My friend is asking for money back from a fraudulent eBay transaction. Should I give him the money back?

Question

I had my friend put an item on eBay that sold and the money was posted to his account. He shipped the item and paid me a certain portion of the money up front in cash and still owes me because of ATM daily cash limits. A few days later, apparently, the transaction was fraudulent, and the full amount of the money was taken out of his PayPal account, leaving him in the red. He is now asking for the money he gave me back. Because I lost my item (he had already shipped it) my argument is that I shouldn't give him the money. What would be the right path here?

The item in question was an electronic device that I completely owned. The reason why I asked him to sell it for me was because I didn't have access to an eBay account and didn't have the time to create one. According to my friend, the funds where deposited into his account, he extracted what he owed me and gave it to me cash. So it was ALREADY in PayPal and in his bank account. However, the person involved in the fraud payed via a different PayPal user ID than his eBay one. He then told eBay that he never received the package. Fortunately, my friend has tracking information and eBay is still investigating. He's asking me the money rather suddenly and harshly, but I guess that's my problem.

Answer 1

I don't understand why you and he were doing this together. Whose account was it? Who owned the property that was sold and shipped? You might need to contact eBay to get the item returned.

Answer 2

Since you were in this together then I would assume you would share the risks. But you definitely should contact ebay and paypal about this fraudulent activity. You may, in some instances, be able to recover the cost of your item.

Now for future reference here are some ebay and paypal tips:

1. Never ship an item until you have the money OUT of your paypal account and safely in another account which paypal has no access to---and/or you have cashed any cheques/money orders or the like and have the cash in hand.

2. Never leave unnecessary funds in a bank account that paypal has access to. What I do is maintain a special account exclusively for paypal use. I only transfer money to that account when I am anticipating making a paypal purchase. And I remove any funds received for items I have sold BEFORE I ship the items.

Naturally I disclose these actions on each of my auctions so people will be aware of my procedures (and why).

Answer 3

You should both split the loss 50/50 you both wanted the money from your business transaction and were fine with a 50/50 split when you were gaining....so it is only fair to split the loss too. Why was the sale fraudulent?....whose property was it to begin with?....why was your friend involved? If it was your property and he just put it on E-bay for you.....then you are responcible for 100% of the loss and your friend shouldnt have to put out one dime.

Answer 4

Honestly, it was your item in the first place therefore not only should you not give hime the money back you should get a replacement for teh item you lost due to your friends lack of judgment.

Answer 5

Your friend was merely accommodating you, trying to assist you in what was YOUR transaction. It should not cost him money to try to do you a favor.

Your item, your sale, your risk. It's not his fault, he shouldn't bear the burden.

Answer 6

never combine friends and/or family with business. It never turns out pretty.