PAYPAL wants my money and I'm out my merchandise

1. Someone purchased an item from me for $455

2. Asked me to mail to a different address than what was listed through paypal

3. Payed in full with a credit card, through PAYPAL

4. I withdrew the money from paypal and transfered it to my bank account

5. Shipped the item (All done, no problems, not exactly)

6. The chargeback was issued 2 months after the item had been shipped and recieved.

7. Provided evidence that the item was shipped and gave all correspondence between myself and the buyer to PAYPALS resolution center.

8. 2 months later PAYPAL has sided with the credit card holder and is now holding me accountable for the $455 that I withdrew from my account. The debt collectors are now starting to call me.

Basically I'm out my merchandise and money, they are even threatening to put this against my credit. My advice is to not use PAYPAL at all, or credit cards for that matter. I will only be accepting payments via money order or cashiers check in the future.

Update: 10/11/2006

I ended up having to pay PAYPAL to get the debt collectors off my back. The money was received and processed by paypal. Now, instead of saying thanks for paying, they have locked my account permanently with a $0 balance. They have also blocked all of my information regarding accounts and credit cards. If I want to use paypal again it looks like I'll need a new user account, credit card, and bank account. Thanks a lot PAYPAL, never again.