!

My bank occasionally decide for some random reason that a payment is fishy and if they can't get hold of me on the phone right then to check that it was really me making the payment they block or reverse it. They've never done it on PayPal yet, but his story sounds quite plausible.