I have barely used PayPal, so I’m looking for someone with more experience to help me understand how this process will play out and what recourse I have.
I sold a guy a bike and shipped it to him. We text about how he was not happy with the condition of the bike, which I take issue with, and eventually he opens a PayPal dispute. He asks for a refund, but I can’t see a guarantee in the PayPal system that I’ll get the item back if I issue a refund so I tell him I plan to escalate it to a claim since I felt the bike was accurately represented.
While gathering my evidence, HE escalated the claim at which point I see that I can offer a refund conditional on the return of the bike. Cool, I decide to go that route. He then continues to text me asking if we can work out a partial refund, but ultimately I want the bike back.
I got notified from PayPal today that he shipped the bike back via UPS, but the tracking number generated yesterday is only 17 digits (UPS should be 18).
Now I’m being asked to respond to PayPal by Aug 6, but the only option is to acknowledge the receipt of the item. There’s no way it’s getting here by tomorrow, and I’m worried he’s scamming me based on the shipping info.
I put that in a message to PayPal support but they haven’t acknowledged it and there’s somehow literally no other way to contact them(??).
Is there a step at some point in this process for me to prove that he acted in bad faith here? I’m worried I’m either not going to get my bike back or it’s going to be damaged.
