So my brother set up a half.com account so that he can sell some of his college textbooks. Someone purchased his book, but then he received the following e-mail from eBay/half.com:
Unfortunately, this item was purchased with unauthorized funds, and the buyer has been suspended. Please cancel the sale.
If you haven't shipped the item, please issue a refund within the next 72 hours. If you've already shipped the order, you may be contacted by our Chargeback team. If you are, you can help us by providing the tracking number for the shipment.
***Warning***
Be suspicious of any communication from a buyer asking you to change a shipping address. half.com authorizes shipment *only* to the address provided at time of purchase.
Changing the shipping address after that could result in a chargeback to your account -- even if you have delivery confirmation.
If you have any questions, please reply directly to this email.
Thank you very much for your help in this matter.
Sincerely,
half.com Customer Support
My brother checked his paypal account, and the money was never deposited in it. Since this was his first transaction and he was not sure what to do, he contacted half.com's online chat feature, where he was told to issue a refund. Does this seem correct? Since the transaction was "fraudulent," and it does not seem like any money actually changed hands, is half.com correct in telling him to issue a refund? It just doesn't make sense to me.
Has anyone else encountered something similar to this, and if so, how was it handled?
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