I had a buyer purchase an item from me on eBay. My returns policy is that I don't accept returns unless the item is defective or damaged. In this particular case, the buyer originally opened a return request on eBay stating that they no longer needed the item. When this happens, I am able to decline their return request and everything gets closed out in my favor. Thats what I did and I though it was the end of the story. The next day, the same buyer opened a case on PayPal under the reason, item significantly not as described. They claimed that now, the item is used, not new as the listing stated. Clearly, this buyer is just trying to force the return under a reason that I can't deny.
When I first called PayPal about this issue, the person on the phone told me as long as I submit the evidence from eBay about the original return request, they will close the case in my favor. Well what do you know, they closed it in the buyers favor and asked them to ship it back for a refund. I immediatly called up PayPal, because there is no way they should of settled with the buyer if they actually looked at any of the evidence I provided. They never even asked the buyer for any evidence that the item was used. Anyone with a brain would look at the information in the case and thought, maybe we should verify this claim since its different than what they said on eBay. The person I talked to on the phone said that they want the buyer to ship the item back to me so I could verify the information. They told me that if it comes back and its not used, I can appeal the case, submit the images and it will be settled in my favor.
About a week later, I receive the item back. As I suspected, absolutly no sign of use, it looks brand new. I call up PayPal and they appeal the case for me. I submit the images of the item as they told me to and I expected them to settle the case in my favor. Today, I get an email saying that they've closed the case. It says that "Once we have made a decision regarding whether this item is "significantly not as described," it will be considered final and cannot be appealed". So now they have closed this case without even considering my new evidence.
Once again, what I've been told on the phone, and what actually happened is completly different. It seems like everytime I have a case on paypal, they never even consider any of the evidence that I've provided and automatically settle with the buyer. How can they claim to have seller protection, but always settle with the buyer. Now i'm out $420 for an item because I can't resell it without sending back to the manufacturer to get repackaged. I also got no paypal fee refund, and i'm out the $42 final value fee on eBay.
Anyone else expereince issues like this with PayPal? Does anyone have a contact for someone higher up in PayPal? I'd like to talk to someone who can actually do something about these issues.
Here are some pictures from the case.
Here are the pictures of the return item:
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