Beware of Fake Weber Site - <removed>

[akarizat]

I never thought I would fall for a fraudster, but I willingly did place an order at <removed> that masqueraded as a Weber site and placed an order for 3 Weber Grills that were deeply discounted.  When I tried to check-out the total changed to $98 after applying supposed quantity discount.  After I placed the order, I realized I just purchase from someone at jinjju address overseas.  The seller never acknowledged my order, never responded to my e-mails, and never shipped the grills - I really did not expect him to ship after I saw the steep discount.

In any case, the PayPal dispute process is so restricted and does not allow me to explain that nothing was shipped.  The seller, somehow was able to provide an actual USPS tracking for another order that was shipped to my house from Amazon.  That is really worrisome for two reasons - No one at PayPal is reading anything or else they would have realized that the tracking number is fake, and the second reason is how did this Jinju jerk get a copy of one of my actual tracking numbers to provide to paypal.

Moral of the story, don't feel safe buying anything through PayPal.  Had I made the purchase directly through my credit card, I would have already spoken to someone and had the charges dropped. 

If this issue is not resolved promptly, I will cancel my PayPal, my Venmo, and will sell all my PayPal shares and pretend this service does not exist.     

[AJL21]

I would like to add <removed>. This is a scam website. Was I naive to think that since I could pay with PayPal it was a legitimate website and it was safe to buy from this place? I too never received the item even though the seller provided a tracking number which when I looked it up, said the item had been delivered. These sites should immediately be dealt with by PayPal and we should be reimbursed the $$ immediately!!

[kernowlass]

@AJL21 

Another of the many of these???

Chinese Web Sites or on Social Media ads easy to spot (once you know the below signs) so buyer beware.

Paypal would not be able to check every individual seller / merchant / company in over 200 countries worldwide that adds paypal to their website to accept payments.

So they give you 'some' buyer protection but the onus is on you to risk assess your transactions.

They do stop bad companies from using Paypal when enough claims start rolling in.
However as they are in China (mostly) then its easy for them to just start over with a new name, so stopping them does not really do anything.

The best thing is to not buy from them in the first place, to recognise them -

1. No return address on the returns policy. The site will look as if its in your country (where they despatch goods from) but they will ask for returns to go back to China (returns depot) at a shipping cost often more than the item is worth.
2. No contact telephone number. if you click on contact the most you will get is webmail or an email address.
3. Rarely company address information.
4. Great pictures of items at bargain prices that turn out to be tat.
5. Fake reviews.
6. Google and you can often see previous company names as they change them once enough claims roll in and Paypal stop them using their services and start over.
7. Send fake tracking numbers to win item non receipt of item claims.

How do I open a dispute with a seller when a purchase goes wrong?

You can open a dispute in the Resolution Centre of your PayPal account within 180 days of payment if:
•You don’t receive the item OR service
•You receive an item but it’s significantly different than the description on eBay or on the seller’s website (or you receive a totally different product).

By opening a dispute, you can communicate directly with your seller to work out a problem transaction.

If you reach an agreement with the seller you can close the dispute. If you're still not happy with the result, you can escalate the dispute into a claim. Paypal will review the claim and decide on reimbursement.

These steps apply to Personal accounts. If you have a Business account, please log in to see the steps that apply to you.

To open a dispute:
1.Log in to your PayPal account.
2. Click on the transaction and use the resolve a problem option at the bottom of that details page.

Note:
•Generally buyers must wait at least 7 days from the date of payment to escalate a dispute for an item not received
•Where an item has not been received, please ensure you have given the seller enough time before opening a dispute

Do not close the dispute until you have a refund or your item.
If a seller states that they can't refund until you have closed the dispute don't believe them.
Escalate the dispute to a claim within 20 days (before it times out), if you need Paypal to get involved.

If you lose because the seller provides a fake tracking number then post back here for more advice.
If the item arrives and its not what you ordered / not as described then make sure you change the dispute quickly from non receipt. If the dispute times out before you can change it then contact customer services to open a second dispute for the new reason.

Activate the below link in case you have to return the item at Paypals request (or the correct one for your country as this is the U.S link).
https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/returns

If that does not work then if you funded your paypal payment via a card then contact your card issuer and see if they will issue a chargeback.