The Energon Pub

I was wondering if anyone had any advice or can answer any of my questions. Thanks!


About a month ago, someone bought an item from me on ebay. The total amount is about $30. He paid me by paypal, via a credit card I believe. He had a confirmed address, so I shipped the item with usps delivery confirmation, which I provided to paypal when I shipped the item. He received it, left me positive feedback, and I did the same.

I have checked usps and it showed that my packaged was delivered.

However, today I check my email and find a legit email from paypal saying that they have opened an investigation into this transaction and have placed the funds associated with this transaction on hold. So I when logged into my paypal account, my balance was in the negative (-$30), since I have long ago tranfered the funds to my bank account.

Anyway, I believe that this investigation was started by the paypal and not the buyer (but I could be wrong). When I clicked on the resolution center, the reason given for this investigation is "inquiry by paypal" One reason I believe this investigation started is that, according to this buyer's feedback, he either failed to pay some other ebay sellers or had the payments reversed on them. One of the alleged "unpaid" transactions was for $129. So I think paypal is investigating the payments (or lack there of) that this buyer made to the those sellers and also investigating the payments this buyer made, which leads to my transaction.


I have been selling on ebay for the past 5-6 years. I have taken several percautions, including shipping (mostly) to confirmed addresses, using delivery confirmation, etc... I've never experience this before although I believed, due to the law averages, that I would encounter a situation like this one day. Sure I've had some troublesome buyers, but I've always managed to resolve any issues on my own, even refunding some money in certain cases.


Anyway, if any of you have had similar experiences, I was wondering if you can answer my questions.

1) About how long will be investigation last? Ballpark estimate?

2) Will this affect my future ebay-paypal transactions? - I have several items ending today in fact. Will I still be able to transfer funds to my bank account?

Thanks for any advice/comments. I have searched through the ebay guides and am now in the process of reading the info on paypalsucks.com, but there's a lot of stuff to look through.

I needed to have them investigate something once.

Best thing to do, phone em. Can't tell you how much you'll get done. Explain the problem, don't worry about sounding dumb or anything. At least to find out whats going on. If you're not in the wrong for anything, you've nothing to worry about.

Phone em. Definitely.

After phoning em, they cleared up the matter virtually the same day I think. Definitely was a snappy cleanup.

As for how it affects your other transactions... I'd play safe and let them pay you, let it sit in your PayPal account and not try to transfer any money to your bank account just yet. JUST to be safe. Logically, they should give you back the $30 when its over but just make sure you don't make things worse. Not saying anything about you personally, but you may have made a silly mistake somewhere, you never know. I sure did...

Thanks for the reply and I advice. I was hesistate to call them before because I thought they wouldn't be helpful, according other people's accounts, like the ones on paypalsucks.com



Anyway, I called paypal, and was surprised I didn't have to wait for long to talk to a live person.

She said it was an investigation on the buyer, that I did nothing wrong in the transaction.

She said that it was problem with the buyer's credit card, that it was flagged so that why the investigation is opened.

I asked why it to so long to opened this investigation, as the buyer paid me on Jan. 26, 2008 and it's today (Feb. 20, 2008) that the investigation is opened. She said she didn't know.

I asked how long this investigation would last, and again she said she didn't know, but then I asked her long these investigations typically last and she said 5-14 business days.

She said that basically paypal is asking the buyer to prove that the credit card payment is legit. She also said that since I did nothing wrong and followed all the right precedures I would be covered in the paypal seller protection (HA! We'll see)

She said that I still might get those funds, if the buyer proves the payment is legit. But if not, then she says that, under the Seller Protection Program, paypal will take the lost and I'll still be refunded (HA! We'll see)

I asked why, if I did everything right, how come paypal put a temporary hold on the funds, even if I will get that money in the end anyways, and she said that if the payment isn't legit than the funds will be used to refund the credit card company.

I then asked if there was anything else I could do to help prevent a situation like this, but she said I did everything I could and in situations like this where a credit card gets flagged there's basically nothing I could do.

Then I asked if I can sell and operate on ebay like I normally do and she said "yes, of course" and that I was no restrictions or limited access on paypal or ebay accounts.


Okay, so everything is all dandy and stuff according to my conversation with her, but we'll see...

It does put me at ease a litte bit...

Yeah, see if there's a problem now, its in no way your fault, because you've been told not to worry.

My experience with their call center was pretty positive too, they're very helpful.

With a company as big as PayPal, they can't afford to slip up I think. I was given my withheld money back in the end. I think you're safe to carry on and let them sort out their end. You win either way. You'll get your $30 back.

Just be honest on your end and go through the steps. paypal can be a pain sometimes when it comes to CC transactions. I hope it all works out for you in the end. Sometimes it can take up to 90 days to sort the messes out so just be patient. Hopefully you'll get your money back. Let us know what happens.

Just a little update,


The girl I talked to just emailed me a paypal survey about how the phone conversation was handled, and for the most part the answers I gave were favorable to her, since she was polite, and helpful to a certain degree.

Yeah, I had a good experience with eBay's service too. It's so nice talking to a human being, isn't it?