what if seller says returned goods damaged and refuses to refund?

[lauped]

Hi. We bought beds online for over £500 pounds and took out a paypal claim when we found that they were damaged and sub-standard. We took photos of the beds but were not asked to upload them. Paypal have now said that we are entitled to a refund but have to pay the return cost, which is about £50. We feel that this is unfair, although I wish now that we had uploaded the photos. Our other concern is s follows. Because the seller has had so much very negative feedback from other customers, which unfortunately we did not ascertain before ordering, we feel that this company is a cowboy outfit who will try to avoid refunding us, or refunding the full amount. They could say, for instance, that the damage to the beds was done by us. Any advice would be much appreciated.

[kernowlass]

@lauped

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 and can risk assess your buyers and not get caught out like this.

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 before the transaction ........
https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/refunded-returns

If you have already won the dispute citing damage then its unlikely the seller can 'appeal' that result with the same reason.
If you buy from a business in the UK then you can normally recover those return costs via the small claims court although most UK businesses would reimburse you anyway. BUT if you choose to buy from a private or international seller you may not have that option.