Fraudulent Merchandise

barb591
New Community Member

I purchased a bunch of sweaters from several websites. These were nice sweaters in the photos, though the more I think about it I think they were taken from the Ravelry Knitting Pattern website. I assumed someone had purchased rights to go into production. When the merchandise started arriving it became clear these 3 websites are Chinese, and they all had the same paperwork/invoice forms (i.e. I think they are related DBAs). The merchandise literally looked like they xeroxed a sweater and printed it on slick polyester fabric. I would have laughed if it wasn't such an obvious scam. I wouldn't even donate these products to Goodwill. Of course the terms of the return are to return to the merchandise to the home office, which turns out to be China, even though packages arrived from varied addresses, including the US. The shipping back to China would be at least $75, for a $200 claim. They offer 25% refund if you keep the merchandise. So the scam is bait and switch, but still dancing within the lines of a "legitimate" return process, knowing it is cost prohibitive. In the mean time they have probably skimmed over 50% (or more) of the purchase price once you account for their cost of product and shipping (which apparently is much cheaper). 

My problem is convincing either PayPal or my credit card company that this is fraud. They see "fraud" as being someone stole your identity or account, otherwise they see it as a voluntary transaction with a dissatisfied customer and therefore follow the normal return process. This scheme dances between the two, and I think the merchant was quite clever in finding that loophole.

Any suggestions on this?

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1 REPLY 1

sharpiemarker
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@barb591 

 

Yep, they are clever. Some tactics are even more clever, outright brazen to try to get out of refunding a customer.

 

Register for reimbursed returns (up to $30):

https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/refunded-returns

 

PayPal's purchase protection program's Significantly Not As Described (SNAD) claims, if you disputed, have certain requirements in order to be considered SNAD. See Purchase Protection

 

Perceive it as paid tuition to be more observant of sites that are indicative of Chinese sellers, stick to shops/brands you know and trust, do research on a merchant before you buy. They used to cheat with the low price but high shipping move, now the price is inching up and working the PayPal loopholes. The Chinese do not believe in returns/refunds. You bought it, its yours, or they'll do like you say, bargain a discount outta ya. Gotta hand it to them because they got guts to do this with no qualms, like whatever. Moral leadership is going down the drain. Its a race to the bottom.


Kudos & Solved are greatly appreciated. 🙂
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