Pay Pal Refund is CANCELLED

[DC1346]

Hello All!

I'm at my wit's end and don't know what to do other than to post here.

I recently made a PayPal purchase from an eBay vendor using PayPal credit. The item I received didn't match the picture that the vendor had provided. It didn't even match the description. I tried resolving this with the vendor through eBay. The vendor initially said he would give me a full refund as soon as he received the product ... but he wouldn't generate a FedEx shipping label even though he himself had shipped this product to me through FedEx. He told me not to worry, that he'd be "good for it" but insofar as he had lied about his product to begin with, I didn't trust him ... so I turned to PayPal for help.

PayPal was great ... at least at first.

I uploaded pictures of what he sent and pictures from his site. There was no question from PayPal regarding the fact that what the vendor had sent, was not what I recieved ... and so it was with great relief that I received an email from PayPal within 24 hours to tell me that I would be refunded $1750 in full.

Sadly, I never received this refund.  I later got an email from PayPal saying that PER MY REQUEST, PayPal had cancelled my refund. 

The problem was that I never submitted a refund cancellation request. 

I logged onto PayPal and the system won't let me file another resolution request because the request for this particular transaction was closed.

So I decided to call PayPal. A customer service rep listened to my story and told me to hold.  I waited for 33 minutes and the service rep never came back.

I don't know what to do. 

At least with PayPal creidt, I could have paid for this via monthly payments ... but with the refund cancellation, I'm now liable for the full $1750 and the kicker is that I never submitted a refund cancellation request, so I don't even know how this happened and I can't get anyone at PayPal to talk to me. 

Is there anything I can do?

[DC1346]

Hello All!

Thank you for your support and constructive advice.

PayPal just reversed their decision and refunded my $1750. HURRAH! I  wish they could have told me why this amount had been debited from my account in the first place. I don't know whether the debit was the result of an internal communication glitch or if the vendor called PayPal pretending to be me (since he had all of my contact information as well as the eBay transaction number and PayPal resolution case number. I hope my account wasn't hacked. Ultimately the fact that PayPal made this good gives me a great deal of relief.

Although I still have consumer confidence in PayPal and will continue to use their services, I will never again do business with eBay.

The vendor who committed mail fraud is still in business. The fraudulent information on his webpage is still there. eBay wouldn't even let me file a negative review to warn off other customers and to lower this vendor's rating. 

Since eBay clearly values this vendor more than they value me as a repeat customer, I have no confidence in the eBay brand and will never shop with them again.

Although I suspect that the vast majority of eBay's vendors are decent and honest people, how are consumers supposed to distinguish between the good vendors and the dishonest ones? If eBay won't police their site by banning known scammers, and if eBay won't even allow me to post a negative review about this vendor, how am I supposed to have confidence in their rating system? 

In answer to Lancelotme:

What is a stateside address? Sorry ... I grew up as a service brat i.e. a child in a military service family during the Vietnam War and stateside is military and military dependent parlance for "back in the States." A stateside address is literally an address in the United States.

Say you are willing to pay for the return shipping,do you know if this stateside address will get you the refund?

The vendor committed mail fraud by advertising one product but sending me a much inferior substitute .  Since the vendor is responsible for the cost of return shipping and since he wanted me to mail the merchandise from my address in Arizona to an address in California, it was his responsibility to print out a shipping label. Not only did he refuse to send me a shipping label but he then refused to refund my purchase . If I had paid the cost of shipping, I could have been out of the cost for the original purchase as well as the cost of shipping. 

When you open the case with Ebay,did they tell you what his return address is or is the case closed because the deadline for return has past?

eBay wasn't very helpful. They mediated correspondence between myself and the vendor. The vendor sent me an address in California but refused to send me a shipping label. He told me that he would be "good for it." He then became very strange and told me that in the United States, people who committ fraud are condemned to everlasting torment in **bleep**. I have no idea why he said this. It was kind of creepy. 

When eBay wouldn't get him to prepay for shipping, I went to PayPal and eBay closed the case in the vendor's favor since PayPal was involved. 

[lancelotme]

between myself and the vendor. The vendor sent me an address in California but refused to send me a shipping label. He told me that he would be "good for it." He then became very strange and told me that in the United States, people who committ fraud are condemned to everlasting torment in **bleep**. I have no idea why he said this. It was kind of creepy.

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Your Chinese seller is in China,he cannot or know not how to send you a US return label from AZ to Ca.

Just imagine you try to send a shipping label going from Shanghai to Peking ,China,can you do it?

Anyway,I am happy you get your money back.

I was just reading a thread on Ebay seller forum,a US seller used dropshipping to send an expensive piece of machine to UK buyer(meaning the manufacturer did the shipping),the buyer claimed the item is missing a part,so he open a case of item not as described on Ebay.

Ebay asked the US seller to send some money to his buyer so he can return the item,he did ,he forked over a few hundred british pounds.

But instead of returning the machine,the buyer now claimed item is stolen and get his money back plus keeping the return shipping money.

The reason Ebay gave was buyer filed a police report !

Since most sellers are not familiar with UK law,few can help him.

So the moral behind this story is that Ebay does ask US seller to pick up return shipping,domestic 100% and international,depends on whether there is a full moon.

As for Indian and Chinese sellers,it sounds like they dont have to pick up return shipping,so buyer beware.

Dropshipping is a clever idea,you dont put up the money up front to purchase the goods and when sold,just keep the difference,and let someone else do the hard work of packing,shipping and in this case,customs form.

But when it backfires,it is awful,the seller did not see the product,is it really missing a part,if he has the merchanise,he would have caught it!   

[lancelotme]

When eBay wouldn't get him to prepay for shipping, I went to PayPal and eBay closed the case in the vendor's favor since PayPal was involved. 

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I would keep an Ebay dispute on Ebay unless I have no choice,

if he is a domestic seller,and he does not give you a return label,Ebay will do it for him and charge it to his seller account when you shipped the item.

In your case,your Chinese seller has no way of giving you a return label,from China to USA or from AZ to CA.

I would just foot the return label myself if it does not cost much,I dont know how expensive it is for you to ship from AZ to Ca.

this is the way it works,if you have a case open on Ebay and then you open the same case on Paypal,then the Ebay case is closed.

If you have a case open in Paypal and open case with your cc issuer,then your Paypal case is closed.

It does not mean you will get better results,AMEX told me once this signature requirement for $750 or more is not a cc requirement,it is Paypal. 

[ShiraYuki]

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He then became very strange and told me that in the United States, people who committ fraud are condemned to everlasting torment in **bleep**.

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The F?! That's really creepy.

[kernowlass]

@DC1346

Glad paypal sorted it for you, always best to give them a ring for account issue problems.