Dispute over receiving half an order and having to return items for refund.

[sheilajo]

I placed an order for some moulds and resin from a company which stated in the shipping would be sent my Parcel Force 48.  Great I thought straight from the UK to me here in the UK.  Order placed, delivery arrived six weeks later with the UK postal label, but underneath was a shipped from China label.  Clearly the seller had the item shipped from China to them and then posted it to me, not to worry I thought least it has arrived.  Only problem being there was only half of the order, 147 items were missing.  I messaged the company, reply was "sorry you were not satisfied with the items, you can have a partial refund or post the items back but this would be really expensive."  I replied with "Quite disappointed you did not explain why the other items were missing but I will settle for a partial refund."

A week later PayPal messaged to say the case was coming to a close and I should escalate my claim.  I did as instructed and received a message again from the seller to say "We are trying to process your refund but the refund system is not working, please have patience".  I logged into PayPal today to see a message saying "You have to send the items back and a shipping address, then I would get a full refund."  Normally this would not be a problem but just got a quote to send the items I did receive back and the cost is quite a lot more than what I paid for the whole items in the first place because surprisingly the return address is China.

Not that I am a suspicious person but did the seller know if they hung off from giving me any sort of refund then the only option for me would be to keep the items delivered but not have any refund (which would have been almost the cost of about half the order) or return the items and pay far more than what the original price was?  I also have to wait until Monday to find out if I could even post the items back as the parcel contains two bottles of liquid so may have to be sent as 'hazardous' which will bump up shipping costs even more.

I know PayPal have to protect businesses from some not so honest buyers but there should also be an option for buyers to reply to messages and not just think it is as simple as shipping the item and issuing a tracking number especially internationally.

[sheilajo]

Just a quick update on the above problem I was experiencing.  $72 to ship the part order back so I did not do this.  Case now closed in seller's favour as I did not upload a tracking number.  The website I ordered from no longer exists, so that to me says they knew exactly what they was doing, the exact same products are being advertised on social media be it through a different company name, not sure if same people but PayPal has them covered. 

I am unhappy about losing the money but also so glad it was not an expensive item, only lost $41 in the end but won't be using PayPal for future purchases.

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@sheilajo 

Why? Paypal didn't choose your seller for you.

They give you 'some' buyer protection and its up to you to risk assess your transactions.

Don't buy from these...

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.

All Paypal did is exactly what they say they will do.....

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

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.