My Paypal Debacle

On 09.09.09, I received an e-mail from Paypal at about 11:30pm. It came through my iPhone while I was trying to stay up and watch TV. I've known that people have received some fraudulent e-mails using Paypal before. I've seen the scams.


But, this Paypal e-mail came through the right e-mail address with Angry Husband's name on it. It also had his nickname or abbreviated name that we use on the account.

The e-mail stated this:

Hello Angry Husband,

We were recently notified that one of your buyers filed a chargeback and asked the credit card issuer to reverse a payment made to you on July 1, 2009.

The buyer claims that this purchase was made without authorization to use the credit card. Their credit card issuer needs additional information from you about this transaction. Please respond within 10 days so that we can help resolve this
chargeback. To respond, log in to your PayPal account and go to the Resolution
Centerto provide information about this transaction.

The credit card issuer decides if the buyer's claim is legitimate. Once the credit card issuer receives your information, it may take up to 75 days to make a final decision.
Because the credit card issuer has reversed the charge for this transaction, we've placed a temporary hold on the funds associated with this transaction until the case is resolved. Our user agreement explains our policies on holding funds.

You can learn more about chargebacks in the Resolution Center
tutorials.

This was related to a transaction that I made on 07.01.09. I sold some Boden clothing to someone on a large parenting forum. The chargeback was for a $100, which is a significant amount of money. I've sold on the forums for years, and never had a chargeback. The person I sold to had feedback. She left me feedback. I assumed the transaction was over with.

Because I've used Paypal for over seven years, I know Paypal's policies. I did everything right. I accept the Paypal payment. I mailed the items out within a day. I shipped through the Paypal site. I used Delivery Confirmation. My response to the chargeback was an explanation, and a I also including the tracking number, which showed that the item was delivered to the correct address. Do you know that Paypal has a Seller Protection Policy? I complied with the Policy. Unfortunately the representative from Paypal said that it could take approximately 7-30 days to get my account re-instated. For right now, I have a negative balance.

Oh, and the best part of this. This woman did the same thing to several people on the same forum. I wasn't the only victim. Some of the incidents happened in May and June. They were able to clear it up with a phone call and get their accounts re-instated. My main problem is that the account is in Angry Husband's name. I did this for safety reasons, and it has given me problems more than once. I couldn't get anything accomplished on the phone because Angry Husband was not present. And with us both being so busy, I still haven't had time to have him call Paypal. They also advised me that the account name is established and that we can't change it, even after this issue is closed.

Do you know what this really means for me? I can't shop online. Well I can shop online, but not at etsy or e-bay, two sites I frequent DAILY.

Hopefully, I can get this all cleared up within the next day or so. Otherwise I'm going to lose my mind! I don't know if I'll ever sell any of Angry Toddler's used clothing online again. I'm pretty pissed off about this. I currently have two totes of clothing to purge in my house. I might take it to a local consignment store soon.

I'm not against Paypal. I will keep using their service. I think it's a great idea, even with all of their fees. But I'm still frustrated.

***Update 09.14.09...I got a hold of Paypal last night. They cleared my account. I can finally shop!!******

Amazon Prime

Is anyone a member of this?

They have a free one-month trial. I buy lots of books and dvd's. I would buy more from Amazon if I got free shipping?

I'm willing to pay the $79. I have a my Christmas Account available at the first of next month?

It might be nice to get this now since there were tons of specials on toys last year.

I might need to get this.

Etsy

Etsy is the new cool place for handmade things. I love soo many things on there. I have all kinds of stores saved as my favorites. I thought I might share some of my recent purchases.


Holy Pumpkins Address Labels
-The seller shipped these soo fast. They are perfect for my Halloween cards. I will be buying more from here. I love the look of round labels.


Childrens Capes Custom Superhero Kid Cape
-Angry Toddler wanted a Superhero Cape in a catalog. The thing was like $50. Seriously, too expensive. I knew I could find a cape somewhere cheaper and probably much better quality. I like this cape. I had it done with a star and Angry Toddler's first initial.



Tropical Mommy Calling Cards or Business Cards
-I always have people at Angry Toddler's preschool asking me for my 411. It's really nice to have something to give to them. I actually ended up giving these out at a Junior League meeting recently, cause I didn't have any of my work business cards on me. These are great quality, and they shipped really fast.


Vintage Everyday Housewife Apron
-I purchased this for Angry Husband's cousin as a wedding shower gift. She is into all things vintage. She loved it. I actually had Londie help me in picking out. I love the color scheme too.

Tote and Tee

I'm a BIG Fan of Amy at Tote and Tee. She does a fabulous job. I've slowed down on buying tees for Angry Toddler in the past year or so. He's been a pain in the butt about what he wears. He is getting alot better though.

Well my BFF Stacey and I, decided that we should once again, torment our children. She ordered Stella and Angry Toddler these Naughty and Nice tees. I think you can figure out which one Angry Toddler will be wearing.

Anywho, this would be a great brother/sister set. Amy has all kinds of goodies on her site. She even has the cutest Christmas colored knee socks for girls.

Londie is also a big fan of Amy's work. Londie is the one who got me hooked!

Price Comparisons for Christmas Shopping

Angry Toddler received a catalog from Young Explorers yesterday. He picked out the Bruder Recycling and Garbage Truck from the catalog. The truck is priced at $79.95. YES, that is pricey, but I know that Bruder makes great trucks and they are very durable.

Well luckily, I'm a pretty savvy shopper. I've already found the truck cheaper at the following sites:

The Golden Apple Learning Store-$59.95

Image Toys-$64.95

Play Fair Toys-$65.95

Amazon-$55.99

I could potentially save over $20 for this truck by just shopping around. There are also lots of sites with Free and/or Reduced Shipping. If you start shopping early enough, there are deals out there.

I just wanted to type this, because luckily for the internet, we are able to bargain shop and we don't even have to leave our houses!

Chasing Fireflies

I'm on several children's clothing forums. I've learned alot about shopping from them. I've learned about season's, sizing for each brand, and of course discounts.

There's an online boutique site, called Chasing Fireflies that has a website and a catalog. I love the unique things that they have in there.

Usually Angry Toddler is quite destructive with magazines and books. For some reason or another, he is obsessed with their catalog. He keeps pointing to things, and says "look mama, that's soooo cool". Yea, me thinks I'm passed on my shopping bug to Angry Toddler.

Unfortunately, one of the bad things about the site is the prices, they are kinda pricey. Note to self: Must list e-bay auctions asap!

Here are a few of the things that I like from their current catalog:





P.S. Don't even look at the girl's stuff. Thank god, I don't have a girl. There's some To Die For goodies on there. Including their Halloween costumes.

Ick, Flu...and some shopping

So the entire family was sick all weekend long with the flu. Angry Husband and I both missed two days of work because of it. I swear, I haven't been this sick in a very long time. The only good thing about being sick was, I gotta lots of sleep, and I lost some weight.

But today is a new day and I'm feeling alot better. Angry Husband is at work, and Angry Toddler is at preschool. I took the dogs to the groomer. Actually, I walked the dogs to the groomer, because they were soo stinky, I wouldn't even put them in the husband's man vehicle. Then I stopped for bagel McDonald's, to have some breakfast. I walked my butt home after that.

Then I proceeded to catch up on all my blog and forum reading. Big mistake!!! I should have stayed away a couple of days longer. Three hours later, I had placed orders with Pottery Barn Kids, Williams Sonoma, Amazon, and Franklin Mint. There are all kinds of good deals out there, with codes, rebates, and such.

I went and picked up the doggies. They smell soo pretty now. I actually allowed them to get into the man vehicle. I think Angry Husband knew I was going to drive it today, because I did not see any fast food wrappers in the backseat like usual.

When I finally got time to relax, I sat down and watched The Hills. It was a lovely episode. I hope Heidi and Spencer stay broken up. I loathe those two. I know everyone wants Lauren to be with Brody. But I think he's just out for the media attention. Do Spencer and Brody even have jobs? What do they do all day?

Well, I am about done with blogging for the moment. This is my 100th blog post! Yippee!!

I'm working on my next post, which will be 101 Things about Me. As soon as I find 101 Interesting Things, I will post it!

Doodle Bugs Paper

My friend Londie is a shopping fanatic like me. She is one of my online gal pals, and it's probably a good thing she doesn't live closer. She has introduced me to all kinds of new places to shop at. She has also enabled my e-bay addiction even more.

Around this time last year, Londie turned me onto Doodle Bugs Paper. The owner of Doodle Bugs is Kacey. Let me tell ya, Kacey does some awesome work. I'm turned several friends onto her site since then.

I think Doodle Bugs is my new official place for gifts. I mean come'on, every gal loves personalized stationary, right?

You gotta check out her site. She has some awesome things up there for Halloween and the Harvest Season. She will be putting out her Holiday things soon.

Doodle Bugs Paper