Shipping Incorrect Items Back To China

[Jupitersgirl]

I recently made a purchase for items from a Chinese seller. They sent me the incorrect product. There is a notice on the company's website that actually makes the legitimate product I ordered saying that they are having issues with Chinese internet sellers scamming people and pulling a bait and switch. Unfortunately I found this out AFTER I got the products I didn't order in the mail. Paypal initially offered me half the refund which I politely declined afterall, the seller sent me incorrect product. If you purchase from a store you don't get half a refund so why should I expect anything less from an online retailer? They agreed to refund me the full amount on the condition I send the items back to China with tracking. I don't have an issue sending the items back. The seller can have them since they sent the wrong product anyway. The issue I am having is Paypal expects me,and it seems other buyers, to pay for this shipping (with tracking) out of our pocket. I don't know about any one else's experience, but shipping with tracking is expensive. It's going to cost me $132 to ship it back to China from Canada with a tracking number.  According to the post office ,China is one of the most expensive countries to send stuff to from Canada but it apparently costs them peanuts to send to us. That shipping cost is basically going to wipe out my refund. Paypal is unwilling to budge except to offer $30 to help out with shipping costs. So yea, Paypal will give me a refund but I'm going to half to cough up $132 for shipping which wipes out my refund and that's if I get the refund. If I purchase off of any online retailer and they ship me the incorrect item (Amazon, Ebay etc) I've never had to pay the cost to send it back. It's the seller's error and the onus should be on them for selling us crappy product or the incorrect product. It's bad business practice and Paypal is setting a dangerous precedent here. This action only further fuels the Chinese sellers market to continue to rip off the customers. They know it's going to cost 2x the amount of the purchase to send it back and Paypal is allowing them to do this. At this stage I am awaiting to hear if the seller is going to send a return label. I'm not holding my breath but we shall see what happens. I expected better from Paypal and you may be losing a longtime customer. 

[Help1118]

So finally what did u do with the product and did u receive refund back?

[Bt_UK]

This has happened to me. A product I purchased costing 55$usd and worth probably 5$, For a refund I have to return it (costing 30$) what do I do? I'm tempted to cut my losses and never buy from China again and cancel my paypal. What is annoying is I trusted paypal to resolve this and fight for the buyers. I have lost trust in both paypal and China sellers. It all feels like a scam.

[RichardWalkerNZ]

This is exactly what happened to me. Reading all the comments. It is clearly a well designed scam. PayPal needs to close my seller down. But even saying that. Their website has already gone offline and no doubt will reappear under another name next week and so the scam continues. My purchase was through Instagram. They are also equally to blame for this sort of activity

[Archie3rd]

PayPal can't possibly keep track of the China crooks except by one method. DO NOT ALLOW ANY CHINA PURCHASES. CHINA IS OUR ENEMY. We need to support this country. At least when we get **bleep** here, the money stays here. LOL

[dagwood777]

For those commenting "then don't buy from China", it's not that simple.  While some sites are obviously foreign (spelling, grammar, etc), some are not easy or even possible to discern their origins.  A few months ago, I purchased some garage banners with xmas and 'murican eagle motifs that were supposed to be for a double garage measuring 7' x 16'.  Included were supposed to be fasteners that "hang" on the top of the garage and have elastic at the bottom to allow the banner to stretch during opening/closing of the door.  What they sent were 2 small banners that were neither tall enough nor wide enough to fit a double garage door.  They would have been TOO wide and still too short for a single garage door.  I complained (as did you) to PayPal and got the same stonewalling.  I put in a complaint to my credit card processor (Citi) and they immediately issued a TEMPORARY credit while they reach out to the seller to resolve the issue.  They didn't ask for photos or other proof, but did listen to my story and added it to their notes.  They said it can take up to 120 days for resolution.  Meanwhile, PayPal is going to close my dispute on Jan 30th if I don't provide them with a tracking number for sending the item back.  They said I could join their "return shipping on us" program to get $30 refunded.  What a hassle.  Looking for lower cost shippers to see if they'll really perform for that price.  So far, found Parcel Monkey which apparently uses FedEx for dropoff that can do a small parcel feor $27.33, which fits within PayPal reimbursement guidelines.  Seems like PayPal knows about this and should offer some assistance with giving sources of cheap shipping to China to save everyone a bunch of hassle.  I'll report back.

[Mthpdj]

I know it's only been a few days but have you found a decent carrier? Going through the same thing now and am debating if I should send it back or just cut my losses!

[dagwood777]

Hi. I did find a shipper that would send a 1lb package to China for $27.33, but while I was trying to get PayPal to confirm that the values I was putting into the street address, city, province, and postal code fields was correct, AND asking them to get a phone number for the seller (required by the shipper), I contacted my credit card company and filed a dispute with them. They immediately issued a temporary credit and within 24hrs, PayPal suddenly did an about face and told me THEY resolved the dispute in my favor AND I didn’t have to send the item back! Hmm. Maybe I’ll get a credit from PayPal AND the bank and get to keep the dumb item in the process. Wouldn’t that be ironic? Anyway, the shipper was parcelmonkey.com. Please note that I never shipped anything through them as this got resolved WHILE I was trying to make sure the shipping info was accurate.

[tolly20003]

I'm going through the same thing right now, and it seems I'm going to have to eat my loss. These people are scam and the fact that Paypal can't do anything makes it worse. 

I got sent the wrong product, and shipping it back will cost me 150% of my original payment. This doesn't seem right. 

[dagwood777]

Well, here’s some good news. PayPal contacted me and said they “resolved my dispute in my favor” (hmmm) and were refunding me in full (and they did) and that I did not have to return the item. It might be due to me complaining to my credit card company (ie the credit card company forced the refund and PayPal is making it look like they decided in my favor), or maybe PayPal saw the light and made it right. All I know is, I’m FINALLY satisfied with the outcome. Shouldn’t be this hard to resolve obviously scammy situations like this. Good luck and I hope my example helps others get positive resolutions.

[Cmlndammom]

My question is this: I got an address that I can’t even read because it’s in Chinese characters. So how am I supposed to ship this??? I haven’t even tried the USPS or anywhere else because how am I supposed to ensure I write this correct address down, also that the staff can read Chinese in order to input it into the tracking system!!!