Item never arrived; seller gave fake tracking info, paypal sided with seller - what can I do?

[LMF5000]

I bought spare parts for my 3D-printer last April on eBay from China and they never arrived. I spoke to the seller and he kept telling me to wait, then said he's going to ship a replacement, but I demanded a refund (I learnt the hard way that it's a common scam for sellers to say they're shipping a replacement but never ship anything, and by the time the buyer realises the replacement isn't arriving either, the window for leaving feedback would've expired).

I had to open a case against him, and I thought it would be straightforward. However seller provided fake tracking info, and Paypal sided with him. When I run the tracking info through tracking websites, it's for a package that was shipped out from China aroud the time I ordered mine, was shipped to Malta, but was delivered and signed for by someone in a village on the opposite side of the country.

Now, this item was shipped with free shipping, and the seller never provided any sort of tracking number until I opened the case against him. I suspect the number came from some other shipment he made to some other buyer in Malta (this is a powerseller with over 20,000 feedback so I wouldn't be surprised if he actually sold several items a week to Maltese buyers).

I have repeatedly pointed out to PayPal that the tracking number provided is for a package that was delivered to the wrong location, but all I get is a boilerplate repsonse that "valid tracking info was received" (and always from a different customer care agent).

Is there anything I can do?

I already appealed the initial decision, under the only option available to me - that of "item not as described". I wrote clearly that I'm appealing because the item was never received and that the tracking number was fake. But PayPal simply replied with another boilerplate response saying that I have to return the item in order to continue with the claim (this after putting clearly in all caps in my response that I never received anything) <removed> Do they expect me to return an empty envelope?

I've been on eBay for almost a decade, I have over 530 purchases on my account with 100% positive feedback as a buyer. This experience has completely destroyed PayPal's credibility for me. I've spent a month sending emails back and forth about this, but no one at PayPal actually bothers to review the tracking info and verify the address on it and compare it to mine. I currently have no item and no refund. The seller has upped and left (zero items for sale as of a month ago). I'm pretty sure I haven't actually spoken to a real person at PayPal this whole time because the messages always seem to be written by an automated bot with no knowledge of the situation.

I'm shocked that it's so easy to cheat PayPal. I don't want to resort to doing a chargeback with the credit card company because I've had this account since the beginning and I don't want a black mark against it in PayPal's system.

So, do you have any ideas?

[matthewfoulk]

This happened to me recently too. The exact same situation, where item was not received and false tracking was uploaded. I thought it would be straightforward and was baffled when paypal didn’t side with me. Any help would be appreciated!

[LMF5000]

I still have no item and no money. I've stopped buying things from China if I can avoid it (I don't want to deal with dishonest scammers, saving a few euro isn't worth the hassle - so now my filter is set to "European Union only"). I also avoid PayPal where possible. I buy on Amazon or with local shops that deliver. Why pay PayPal's extortionate fees when buyer protection is a farce?

[Rudedog1950]

Exact thing happened to me! Out $250.00☹️

[Techrod]

Same here. I even had postal staff ready to sign affidavit that the tracking number representing my package was just an small envelope, even though my item was a 48pc alarm system (would have to have been a large box). Same lead up, mislead from day 1. I'm out of pocket nearly $800, with seemingly no means to proceed. Paypal has really let me down too. No idea how to avoid this in future except to stop using Paypal, given it is so easy to commit fraud to Paypal seems to support!

[LMF5000]

Let me guess, all you got from PayPal were replies consisting of a wall of text, copy-pasted from a script, while they didn't seem to comprehend what you were telling them in plain English. First thing you should do is leave negative feedback to warn other buyers. Then if possible open a dispute with "item not as described". They'll make you send it back, do so with a tracking number. After that hopefully you'll get your money back. If that doesn't work or it's already too late, maybe try doing a chargeback from your credit card. Personally, after my experience, I've been avoiding PayPal unless it happens to be the best choice out of all the options. Amazon is not bad, but it frustrates me that it doesn't give the total price including shipping until the very end. Most times I don't even bother and just go to eBay and sort by cheapest price + p&p. I've also used banggood with much success, though about half the time it's more expensive than eBay. And lately I tried AliExpress for the first time but seems shipping time for that will extremely long (over a week and tracking shows item still in China). So eBay/PayPal still occupies top place for me.

[LMF5000]

Let me guess, all you got from PayPal were replies consisting of a wall of text, copy-pasted from a script, while they didn't seem to comprehend what you were telling them in plain English. First thing you should do is leave negative feedback to warn other buyers. Then if possible open a dispute with "item not as described". They'll make you send it back, do so with a tracking number. After that hopefully you'll get your money back. If that doesn't work or it's already too late, maybe try doing a chargeback from your credit card. Personally, after my experience, I've been avoiding PayPal unless it happens to be the best choice out of all the options.

[LMF5000]

Amazon is not bad, but it frustrates me that it doesn't give the total price including shipping until the very end. Most times I don't even bother and just go to eBay and sort by cheapest price + p&p. I've also used banggood with much success, though about half the time it's more expensive than eBay. And lately I tried AliExpress for the first time but seems shipping time for that will extremely long (over a week and tracking shows item still in China). So eBay/PayPal still occupies top place for me.

[nlebidakis]

Same here , item never came , Banggood keeps sayning wait a few more days , opened a dispute on Paypal , seller replied with fake tracking and Paypal closed the dispute .I will never use Paypal again , i will close my account and i will share my BAD experience in all my social media mainly about PAYPAL and its fake "secure' mechanism .....!!!

[LMF5000]

Indeed. It seems no humans work at paypal, just robots that read from scripts. And sellers in China know just how to cheat the system. In my case the postcode on the fake tracking number was wrong, so anyone could have seen what the seller did - but to PayPal, "tracking info was received" and that's that. You have essentially no protection. The experience has made me buy from European sellers or from Amazon whenever possible or economical. I've had good experiences with banggood so far, but recently their prices have been higher than those on eBay - which defeats the purpose of using banggood because they ship from China so you have to deal with the long shipping time and high risk of lost packages.