Why does PayPal support Chinese scamming companies?

[SeaDeep]

I purchased an item for $150 from a company in Hong Kong/China. They immediately mailed me something worth around $14 (per an identical item I found on Amazon), which is not even close to what they had agreed to sell me.  I paid by PayPal for the purchase, and went to the resolution centre to get a refund. The seller tells Amazon that they will refund my money when they get the item they shipped to me back in their hands.

This is where the scam begins.  PayPal advises me that they have found in my favour, and that I will need to ship the item back to the seller, and use a shipping method that allows tracking, and to provide PayPal with the tracking number for the shipment. Now, because of that stipulation for tracking, it is either impossible or financially impossible to comply.  Canada Post does not even provide an option for tracking a shipment to Hong Kong/China, and DHL, FedEx, and UPS all charge well in excess of $200 for any kind of shipping to that location... and I'm talking about a small item the size of a pen, with packaging that is 3"x8"x1" in size.

Then, to add insult to injury, PayPal makes it nearly impossible to contact PayPal to discuss the issue.  I have offered to credit the seller $20 for the cost of the item, and double what they paid for postage to get it here.  I would then be reimbursed $130 from the seller.  But so far... crickets... PayPal won't respond.

The sellers full well know that so long as they send some piece of junk that they can claim needs to be returned to obtain credit on purchase, that they have North American buyers locked into a no-win situation, and PayPal is fully supporting this kind of activity.

I have had good luck with earlier purchases from China via eBay.  That is where I went wrong in this scenario, as I purchased direct from the seller.  In the future, learn from my mistake and only purchase from sites like eBay where you have a purchase guarantee in place that can be honoured if something goes wrong.  PayPal is great for processing payments, but they are fraud conspirators when it comes to how they collaborate with Chinese scamming companies and fraudulent sales practices.

[kernowlass]

@Dabel 

Chinese Web Sites or on Facebook easy to spot so buyer beware.

1. No return address on the returns policy............thats because the site will look as if its in your country (where they despatch goods from) BUT they will ask for returns to go back to China (returns depot) at a shipping cost nearly always more than the item is worth.
2. No contact telephone number............if you click on contact the most you will get is webmail or an email address.
3. No company address information.
4. Great looking items at bargain prices that turn out to be tat.

[daphnegale]

Not true in all cases.  I refuse to buy crap from China so did my research (as much as I could).  The company had a website with a store front in Toronto, email contact and a Facebook page.  Seemed legit until I complained, now all of that is GONE.  PayPal is aware and chooses to not fix the problem!

[WStollings]

I pay Paypal with a credit card so that I can open a dispute directly with the credit card company because they are much easier to contact and much more responsive to stopping such scams. My problem was that even though the credit card company found in my favor and subsequently Paypal followed suit, I used the 4 Pay program and they then claimed I owed late fees for the 3 later payments although they had been paid and the credit card took the payments back. The initial payment was also taken back but the customer service rep did not seem to understand that. They actually wanted me to contact the seller and get a full refund so they could apply it correctly.