Need help with this one, Seller found a loophole to prevent returns.

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Short Intro:

PayPal User for over a decade.  I am an eBay power seller also with 100% positive feedback.  I know good business terms and fully understand how PayPal works but this one stumps me.

February 23rd I ordered a flashlight on eBay which is supposed to be made of 24x CREE T6 XM-L led bulbs.  Seller ships very quickly via priority mail OUT OF CALIFORNIA.  Item was listed as in the U.S. and ships from the U.S.  

February 28th the flashlight arrives and I notice something wrong.  This cost over $50 but my $14 flashlight is brighter.  Contact seller immediately to inquire if he has had any problems with this batch of flashlights, response was I must be using weak batteries.  I end up pushing it till the next day to look more into the problem.

March 1st…….grab my digital microscope and take a closer look at the top of the flashlight where the LED’s are exposed…..yep….counterfeit latticebright bulbs and the LED driver module is too weak to power even those LED’s properly.  I contact the seller and ask if he knows the factory sold him bad lights or this is being sold intentionally….no response.

March 2nd I open a dispute with PayPal.  If you are wondering why PayPal and not eBay so am I.  I viewed the transaction on PayPal and at the bottom it said to “click here to be taken to the eBay resolution center” but when I clicked it I never realized it kept me on PayPal’s site and some smoke and mirrors had taken place on who would handle the claim.  Seller is immediately back with the normal line of, “close the dispute then we refund you” along with “close the dispute and we send you $26 and you keep the light?”.  I have been around PayPal and eBay too long to fall for that one.

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THE PROBLEM

March 7th PayPal alerts me to return the item, I go to print a label and see return it to China…..BUT it was sold from and shipped from California….I still have the priority mail box, tracking number, and address where it came from.  After looking, to ship a flashlight back to China via track able means will cost me $63 to receive a refund of $52.  I phone PayPal to inquire and they said they made a note of it and will get back to me within 72 hours.

March 10th…..72 hours and no reply so I phone PayPal again.  I explain the situation but use the line “if you were me how would you handle the situation” as they are stating give it another 72 hours and just wait.  The rep states the backend team who manages these cases will probably not review the notes close enough to see the shipping address and country of origin are a complete mismatch.  I do appreciate his honesty though, the rep was a great but nothing he could do.

So the question is simple…..if I am in America and sell items to buyers that are intentionally counterfeit/fake is it alright for me to request they make all returns and exchanges by sending the item to India or Zimbabwe?  These new tactics, I will say, are very creative and something I have never seen before.  Bottom-line is I hate filing chargebacks, they are a sellers thorn having to deal with the fee associated and the possibility of a rolling reserve coming into play and I would hate to do that to anyone but when there is no one who actually reads the disputes anymore, no human involvement, or even care there is little to be said other than ALWAYS pay by credit card to protect your rights to file a chargeback.  If I hadn’t I would literally be pooched by both eBay and PayPal who seem to blame me for not sending an item back to a country it wasn’t originally shipped from.

If anyone has any advice I would be all eyes and ears, this one is strange though.

Attaching pictures of the eBay resolution link clearly keeping you on PayPal intentionally, of the return address with sensitive information removed, and the label it was originally shipped with again with sensitive information removed.  Do note it clearly states US Warehouse touting a business presence. 

Thanks for Reading

Ryan

 

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Chargeback seems to be the only direction.  I guess PayPal doesn't dislike them as much as they used to.  Oh well, I tried.

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In case anyone was wondering, after wasting many hours on the phone with the call center in India all it took was 5 minutes of speaking to a US rep for PayPal to immediately issue a refund and forward the case to the fraud department.  I thank the Rep I spoke with but can't thank PayPal as a whole, there were too many hurdles and traps that most people would not jump through.  

As getting angry inside typically fuels my thought process the company they drop ship from named Winit in California will shortly be served for selling fake products by an unnamed company.  The seller has received negative feedback, even trying to lie continually for two weeks about a refund he sent.  I said I didn't see it and he eventually refunded from his own pocket though not asked for.  I am going to donate the funds he refunded, a double dip is not my cup of tea.  eBay is a mess right now with sellers and the multiple listing under one listing practice they have going on.  So much in fact my email to the president immediately received a response and I mean within 10 minutes.  I applaud eBay for that but still am very disappointed in how PayPal handled it.  The misdirection on their website saying eBay resolution center and keeping you on PayPal's site is sickening.  Sure, a chargeback would have made things easier but why should I resort to that?

Never stop fighting scammers, never stop writing till people listen and after all is said and done make sure that business model is crushed.