Ebay helped me get scammed

[FactFindingTour]

I sold a high dollar item on ebay.  Two weeks after the buyer got it in the mail I received an email request to accept a return.  She claimed it wasn't as described.  When I received the return shipment from the buyer it was a completely different item.  I contacted ebay to tell them.  They told me it is their policy that they can not step in for 3 business days and advised me to call them on the 3rd day.  he said ebay has policies in place to protect the sellers.  Unfortunately, right down to the second, the buyer escalated the return to a claim and immediately closed the case.  The automated system issued her a refund because she was able to provide a tracking number that showed something had been delivered.

I contacted eBay several times to appeal but was repeatedly told that since the buyer was already issued a refund, I am unable to appeal.  I called several times and even contacted them on twitter but they refused to help.  So now I'm trying to appeal the decision through paypal to dispute the money that was removed from my account by ebay but every time I have tried to create a claim I am sent to an error page.   NOW today I've been told by someone across the other side of the world that even though I have been actively appealing via phone and attempting to appeal formally, that since 30 days has gone by I'm S.O.L.

I am autistic.  I have had my paypal account for 18 years and I am devastated.  My account has a HUGE negative balance that is now being sent to collections even though I'M RIGHT HERE trying to resolve the case the entire time.  My only income is ebay and poshmark and tradesy.  I do not get help from the state/disability.  I'm independent and this will make me lose my apartment because with a negative paypal balance i can't use ebay because I can't print shipping labels on a negative balance!  Please help!! I sold thisThe buyer returned thisThe error message I keep getting when I try to file a dispute

[FactFindingTour]

I keep getting responses like this....  I'm the seller ffs!!  I have tried several times over the past 60= days to file a claim but the system is broken and gives me an error, when I ask for help, this is what I am up against!  e-mail response from paypal:

"If you haven't received your item, the item you received doesn't match the original product description, you didn't authorize a transaction, or there's been a billing error we have a dispute process to help you and your seller resolve the issue in a friendly way. When possible, you should always try contacting your seller before disputing a payment through PayPal. You have up to 180 days after you sent the payment to file a dispute".

[FactFindingTour]

I'm seeing lots of posts but no replies.  Does PayPal even read this?

[FactFindingTour]

Still no help from PayPal

[FactFindingTour]

Here's another response I got from paypal..  Bunch of damn morons.  

"Thank you for contacting PayPal.

Based on your account history, you have refunded the buyer the full amount. Please let me know if you need further assistance".

[Lisanh1984]

Sorry this has happened to you and it is deffinetly risky selling online and some marketplaces protect buyers completely, yet seller have little if any protection. But the real reason for my reply is because you aked if PayPal even reads these posts, and the answer is NO. The reason being is this is a community based help forum, meaning that only other PayPal customers are going to reply to your posts. Also if you haven't already I recommend calling PayPal customer support, as they are much more willing to help eBay sellers than eBay itself.