Paypal is not helping me get my money back after a china merchant scam

[Alicia1]

I ordered a custom made wig and stated exactly the size and color that wanted. The merchant took 52 days to send me the item. When the product arrived, it was not what i ordered. i immediately called pay pal, they said they will take up the case. a few days later they sent me an email saying that they cannot do anything for me because i was past 45 days since the money was paid. 

I told them that missing that deadline was not my fault as I had just received the product. 

But they kept repeating that.

Then they changed tactics and asked me to ask my visa card issuer to do the claim back.  Visa said they were not responsible as purchase was made through paypal. Now, it appears my $200 is hanging on the air.

I have not seen any warning on this site from paypal that if you make a payment through them and it does not arrive within 45 days that you should do something or lose your money. If that is their policy then, they should state it in bold letters and advise people of it.  I am not willing to loose $200.

Please weigh into this. Paypal is not right. When I pay the extra 5% paypal fee, I thought I was buying security. If they do not provide that security, then we, the consumers should let our voices be heard.

[kernowlass]

When you start buying you should read the small section on buyer protection to make sure you qualify.

In that it clearly states you must file a claim within 45 days.

If your item did not arrive till after that  you could still have filed a dispute at day 45, there would then have been ANOTHER 20 days before you had to escalate to a claim and even then there is ANOTHER 10 days before paypal decide and award you your refund.

If the item arrived DURING that time you could change the dispute to one of received but not as described.

If the item arrived and you were happy with it and you had been awarded a refund for non receipt you could easily repay the seller.

All is possible as long as you file the dispute before day 45.

As for your c.c. company i would go back to them and insist on some customer service as a lot of folks that have missed the deadline have successfully chargeback via their c.c. company.

[snowshoe]

Not defending PayPal here but, PayPal clearly explains their 45 day policy in the the User Agreement however, sadly, most people don't take the time to read the details and simply blame someone else for their problems. 

It's quite easy to run into issues with international orders simply because of the time involved with shipping and/or manufacturing.  If you're not in touch with the vendor or merchant after a week or so, you should be.  If you're having an issue contacting the vendor or merchant, that should be a red flag and you should immediately open a dispute requesting a refund.  After you open a dispute, you have 20 days from the date of the dispute to esclate it to a claim.  If you don't esclate the dispute to a claim, PayPal assumes you have resolved the issue and will close the dispute.  Once that happens, you cannot reopen it. 

PayPal was following their own procedures as for telling you to contact your card issuer once past the 45 day window.  It would appear that your card issuer was just taking the easy way out as it is possible they can take action via a chargeback.  Many card issuers will use the PayPal excuse even thought they have the abilty to assist.  They just don't want to go that route becasue it costs them money in time and resources even though it the right thing to do.  If you have not tried esclating your concerns with your card issuer, you should.

PayPal is just a transaction processor for the merchant.  It's the card issuer who also has ownership here.  After all, what would they tell you if you said you simply used your credit card.