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?

[flimbs]

this just happened to me from an order actually from a company (appearntly a shady company). I'm not out much money, was just more shocked once they provided the fake tracking number I never had the opportunity to comment and supply the original email with real tracking number..

[bipinstha]

I have the same scenario as well, 

I bought bike, paid through PayPal, got tracking detail on next day. Tracking detail shows that item was delivered on my postal code 2 weeks before I bought it. Then I realize it was scam. I tried to contact to seller, and they didn't respond to me at all. Then I filed dispute on PayPal where seller replied with the fake tracking number and even I wrote detail to PayPal hoping there will be some human to review the dispute. But at the end PayPal did favor to seller and I loose $111.53 from my pocket. 

This is misfortune in this advance tech age PayPal don't have bots/employee to review dispute. I would recommend whoever is reading this comment to don't get in such a scammer and may be use credit card than PayPal where your dispute will be handled more carefully. 

[LMF5000]

It's clear that PayPal hasn't fixed this huge loophole yet. I personally have been trying to avoid PayPal whenever possible (Amazon, Aliexpress, and eBay directly with credit card are all valid options). Why not try to dispute the transaction with your credit card company and see if you manage to get your money back that way?

[bipinstha]

Bad luck for me, I can't file dispute on credit card as I paid using PayPal balance. Any way, thanks for the suggestion. I will for sure try to avoid PayPal transaction.

[Shickman37]

I order a sewing machine from face book for $90.00 I never received it pay pal stated it was deceived. Can you tell me who when and how it was delivered.

[jrthiago]

+1. similar situation happened to me.

[Techrod]

Sorry to hear you've had this happen too, but I have given up hope of being able to see justice done. I did not get my money back. The reality if that the systems in place fail consumers at this level, provided the seller can provide ANY tracking detail that appears somewhat correct, it is up to was to prove that the item never arrived, and does anyone prove a negative?

I'm sorry to say, but I expect there is little you will be able to do given Paypal have already sided with the seller.

[jrthiago]

It is just $20 and I filled out a dispute with my credit card. The interesting part is that ebay removed the listing due to suspicious of fraud. Even that it was not enough for paypal to side with me.