Daoyi Dao Electronic Commerce — How the Scam works

[KingElvis77]

The Chinese merchant sets up a bunch of temporary websites advertising some amazing product, like a full-length electric shovel that would normally cost $150 or more at a hardware store. They offer it for a very attractive discount, in my case US$29. I pay the money and waited about 2 months for delivery. I got charged on my credit card way before I ever received any product. Then I receive a worthless piece of junk (instead of the product advertised and ordered, they sent me a flimsy plastic handscraper about 7 inches in length), something you would pay $1 for at a discount shop. The website has since been taken down, but they do maintain an email address to which one can complain. But they are ready for it. You complain to the merchant and they offer you a full refund only if you assume the cost of shipping their $1 piece of junk back to China — at a cost of about $80, which obviously exceeds both the refund and the value of the product combined. They know no sane person would do it, and PayPal is supporting them, so they just sold me a $1 piece of junk for $28. To add insult to injury, the person at the other end of their e-mail actually admits in writing to the fraud! They acknowledge false advertising, and deliberately sending the wrong product, and admit that the cost of shipping is too high for them to assume it. They don’t even try to hide the fraud. It’s astounding. The only reason the scam works is because they are hiding behind the legitimacy of PayPal. If PayPal required them to provide pre-paid label with RMA numbers the way Amazon does, the fraud wouldn’t work. My only hope is to contest the charge with my credit card company. PayPal will do nothing to help in this matter and customer support is not user friendly at all and it is impossible to email or call anyone for help. 

[tongmei2000]

Thanks for your feedback. We have exact the same story and the ads is still on in Facebook. I complained three times to Facebook but the ads is still on. I hope someone can stop them.

[tongmei2000]

I got my money back from PayPal. Thank you, PayPal. You can do the same thing. Call them.

[kernowlass]

@KingElvis77 

Paypal would not be able to check every 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.......

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

Then if you are still scammed follow the dispute procedures correctly to enhance your chance of a refund as @tongmei2000  must have done.

Did you activate this?

https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/returns

Did you fund your paypal payment via a credit card and see if they can help you?

Did you contact customer services to give them all the information if you didn't add it all to the dispute?