Hold-Back

So I've gotten myself in a real pickle here...I'll try to briefly explain this situation.

I found this so called easy side gig on Craigslist listing ebay items. I would need to create a paypal and an ebay account and the boss would give me the items to list and every two weeks I would empty the paypal account into my checking and remit a check to the boss. I realized right away that this meant light accounting work, but being quick with numbers and with data input I still thought it would be a good side gig...I could do it from home in my spare time.

Well, after about 3 weeks I start to get weary...there are much, much more items to list than I expected to managed. But, when I was sent my first excel sheet with my earnings on it I was happy. I paid the check and picked up some more things to list. That's when I found out that the way we received information about the listings was going to change. What was once a copy & paste job became an intense home-made database application that had many bugs which would either freeze you, delete your work or skip a line--either way you would have to re-do the work making the task take twice as long.

So basically, I hated the gig. I contacted the boss and said that I wasn't liking the situation and what I needed to have happen if he wanted to keep working with me. Around this time the buyers of our first round of items starting demanding refunds- he was selling electronics that didn't work or were missing inside main components! So now the integrity of the paypal account that was linked to my checking account was severely compromised.

SO, yeah...I'm definitely a moron in this situation to begin with. I'm actually a smart person so I like the word naive in this case, but I wont split hairs. I deserve it. But guess what? It gets worse...to set up the credit card to pay for all the shipping the boss needed to get access to the account. I questioned it but knew that every move made in paypal was emailed to me and that ultimately the boss didnt know my personal information that paypal requires as verification. So I agreed....and the boss gained my password. The boss said that to take some of the burden away from the new method of listing he would manage the customer side of the refunds and correspond with the disputes in paypal for me. I say ok but know that I'm going to put an end to this as soon as my family left- I was picking them up from the airport a few days later for their week-long stay. I let the boss know that I had family coming so I needed to take a week-hiatus from the gig...the boss asked me to help make up for a sick employee by doing a load of listings before the fam came. I said ok, having the extra dough when they were out would be nice anyways. So I listed and the boss sent out an excel sheet to get paid out on. This time when I paid the boss indicated that another $2500 was owed. Strange...$2500. Such a round number consider I had paid out $1863 and $2433 before. I said that I needed to verify the amount and promptly went home to do so. $706. That's what I owed from the short time period since I had paid the large amount. Well, I had enough to deal with family coming out so I stealthily dropped off the check so I could have family over in peace.

When the fam left I contacted the boss to say that I wanted to pay out the amount and have the boss create a new paypal account with the boss' bank account so that I could transfer the account. That's when the boss let the cat out of the bag. The boss was banned FOR LIFE from paypal. Gulp. So now I realize that the refunds, etc. will ultimately come out of my bank account if I dont remove my account from the paypal account. I do so and contact Paypal to explain the situation. They encourage me to change the password and seek legal counsel should the boss disappear. I contact the boss to say that I will be changing the password, that my bank account was removed and that a new account needed to be created so that the earnings would be directed to it as I no longer wanted anything to do with the gig.

The boss again demanded the $2500. I produced the spreadsheets that the boss sent to show that our balance was zero. I know whats happening- the boss is dealing with a large loss since everyone is returning the items and the boss needs to pay for the return shipping. That, in addition to our wages puts the boss at a hefty loss and the boss is trying to take advantage.

Putting aside the demand for money not owed I have to deal with the refund issue. My paypal account is now in the negative and the boss will probably never add funds to cover this amount.

Im in dire need of help...

Based on what you say here, you could file suit against him (or at least threaten to do so) in small claims court or in regular court; filing in small claims court is easier and requires no attorney...you could try to collect all of the costs and damages that you suffered due to his behavior...

You have been scammed. An extremely similar situation was posted on Ripoffreport.com. I don't know if you are the same person or a different person who was conned into it. Your math is good. You are right, the refunds will eventually come out of your bank account and the 'boss' will be gone. You probably noted that the 'boss' is asking for his money on a short time line so that you won't have the money for the requested refunds in your paypal account.

If you are in one state, and the 'boss' is in another state, I don't know how difficult it will be for you to get a judgment against him, but I suspect it will be very difficult, and nearly impossible to collect.