Dispute over non receipt of goods - Paypal want a Police report filed

[Marc403]

i opened a dispute through paypal with a seller in China as I ordered a golf storage set and they sent me a small fake gold ring.  

I contacted the seller and they say I have to send the ring back, which I am happy to do, but that I have to pay all shipping costs to China.  I have refused to pay the shipping costs as not my error, but they won’t budge.  

Case opened with Paypal Resolution centre and all evidence provided of what I ordered and what I actually received.

i’ve just had a note from the Paypal team saying to file a report with the Police or a government department ?  What the hell ?  The Police will laugh at me for wasting their time.   Anyone else ever had this issue with Paypal.

Just seems as though they are on the sellers side.

[meganrvining]

I had the same issue with paypal. Also bought comforters from China and of course, they didnt send me what I ordered. First paypal said they would fix it..... but then all of a sudden they had a tracking number and denied me. Had to prove the tracking number was a fake and never received anything. Guess they sent ANOTHER tracking number and two wimpy little throws showed up. Not what I ordered. I ordered 4 twin size comforter sets. Had to send in screen shots and pictures. Said it wasnt what I ordered and they agreed to pay me back, but AFTER i sent the items back to China. Which was over 300 dollars, when I only paid 200 for the items. So I found some online shipping company that does it for cheaper. They receive it and then they send it out to china. They denied me because it didnt get to China yet. Refuse to help me and just keep giving me the run around. Told me to contact the seller. There website is fake, and there is ZERO contact information... but yet I have to figure it out. 

[Marc403]

it’s just really poor from Paypal.  In effect they are supporting these scammers in China.  

Have used Paypal for many years as I always thought that as a buyer you had some sort of protection against this sort of thing.  But sadly it seems not,

[meganrvining]

You would think that they would. I even spoke to the bank, and they stated that PayPal should protect you. The bank is going to dispute it since PayPal refuses. 

[TeriSueRitchie]

What I want to know is who can we (the consumer) talk to to help handle this type of issue. Unfortunately you may get one order delivered correctly out of every ten, if you are lucky. Isn't there laws against fraudulent advertising? They lie in the advertising, you believe what the ad says, (100% guaranteed or your money back, no questions) NOT! The shipping policies say, we ship out within 24 hours, your purchase delivered in 5 days, NOT! You track the package, it's still in China! I recently ordered a toolset with toolbox and trolley (799 piece set) I received 1 wrench and it was not even of the same quality as pictured in the ad. The seller says it's the same and if I am not happy with my tools send them back for a refund. I never received them. Somewhere along the shipping process my toolset was swapped out to the 1 wrench. The seller won't help.... My boyfriend recently ordered a leather jacket and received a shirt. Return shipping is to be paid by seller, I hope. But to send it back to China was 30.00. This is just crazy that there are so many consumers going through this. It seems to me that somewhere in the transit process someone is swapping out our correct purchased items and replacing them with junk! Think about it, there can not be that many sellers sending out every order incorrectly. So therefore it has to be in the transit process. Has anyone looked at their detailed tracking? Why does it stay in one place for over 5 days, then says it's accepted and sealed then goes to another port and stays there for almost a week? Why do they have to detain our shipments, open them, and seal them back up. It's crazy, it's just wrong! I can understand why paypal seems to be getting strict on this policy, it's not their fault. Maybe if enough of us consumers got together and got the Better Business Bureau or the Federal Trade Commissioner involved$ or someone with authority, maybe this bull crap would stop!

[kernowlass]

@Marc403 

Paypal are trying to save you having to send the item back as normally they say.........

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.

So if you can prove the item is fake or fraudulently sent the onus is on you to prove that OR every buyer would just say fraud to save returning an item.

All you need really is a crime report number which you may be able to get by contacting or filing online.  

[Marc403]

sorry but that is a rubbish reply and is just saying that Paypal will find a way of not reimbursing.

Why are Paypal still allowing these fraudulent and scamming companies to transact through Paypal ? 

[kernowlass]

@Marc403 

Well paypal didn't choose your seller, you did that.

Paypal just gives you 'some' buyer protection and you need to actually read up on what they do and do not cover you for ...

IMPORTANT: You may be required to return the item to the seller or other party we specify as part of the settlement of your claim. PayPal’s Purchase Protection program does not entitle you to reimbursement for the return shipping costs that you may incur.

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.

I chose a bad seller once and wasn't covered, I put it down to a learning curve, told myself to research my sellers better and moved on.

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.