Beware: Sirafurball

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/817344.html

WHO: Sirafurball
FA: SiraFurBall
Twitter: @SiraFurBall
Deviantart: SiraFurBall

WHERE:

YCH auction piece for $43. Auction (caps) / Finished Piece

WHEN:

The YCH ended on December 12th, 2014, however I didn't alert the winner (SiraFurBall) of winning until December 13th, 2014. I was paid on the 13th ( x ) for the auction and set to work on the piece.

WHAT:

This YCH took a little longer than normal due to the holidays, but the buyer (Sira) seemed happy with the progress of the piece. I finished the piece on January 6th and posted it online.Three days later (January 9th) I received an email from PayPal regarding a 'Potentially Unauthorized Funds' notice, which cancelled a transfer of funds to my bank and also held the amount of the YCH of $43.

I contacted Sira regarding this and she stated she had no idea how this could have happened as she hadn't been on her PayPal for one week and would fix the problem. I warned her if it was a chargeback I would be making an Artist Beware against her. I also warned her not to repost the image I did until the dispute was figured out.

I posted an advice post regarding the issue and discovered that at least four other artists had the same issue with the same buyer.

On the 10th of January, funds seemed to be returned to my account and everything was alright. Fast forward to the 13th of January, and I receive another email from PayPal regarding the same issue, and my funds were once again on hold. I contacted Sira about this on Twitter as it turned out to be where I could get the most immediate attention from her. She seemed to not know about what was going on and said she fixed the issue. I have not heard from her since January 13th regarding the issue. Twitter chat is in Proof.

PROOF:

Proof of Auction: Auction / Finished Image
Proof of Payment / Proof of Dispute: X
Paypal Notification Emails: First (January 9th) / Second (January 13th)
Emails from Sira (from start of transaction):  1 / 2 / 3 /  4
Twitter Chat: X
Images from Twitter Chat:  1 /  2 /  3

EXPLAIN:

It's fairly straight forward why I'm making the Artist Beware. Considering there are at least four artists involved in this and possibly more makes me believe that this is either an issue where the commissioner wanted their art and their money too or parents got wise to their money being used. Sira claims to be 18 (see Twitter Chat in Proof) but there is a chance that she is not being truthful, but I have no proof besides her word one way or the other.

Another thing to note is that Sira is Spanish, so English is not her first language. There is definitely frustration from me in the Twitter chat and emails during conversation and waiting for response from her, but my finances and standing with PayPal I feel are in trouble while this is happening. Art commissions are a means to supplement my current income so this chargeback has caused a domino effect of problems.

As of writing this AB ( 7:22 PM PST, January 14th, 2015) the dispute has not been resolved.

Update: As of today (January 15th, 2015), I have refunded the money that was under the chargeback. I was paid back the full amount by a different Paypal account. I do not want this marked resolved as I don't know how this is going to pan out.