China “sending wrong item” scam

Starsky72
Contributor
Contributor

So....

 

1) item advertised on Facebook

2) You buy two of them, pay via PayPal $29.90

3) Item arrives, nothing like as described and is damaged

4) Seller offers small percentage as refund, I refuse.

5) Escalate the complaint in Paypal

5) PayPal state I need to send back, tracked, and the seller has to confirm delivery before a refund will be issued, before 4 January

6) Tracked postage costs more than I’d get in a refund

7) Seller wins..

 

I end up out of pocket with a broken item that is different in every way (size, materials, quality) from what I ordere, plus I ordered two and didn’t receive them

 

Paypal are allowing this scam to happen.  I should have lied and simply said I never eeceived it

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171 REPLIES 171

Clarkalvechurch
Contributor
Contributor

I had the same problem with Yinglian Trading Co. Eventually got agreement for 7.99 for return postage and complete refund of 18.98 once the wrong goods were returned. Received 7.99 and then made the mistake of closing the dispute on PayPal. Full refund never received. No reply from email requests to Yinglian and PayPal washed their hands of it. So much for customer service!

 

Judging by comments in the Community this is a widespread scam and PayPal is continuing to service the company and therefore condone the scam. It’s a shame that there seems to be no legal redress 

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surlybill
Contributor
Contributor

I am currently waiting the outcome from the resolution center regarding this scam.

 

I ordered a portable hot water heater for camping, $52.39. I received a tracking number and followed the package. When it arrived, it was a small envelope with two cheap paper facemasks, total value of less than half $1. Back and forth withe seller and they gave me the run-around about "mistake with invoice for your item", and said they would be shipping "my item soon". About a dozen emails and they would NOT confirm what I had actually ordered, or send a new tracking number. I went to resolution center to get my money back, but seller offered a "partial refund" of $42. Then in an email they offered $32, when I insisted I wanted a full refund, they offered $42 again. Some excuse about "restocking and customs"; even though they never sent what I ordered. Paypal said I must file a criminal report, which I have, with the IC3.

 

Paypal had BETTER get my money back from the scammer, otherwise what's the point of using an online escrow like Paypal if they don't protect you from scams?!

 

Other info: this is from a website called Resiste.com . According to their info, they are located in USA (not). Do NOT order anything from them, they are operating a bait and switch scam.

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Sislip
New Community Member
This same exact thing happened with me, ordered an item worth $65, got 2 cheap face masks. And they keep offering me less expensive refunds telling me they could only refund me if I shipped the original item Back and warning me I would lose so much money due to the cost.
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Jeffreykfackler
Contributor
Contributor

I got scammed as well.  Item was supposed to be a Lightsaber "better" than any ultrasaber or anything from SaberForge.  Cost me $49.  (BTW they deleted the website that they advertised it on)  Good thing I at the very least copied all the wording on the sight describing what I was supposed to receive.....BUT...What I received was a 50 cent piece of junk plastic sword from a county fair dart balloon game.  I was told I have to return it and provide tracking in order to get my money back.  I looked up shipping it back to CHINA (back to this scam artist <removed> $86.  This is CRAP.  And all the seller has to do is say they never received it back and I NEVER get my money back.  This is FRAUD.  I will be cancelling my claim and going through my actual credit card company to have the charges reversed.   I am going to stop using Paypal because this is the Second time this has happened.  I am done with this big company NOT PROTECTING ITS CUSTOMERS.  

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Jeffreykfackler
Contributor
Contributor

UPDATE:

So.  Paypal still wants me to send this 50 cent piece of junk back to China for a total of $86 in shipping costs to only receive back $49 for the original purchase.  Which is out of this world ridiculous.  I thought I could count on Paypal to solve this dispute and protect us customers from predatory sellers like the one that has scammed me, and MANY others.  I have researched the seller online and his company is responsible for countless fraud claims against them.  My wife is an attorney, and we are talking about opening another class action lawsuit against Paypal for not protecting their customers from proven fraudulent sellers.  (I say "again" because Paypal had this same suit against them in 2015.)  And for making their customers go above and beyond (and out of pocket) to get a fraction of what they spent on the item back or have to drop it all together because the refund does not match the out of pocket expenses to send the items back.  Paypal.  You will be hearing from me again.  I guarantee it.Wrong Lightsaber.jpg

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kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@Jeffreykfackler 

 

In the event of a dispute you need to bear in mind possible return trackable costs before you buy from that seller / item / country.

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/us/selfhelp/article/what-is-return-shipping-on-us-and-how-do-i-activate-it-fa...

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.



Advice is voluntary.
Kudos / Solution appreciated.
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Jeffreykfackler
Contributor
Contributor

While I appreciate your help in the matter the $30 max that they will reimburse is not sufficient to the cost of the actual shipping of $86.  As you can see from the math 86-30 = 56, and 56-49 = 7.  I am still out of pocket 7 dollars just to send it back and after receiving the $49 refund.  Not worth the hassle of sending it back.  Once again, Paypal should discontinue this companies ability to use their platform as a seller.  Looking up their email and company name (which Paypal removed from my original post), they have been red flagged by over a hundred different pages that I have seen so far.  This company preys on people halfway across the globe and uses Paypal's policies to stump any would be buyer from being able to reclaim funds from a fraudulent sale.  The company (and Paypal), know that it is not worth it to send an item back to China that cost under $50.  Which is why they sell it at just under that price so that each buyer will just drop the case and that company gets to keep the $50, and they are only out $2 for shipping a 50 cent item.  Its a total scam and rip off that Paypal is responsible for not acting on and preventing this predatory practice from a known fraudulent company.Paypal return shipping 30 dollars.PNG

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kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@Jeffreykfackler 

 

Paypal do remove scam websites from China when enough folks make disputes against them BUT they just set up again with another name and start over.

The best thing to do is recognise and avoid them............


Chinese Web Sites or on Facebook easy to spot so buyer beware.

1. No return address on the returns policy............thats because 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 nearly always 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. No company address information.
4. Great looking items at bargain prices that turn out to be tat.



Advice is voluntary.
Kudos / Solution appreciated.
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frogmom37
Contributor
Contributor

I'm going to be in Germany next week and I found that sending things to China isn't nearly as expensive once you're 1/2 way there.  $70 here to ship my junk back, $20 there.   I may try to send them their fakes and get my full refund.  Each time I email my company they agree to return another $10.  I'm up to $80 of the full $114.92  now.  I think I'm going to agree to take it and if they do refund me the $80, I'll agree to send them their merchandise for the other 34.92.  However, that's a lot of work for the additional $14 I'd net. 

 

 

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homes8080
Contributor
Contributor

What I gotWhat I gotWhat I orderedWhat I ordered

What I received vs. what I ordered. Paypal's resolution: - Go **bleep** yourself

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