Buyer protection? Nope.

[spixel]

A chinese seller with a .co.uk website sent me a faulty xiaomi smartphone. They took 30 days to reply to my email so that if I wanted to return it, I'd have to return it to hong kong instead of the UK.

Paypal have put me in a situation with their dispute resolution that I have 2 options..

#1 Keep the faulty phone without getting any partial refund
#2 Pay 80 euro to send it back to Hong Kong which is 50% of the value of the phone.

I spent ages writing out all the details, taking pictures and uploading a video to have paypal just do what the seller wants. Have me return it to Hong Kong even though the seller has a UK address for faulty returns.

How is this any sort of buyer protection? Its seller protection. The seller knows its expensive to return it to hong kong and can get away with not offering any partial refund because they know from past experience alot of people don't bother due to the high cost.

How is this buyer protection? The seller sent me an unsealed phone which they clearly knew or should have known had a fault, delayed replying to my email (they can reply faster because their first response was under 24hrs, 2nd one with info on return was 30 days)


I contacted paypal to complain about their 'decision in my favour' which requires me to lose half the value of the phone on return shipping. They just responsed with instructions on how to upload proof of shipping and if I don't do it by a certain date they will close the case in the sellers favour. It's almost like nobody can read these days, talking to a brick wall with both the seller and paypal.

[sharpiemarker]

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@spixel wrote:

A chinese seller with a .co.uk website sent me a faulty xiaomi smartphone. They took 30 days to reply to my email so that if I wanted to return it, I'd have to return it to hong kong instead of the UK.

Paypal have put me in a situation with their dispute resolution that I have 2 options..

#1 Keep the faulty phone without getting any partial refund
#2 Pay 80 euro to send it back to Hong Kong which is 50% of the value of the phone.

I spent ages writing out all the details, taking pictures and uploading a video to have paypal just do what the seller wants. Have me return it to Hong Kong even though the seller has a UK address for faulty returns.

How is this any sort of buyer protection? Its seller protection. The seller knows its expensive to return it to hong kong and can get away with not offering any partial refund because they know from past experience alot of people don't bother due to the high cost.

How is this buyer protection? The seller sent me an unsealed phone which they clearly knew or should have known had a fault, delayed replying to my email (they can reply faster because their first response was under 24hrs, 2nd one with info on return was 30 days)


I contacted paypal to complain about their 'decision in my favour' which requires me to lose half the value of the phone on return shipping. They just responsed with instructions on how to upload proof of shipping and if I don't do it by a certain date they will close the case in the sellers favour. It's almost like nobody can read these days, talking to a brick wall with both the seller and paypal.

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PayPal buyer protection is limited. PayPal did find in your favor and that is to get the seller to accept a return before you get a refund. Ship the item back and sign up for PayPal Returns shipping reimbursement. Paypal is not going to go into it with you, they just go...."return for refund". Sending all that screenshots, video makes no difference because the process is automated. PayPal policy is that the recipient pays for return shipping. It is what it is. Buy from stores that you know for sure is in the UK. 

[spixel]

Paypal told me in their latest reply they won't cover the shipping, and even if the reimbursement works its only 30 euro, the return shipping costs 80 euro. I don't believe its fair I should lose any money on this transction as I bought a brand new phone and got an unsealed one with a faulty display.

The main issue I have with paypal is that they don't seem to understand the seller has a uk address for faulty/doa returns which is stated in their terms and conditions. They only allow you to do that within 14 days,  if they didn't take so long to reply to my 2nd email I would've been able to do that.
I hoped paypal would use some common sense with that and see what the seller was trying to do, and tell them to let me return it to their uk address.

[kernowlass]

@spixel

Paypal buyer protection can never be a 100% coverall, so in the event of a dispute you need to bear in mind possible return trackable costs before you buy from that seller / item / country.

Chinese and other countries sellers often use websites that make you 'think' the items are in the UK so you need to do some research on the website BEFORE you go ahead and purchase.

Paypal state this >>
PayPal is not obliged to reimburse you for any costs that you incur to comply with any of PayPal’s requests for cooperation for the purpose of resolving the problem (including, without limitation, costs that you incur to return a SNAD item to the Payment Recipient or another party as PayPal requests), although sometimes it may reimburse these costs.

Although they will compensate you for some of the cost if you have activated this at some point before you made that transaction .....
https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/refunded-returns

You also have the option to do a chargeback via your card issuer instead of a Paypal dispute if you funded your Paypal payment via a credit card.

[spixel]

I checked about doing a chargeback but it says the paypal dispute I opened will actually protect the seller in this instance, as if I don't return the item to hong kong in the next few days the case will close in favour of the seller. If I do a chargeback then paypal will use this dispute decision to reverse it.

I don't want a full refund anyway, I just want a fair solution. The phone has a fault which devalues it, if buyer protection actually protected buyers from this kind of seller, they'd either negotiate a partial refund with the seller or let me return it to their uk address which they do have. They just wont let me use the uk address as they know I'll return it then. They want me to be in a situation where I either have to decide to keep the faulty product or pay alot to return it.

Buyer protection is not what it claims to be. I expected someone at paypal to actually resolve the matter fairly, a real person who looks at all the details. Instead if seems they are sticking to some automated predetermined solution which the seller is fully aware of and can take advantage of.

[kernowlass]

@spixel

A chargeback has nothing to do with paypal, its done directly via your card issuer and all paypal can do is pass any info they request to them on the sellers behalf but if they find in your favour then you would get a refund.

Negotiations between buyer and seller for part refunds is done during the dispute phase, if neither agree then when you escalate to a claim ALL paypal offer is a full refund on return of the goods back to the seller. That is exactly what they say in their buyer protection policy.

Buyer protection is not a 100% coverage of everything, its gives you some protection so you read up on it and then risk assess your own transactions.