PayPal allowed “not as described ” dispute case excuse-unacceptable

[EmpireUSA]

Helll All, We hope this post helps us find the best way to correct this situation but also hope it serves as an example and warning for potential PayPal users. The potentially most troubling part is that we explicitly wrote out our return policy in the invoice terms and conditions which the buyer agreed to. But upon the case dispute PayPal still ignored it and force initiated the refund. We are a relatively new legally registered business/shoe boutique in Colorado & even newer to PayPal. We decided to open an account, as well as to upgrade and pay $30/month for a PayPal PRO Merchants account. While we are generally satisfied with the transactions and invoice feature PayPal has for businesses. A recent situation where a buyer blatantly abused the “not as described” reason to initiate a return and even worse PayPal very obviously not only closely looked at the evidence and response we submitted on the case, but found that they actually didn’t even look at the evidence based on their response (where they also returned the items not in the same condition/used and worn, will touch on both in a moment though). We recently sold 2 pairs of brand new shoes to a seller who reached out over a Facebook sneaker group. We invoiced the buyer with very specific details about the shoes (including brand, color, size, condition, as well as with photos of the shoes attached to the invoice). We also attached our store’s return policy in the terms and conditions section of the invoice which the buyer agreed to when he paid the invoice. The return policy clearly states buyers have 3 full days/72 hours upon delivery of the shoes to inspect the shoes and either confirm their satisfaction with the shoes or report any and all issues they may have so we can address it and help initiate the return if they request it. However, the buyer received the shoes and signed for them. We reached out to the buyer, and they said they were “very satisfied” and that everything with the shoes was “all good!” And thanked us for the sale. We saved this conversation like we do with all conversations and attached it to the evidence in the dispute, but despite the fact we showed clear evidence the buyer confirmed satisfaction of the goods when receiving STILL a allowed them to say “not as described”. About 8-9 business days after they received the shoes (much past the 3 day window we give all our customers to come with any concerns and ask for a refund no questions asked) they started contacting us with very strange and manic messages about very little details about the shoes they were seemingly making up. When we tried to address the issues directly, such as when they said “the shoes look weird when in a certain light” every time we responded and asked if there’s anything we could do they ignored it and listed another seemingly made up reason. We clearly told them they agreed to our terms and conditions when buying, and reminded them that we told them they could’ve asked for a return within 3 days of receiving the shoes, but when we reached out to confirm they got the shoes and told us they were very satisfied and the shoes looked “percect” it was assumed the sale was finalized. So 8 business days after the return window in our policy, the seller randomly without notice opens a “not as described” claim/case to try and get a refund for the shoes. We wrote out a VERY lengthy and detailed response in regards to the case, which included our refund/return policy that we have and that the seller agreed to when buying the shoes. Also, we attached 8 separate files for evidence-including things such as the buyer agreeing to our return policy, the conversation where the buyer clearly confirmed the shoes and that they were satisfied with them and that the shoes were “perfect”, the conversation we had with them where we tried to address their concerns just to have them not respond to them, and other things such as a copy of the proof of purchase and receipt that came with the shoes when we bought them from the original retail store. Despite ALL of this...PayPal ignored our concerns and response we have including the evidence and return policy we provided. We know they didn’t bother reading the response or the evidence, because we can’t imagine any logical company (especially one we are paying for a premium service) so see the evidence we provided including the return policy and the buyer confirming 100% he was satisfied and the shoes were AS DESCRIBED (the buyers exact words). Despite all of this, they “concluded” that the buyer would get a full refund and would ship the shoes back to us taking $764 dollars from our account balance instantly. It’s gets much worse people...upon receiving the shoes back to our shop. The shoes had been very obviously WORN and were very dirty with the tags no longer on and attached to the shoes. Despite the fact PayPal said they would only give a refund if the items were returned in the same condition, we received worn used shoes no longer able to sell them as brand new with tags like we did to this buyer!! Upon receiving the shoes, we attempted to reach out to PayPal. We sent an email with no response given. We then attempted to file a claim in the resolution center to tell PayPal the buyer returned the shoes in a used condition. WE EVEN PROVIDED PROOF IN THE ORIGINAL CASE WITH EVIDENCE SHOWING THE BUYER SAYING QUOTE “Once I wore the shoes I had no doubt in my mind they are perfect”. Another reason we know they didn’t view any of the evidence because if they did they would see that the buyer admitted to satisfaction of the shoes AND that the buyer wore the shoes multiple times between receiving them and almost 2 full weeks later when they abused the return case system and forced a refund. However when trying to do this PayPal’s website said “we can not accept any comments on this case-you need to call us”. So as they said, we dialed the number they gave us, verified it was us the owners of the account, and (not being dramatic, speaking in literal terms we have a sceeen shot of the phone call) had been on hold for a total of 2 HOURS 35 MINUTES and 20 SECONDS. After waiting for almost 3 hours on hold to address all these concerns, the automated system finally said “no representatives are available to take your call. Please call back and try again”. UN-BELIEVE-ABLE!!!!!!! We are now stuck with used shoes greatly reduced in value and not able to sell at our store because they’re used and no longer new with tags. We have PayPal being complacent in all of this, while it could’ve been easily avoided if they just read the actual statement and evidence we gave in the first place....we are beyond mad, and as the owner of this new business I am planning on taking legal action filing a suit against PayPal in small claims court with the Secretary of State. Does anyone know if there’s anything we can do to work towards resolving this issue? We are beyond upset and are about to never use PayPal ever again, ever....if anyone has any tips or tricks they could help us with so we can hopefully get this very wrong situation right. Thanks so much! EmpireUSA