Paypal ask me to return the item to seller at my own cost, but the cost exceeds the refund value

[peter19666]

Hi

I have just had 8 claims in the paypal resolution centre turned down 3 weeks after been told to return goods, the goods total is over $3,500, i contacted paypal to say that i wished to return the goods as they were copies, paypal contacted me by email and gave me a return address for all 8 orders and a date they must be posted by, i posted them all within the timeframe and paypal again emailed me to say that they had sent the seller the tracking numbers and as soon as they received them i would get a full refund, some 10 days later paypal closed all cases and stated i was not covered under there buyer protection because i had brought the goods to sell in my business, when i 1st made the claim i told paypal that i had brought the goods for resale so they had all information from day one and did not get any information at a later date, they told me to return them for a full refund so they have left me with no stock or money, it is currently been disputed with paypal but i expect the same outcome i will then put a complaint in and i have to give them up to 8 weeks to reply and if not to my satisfaction i will then let the financial banking ombudsman deal with this matter for me, since 2021 paypal like all banks are governed by these to make sure customers are dealt with fairly, i have had a brief conversation with a person from the ombudsman and am confident i will get my money in the end.

[Aussywoo]

I purchased a Surface Pro from OfferUp. The seller and I agreed to go through PayPal for our transaction.
When I got the item today, I discovered the the device's keyboard port was broken (meaning Surface Pro Type Covers would not properly connect or work).

The seller did mention this issue on his listing. However, it was stated that the keyboard itself was not working, not the computer. I clarified this with the seller in writing before I made the purchase.
So, discovering this issue, I reached out to the seller to ask for a refund and return shipping costs.
This is where we disagree. While he's willing to take the broken computer back and refund the original transaction, he refuses to pay the return shipping due to the "already being out of the money for the refund" and fees. Alongside this, the seller originally charged me 25 dollars extra on top of the normal product cost for shipping when I found out later that the actual cost was about $15. This means that I essentially covered the purchase protection fees for him AND paid for the original shipping.

So here's my question: Will filing a Buyer Protection claim help me out here? This is clearly the seller's liability -- with chat logs and video evidence to back it up. Alongside this, if a business transaction is refunded on PayPal, don't the fees also get refunded?
I'm mainly asking because it isn't clearly stated if PayPal normally requires the seller to pay for return shipping.

[kernowlass]

@Aussywoo 

In the event of a dispute / claim that you win >>>
Paypal state this >>
IMPORTANT: You may be required to return the item to the seller or other party we specify as part of the settlement of your claim. PayPal Buyer Protection does not entitle you to reimbursement for the return shipping costs that you may incur.

You also have the option to do a chargeback via your card issuer instead of a Paypal dispute if you funded your Paypal payment via a credit card.

Or is you have a small claims court in your country and the item was misdescribed you could pursue the seller that way.

[Aussywoo]

@kernowlass 

Thank you so much for your reply! However I have one followup question -- if the seller refund the transaction willingly, will I get the full original amount back? Will the seller incur any fees from doing so as well? That was the seller's main claim -- that he'd be losing money in this transaction, even though he wants me to pay for return shipping.

[kernowlass]

@Aussywoo 

If the seller refunds you a full refund then you would get a full refund but the seller would still have to pay their fees as the fee element is not returned as part of any refund made.