Refund awarded to buyer unfairly

[DanP2]

The buyer purchased an item from me . The payment he sent was never credited to my PayPal account - it was only ever pending. For this reason I delayed sending out the item. After a few days I posted the item in good faith however the buyer requested a refund of his payment - this was granted and the buyer received the refund the same day he received the item . The item was sent by Hermes and was tracked and signed for by the buyer. I telephoned PayPal and was advised to issue an invoice. This I have done. The buyer has not responded to any of my messages and never attempted to contact me directly to resolve. When I try to raise a dispute in the resolution centre it says the transaction is not valid (I assume this is because PayPal feel they've already dealt with the issue by refunding the buyer). Where do I go from here?

[kernowlass]

@DanP2

If the payment was pending then it would have been because you are a new seller and subject to the new seller hold.

To get your funds released quickly you have to send the item promptly and when tracking shows the item as delivered + 3 days your funds would clear.

But you chose to make your buyer wait and so they opened up a dispute for non receipt of item and as you did not have a tracking number that proved delivery of the item they were refunded.

Once refunded paypal can't take that refund back again HOWEVER it takes at least 10 days from when a dispute is escalated before a refund is made so you must have delayed sending your item for more than a ''few days'' if a refund was issued.

[DanP2]

That is a good insight however as a new seller I did not know the reasons for a pending payment. I would think it appropriate for a buyer to contact me prior to opening a dispute to ask where the item was. Moreover, it may well be that PayPal will not reverse the refund but personally I would have subsequently paid for the item once received regardless of PayPal or eBay's regulations; one doesn't need to know these before deciding what is the right or wrong thing to do and what is theft and what is a fair marketplace. 

[kernowlass]

@DanP2

your welcome.