Fraud items / Paypal's return policy

[loquillo]

Hi All,

An international (UK based) seller sold me FRAUD / FAKE Rick Owens boots. I made a case in Paypal and the best they can do is offer me a refund so long as I return the item in the same condition. Problems I have with this (1) the seller is obviously a scammer, how do I know they are not going to pull some stunt saying they are different? (2) WHY DO I HAVE TO PAY RETURN SHIPPING $$$$ It will cost me close to $30 USD, really not happy about this Paypal "Protection" policy (3) How do I ensure the item reaches the seller with tracking if they are obviously a scammer / crook??

Has anyone been in this situation before? Seems like Paypal is NOT protecting their buyers but their sellers in this case. I have been on the phone multiple times and representatives seem to understand my case, however, this is my only option. Highly frustrating... will NEVER buy on Depop again after this horrible costly experience!

[kernowlass]

@loquillo

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.

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.