Many times I'll identify that funds sent to me are from a hacked or stolen paypal account. In the past I have held the funds thinking that if I do so and let paypal do the reversal those funds will then not be available to the hacker who has control of the paypal account. Thus saving the victim from additional loss. Sounds logical huh? Well that logic has been correct several times. But the problem is that you can actually incur additional charges to your account by doing this. I learned this the hard way.
I had 4 payments of $199 each come in 6 months ago. I identified them as fraudulent funds. The payments were made from 2 different accounts. I was actually able to get ahold of both of the real owners of the accounts. I told them both what they needed to do with Paypal to get their accounts held so that they would not take any further losses. I also reported to paypal that the funds were fraudulent. The next day 2 of the charges were reversed as expected. A few weeks went by and the other 2 charges still had not been reversed. I didn't worry about it though. I knew that I had alerted everyone that there was a problem with the payments and I had not delivered any product on these. So I didn't worry about it at all.
More than 5 months later I get notification that these are being reversed. It had been so long that I had actually forgotten about them. No matter. I knew I did not own the funds and didn't worry about it. Paypal asked for proof of delivery. As I am a virtual seller I of course have no proof. The resolution center they have has no option for "I don't qualify for seller protection" or for "No contest". So I never fill these out because none of the options apply. ( I've complained to Paypal several times about this )
Today. 6 months after the sale I get emails from Paypal. One part ticks me off.
Quote:
Because the buyer's credit card issuer has returned the funds to the card owner, the amount of the above-referenced transaction has been debited from your PayPal Account. PayPal has been charged a fee from the buyer's credit card company, and a result we have had to assess your PayPal Account a chargeback settlement fee of $10.00 USD.
That's right. For my good deeds I'm charged $10 per transaction. Granted $10 is not that much considering the amount of sales I do. But it sure is insulting. So from now on. I'll just send a refund. I know it puts the owners funds at further risk because they are available again to the hacker. But the fact is that it will actually save me time and money if I do so. No more reversal notices where Paypal wants feedback and no more fees if it was funded from a credit card.
Moral of the story....... It costs you to be a nice guy.
