Return postage

[Lee671]

Hi all, 

This is my first ever post here,

Ive just won a refund claim against a poor quality item that I now have to return to India, 

i was very happy to be awarded a refund but now I have to foot the bill for return postage costs which are working out to be around half the cost of the original purchase cost,

is anyone else disgruntled with the fact that we have to foot the bill for this as we’ve been sold items not fit for purpose and now have to spend more to get them back to original seller! 

[kernowlass]

@Lee671

Your best bet is to read up on paypal buyer protection before you start buying so you know what is and what is not offered.
In the event of a dispute you nearly always have to return the item back to the seller so you 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/uk/webapps/mpp/refunded-returns
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.

[Lee671]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, I can understand having to pay return post if it was an item that I decided that I didn’t like or no longer required but as it is of poor manufacture but was advertised as excellent quality then this is false advertising, the return post is half the cost of the item (cheapest that I can find) so I cannot see why I should pay for this, isn’t this covered by distance selling rules?  because I shouldn’t be out of pocket for a shoddy product no matter what part of the world it’s come from!

[kernowlass]

@Lee671

Consumer law does not always apply internationally.

If you choose to buy internationally (knowing you have to pay return costs if the item is not as described), then its up to you if you want to go ahead or not.

Although as I said if you have activated the 'return shipping on us' link before you made the transaction then paypal would reimburse you some of those return costs.

[Dishonestseller]

Spoiler

I agree. This happened to me. Received a fake item from a dishonest seller but paid half of cost to return item.

Absolutely wrong & unfair to a genuine buyer. The fraudulent seller should pay for returned shipping not penalise the innocent buyer. Paypal guarantees buyer protection with refund for original shipping. Does that mean returning  the product because the buyer does not pay to receive the product. Therefore what is a refund for original shipping.

if a product is not what was claimed to be & a full refund us given,return shipping costs should be paid by the dishonest seller otherwise Paypal is lying to us by saying we have buyer protection.

very dissatisfied with dishonest sellers & Paypals refund policies.

[kernowlass]

@Dishonestseller 

Paypal gives some buyer and some seller protection but its not a 100% coverall.  You need to read up on it first to see what cover it does and more importantly does not give you and then risk assess your transactions. This is especially important if its an international sale. Most sellers within your own country you can get legal redress if you receive an item not as described to get return postage costs but if its tat from somewhere like China then you don't have that option.  

Paypal states 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/smarthelp/article/FAQ3544

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.