Not diamond related, but has anyone ever used Paypal dispute resolution?

[Daniela]

Hey, guys. I wanted to see if anyone here has had any experience with Paypal dispute resolution. I recently bought a handbag on ebay that was listed as being "new with tags" and unused, but when I got it, it had a three inch long black scratch/mark on the front of it. It was the first thing I noticed when I took it out of the box. When I emailed the seller to express my concerns, she insisted that I send her a picture of the scratch because she didn''t believe me. So I did, and first she claimed she couldn''t see the scratch, then she claimed that I magnified the photo, then she told me it must be just the natural graining of the leather, and that since it didn''t show in her original auction photos (which was taken from three feet away), it must not be a flaw (sheesh!). I said that I was willing to eat the cost of shipping the purse back to her, but that when it got there I wanted a full refund for my original costs including the shipping I paid. She says that she''ll refund the auction money, but only will refund the shipping if she deems the flaw not to be natural.

I have a bad feeling about just sending the purse back to her now, since she hasn''t exactly been accomodating, and she doesn''t seem like she''s being honest, either. I bought it for a gift, but I can''t give it away because it''s not actually new. My question to you guys is this: if you have used Paypal dispute resolution in the past, what kind of money did you get back? When you sent the item that was not as described back to the seller, did Paypal manage to get any of the shipping money back? Or were you out money for shipping both ways?

Any thoughts or experiences would help me make a decision about whether or not to file a dispute.

 

[mrssalvo]

i have never filed a dispute on ebay but I would suggest if you do send it back to request a return receipt. that way you have proof it was returned. what type of feedback does the seller have? I state in my auctions I will not refund the shipping if and item is returned. many online companies i.e. Victoria's Secret

won't refund the shipping charges so i just assume this is the chance of purchasing something sight unseen. I do however refund the purchase amount once the item is returned. If they are reputable It's probably ok to trust them but keep documents of everything. good luck

 

[Daniela]

Mrsalvo,

Thanks for replying, and for the advice. So you wouldn''t refund someone''s shipping even if it was your mistake? It just doesn''t seem fair that I would be out twenty dollars (cost of shipping both ways) with no purse to show for it, when it was the seller who misrepresented the item. It''s not like I just didn''t like it and changed my mind or something. It baffles me why it should be considered acceptable that she not take any responsibility for what happened.

 

[mrssalvo]

well, i actually did refund the shipping on one item when it was my mistake so yes, the item was misrepresented and you should be refunded the entire amount.

 

[MissAva]

I did use it and then I didnt go one ebay for over a year beucase I was so upset. The seller nevet sent the item at all...I was out 1600$ and a number of others were too. The seller isnt on ebay, at least with that name, but I was very agnry at the time beucase PayPal promised a full refund and then told me the funds were not there in the sellers account.

So even though I payed for PayPal insurence and went through all of their dispute resolution stuff I didnt get a penny back....As for shipping what did it say in the item description? If it didnt mention a refund of shipping cost I think you are prolly out of that money. Best of luck to you.

 

[dazedland]

We own an online store and we also sell on Ebay. You should also report the problem to Ebay in addition to Paypal. If you opted to pay for insurance (not for the shipping), but for your purchase and the seller is verfired you have a good chance of getting your money back. Being verfied means that they have their checking account info linked to their account which will make it much harder for them to not refund you if Paypal tries to pull the money from their account. Also the money from items sold sits in the paypal account unless you request a check (which takes forever) or have a paypal debit card and if this person is selling a lot I think your chances are good. I also know that they have been more strict as of late with sellers. If you have any questions when you are working on getting your money back let me know and I will try to help you any way that I can. I wonder what this person''s feedback is like on Ebay.

 

[Daniela]

Matatora, thanks for sharing your experience. That really sucks! That''s so much money to have to lose. I''m sorry it worked out so badly.

Dazedland, the seller is verified. What confounds me is that their feedback is pretty well perfect (only one negative out of almost a thousand transactions). I''m wondering if I have the energy to go through a dispute, and if it''s worth it or just a headache. I''ve actually had two cases of bad luck recently on ebay. Another was with a seller in the UK who represented a purse as being leather when it was actually synthetic. I filed a claim recently after having emailed the seller (she ignored me, of course), and then nothing happened for many days, and finally the seller replied at the last minute (this morning, actually) that my claim wasn''t true. Paypal contacted me to say that they are "reviewing" the dispute, and will contact me if they need any more information from me. That case should be very cut and dried, or at least I hope so, since I can take a photo of the fabric content tag if I have to and show it to Paypal.

That''s why I wanted to hear other people''s experiences. I don''t know yet if the process actually works, or if I''m just wasting my time. I''m starting to think that I should just try to live with the purse with the mark and leave a negative for the seller.

What irritates me most in these situations is being called a liar. It''s no fun to have to try to send something back--why would anybody want to make something like this up? I''m feeling like I should stay off of ebay for a while. It''s really fun when you get a deal, but then I get so upset when my money is wasted.

 

[AChiOAlumna]

Date: 6/24/2005 10:25:28 AM
Author: Matatora
I did use it and then I didnt go one ebay for over a year beucase I was so upset. The seller nevet sent the item at all...I was out 1600$ and a number of others were too. The seller isnt on ebay, at least with that name, but I was very agnry at the time beucase PayPal promised a full refund and then told me the funds were not there in the sellers account.

So even though I payed for PayPal insurence and went through all of their dispute resolution stuff I didnt get a penny back....As for shipping what did it say in the item description? If it didnt mention a refund of shipping cost I think you are prolly out of that money. Best of luck to you.

Something like this happened to DH. He "won" an item that was actually a pre-order (the item wasn''t available to the general public, but once it was, this seller had already gotten them or something). Anyway, DH kept emailing this seller trying to find out the status. The seller was really prompt in responding for a while...then...the email responses stopped. We tried to call the seller via ebay, but suddenly the seller was "no longer a registered user."

We tried to dispute the issue with ebay and PayPal, but because the auction was over 30 days old, they couldn''t help us. Fortunately, our PayPal account is set up with our Visa cards. We contacted the Visa card company and explained the situation. They sent us dispute papers and decided we were in the right and credited our account.

This is why I always use my credit card/PayPal to pay for ebay items...this way if ebay and PayPal won''t step in, my CC company will.

 

[Daniela]

Date: 6/24/2005 11:55:08 AM
Author: AChiOAlumna

Date: 6/24/2005 10:25:28 AM

Author: Matatora

I did use it and then I didnt go one ebay for over a year beucase I was so upset. The seller nevet sent the item at all...I was out 1600$ and a number of others were too. The seller isnt on ebay, at least with that name, but I was very agnry at the time beucase PayPal promised a full refund and then told me the funds were not there in the sellers account.

So even though I payed for PayPal insurence and went through all of their dispute resolution stuff I didnt get a penny back....As for shipping what did it say in the item description? If it didnt mention a refund of shipping cost I think you are prolly out of that money. Best of luck to you.

Something like this happened to DH. He ''won'' an item that was actually a pre-order (the item wasn''t available to the general public, but once it was, this seller had already gotten them or something). Anyway, DH kept emailing this seller trying to find out the status. The seller was really prompt in responding for a while...then...the email responses stopped. We tried to call the seller via ebay, but suddenly the seller was ''no longer a registered user.''


We tried to dispute the issue with ebay and PayPal, but because the auction was over 30 days old, they couldn''t help us. Fortunately, our PayPal account is set up with our Visa cards. We contacted the Visa card company and explained the situation. They sent us dispute papers and decided we were in the right and credited our account.


This is why I always use my credit card/PayPal to pay for ebay items...this way if ebay and PayPal won''t step in, my CC company will.

This is really interesting that the credit card company helped you even though you used Paypal. I had heard that if you pay with Paypal, then your credit card company will no longer support you. Something about going through a third party, which in turn waives your rights. I must have been misinformed?

 

[Daniela]

Date: 6/24/2005 12:37:27 PM
Author: Feydakin
You shouldn''t feel insulted.. The offer to refund shipping if it really is a scratch seems fair to me.. While the dispute thing is good for buyers, the amount of fraud and abuse that it generates is amazing.. Sellers aren''t the only crooks on eBay and there needs to be some understanding from both parties involved..

Feydakin, I see your point. I think it was the tone of the previous emails and the fact that for several of them she claimed to not even see what I was talking about that made me wary. I feel like if she had made that offer right away, as soon as I contacted her, I would have thought that was fair and reasonable. But she was sort of hostile and then begrudgingly said she would take it back, but only if SHE deemed it a scratch (she insisted on that point). You know how you just get a gut reaction that you''re going to get ripped off further if you trust someone? That''s the instinct that her offer triggered in me.

I do recognize that some buyers are dishonest. It''s just so obviously not the case here, when she even has proof of the scratch right in front of her. She kept saying to me, "But look at my auction photos, the scratch doesn''t show", as if her auction photos taken from three feet away that are an inch and a half big on the listing were more important the the purse I physically had in front of my and the close-ups I took myself. What a weird situation.

Looking on the bright side, it could be a lot worse! It could be something expensive, like the bad situation that happened to Matatora.

 

[AChiOAlumna]

Date: 6/24/2005 12:33:44 PM
Author: DanielaThis is really interesting that the credit card company helped you even though you used Paypal. I had heard that if you pay with Paypal, then your credit card company will no longer support you. Something about going through a third party, which in turn waives your rights. I must have been misinformed?

I don''t know if you were misinformed or it''s the rule of YOUR credit card company. I might be worth it to follow up JUST in case you can''t resolve it with the seller. Maybe it''s because we didn''t receive the product?!

We explained to the CC company the situation, how we never received the product and how PayPal and Ebay were not willing to help. We furthermore kept all the emails from PayPal and ebay and the emails to the seller to show our good faith in trying to resolve it ourselves. Luckily the CC company DID step in and help us and determined that we were to receive our payment credited to the card in full.

 

[strmrdr]

Can you post the picture of the scratch here please?

 

[Daniela]

Date: 6/24/2005 1:28:25 PM
Author: strmrdr
Can you post the picture of the scratch here please?

Umm, Storm, I''ve never posted a pic on PS before! [blush]

 

[Rube]

Hey Daniela-
I had a problem with PayPal not refunding money on an ebay purchase (nearly $1000) and was able to go through my credit card company to resolve it. In my case, the seller was trying to give me a refund, but PayPal had locked up my money (for what reason, I don''t know) and neither I nor the seller had access to it.
It took about a month, but it was soon after all in the clear. I think this might have been before PayPal had a protection plan you could purchase though...
Rube

 

[lmarps]

Hi there,
I too had a dispute with a fraudulant seller on ebay. I paid for an item that I never received. Luckily I paid via paypal under my credit card. I opened a dispute with ebay, paypal and my credit card. My credit card company refunded my money immediately!
The credit card company encouraged me to resolve the issue with the seller and if the situation was resolved and I received proper refund from the seller I would have to inform them and I would be charged back the refunded amount.
Although this experience was stressful I learned that if you don''t get support from ebay or paypal you can obtain resolution with your credit card company!

Your seller sold you an item that was not represented truthfully thus you should receive a full refund including the shipping!

Good Luck to you!