Paypal is helping a buyer to steal from me

[raautoworks]

I sold a customer an item, they claim its significantly not as described (my description was accurate, not the main point), i get $700 held by paypal as the process the claim, a chargeback is filed, in the end they give him the money back and hes never held responsible for returning my $700 item. Who do I sue to make this right, the buyer that stole from me, or the companies that facilitated the theft, or all of them?

Ive kept in close contact with paypal the whole time and have been very prompt in my responses. Ive maintained my eligibility for seller protection the whole time. I even made sure to resend my address to ship the item back to. The ups tracking info now says that its in transit even tho i vividly remember when it was delivered and theres even a picture of the open package on his porch. So i know he has it. He also mentioned thst he would be filing a chargebavk before even starting with the paypal dispute process,  ut his bank didnt get involved until it was time to send back my merchandise. For the tracking info for the return shipment it listed "other" as the carrier and "none" as the tracking number. If i tried to submit that crap to paypal theyd drop any protection of my interests in a second. Thats funny to me because to cease coverage of a transaction dont you have to be providing coverage in the first place? Basically paypal is listening to his lies and exaggerations to the point where i get my funds held, my account useless since march, they tell him to send it back but do nothing to make sure that that happens, and then just roll over at the first mention of a chargeback and im stuck with a paypal account in the red for over $700, no item to sell to get that $700 back into my account, and all these hours wasted deali n g with this **bleep** just to get **bleep** on the phone saying to get a subpeona to get information to talk ti his financisl institution myself and theres nothing they can do if someone filed a chargeback. It sounds like i should sue for my money and/or my item, my time and for punitive damages as paypals "sellers protection" is false advertising if they cant even protect my valuable merchandise which a chargeback doesnt affect. The buyers paypal account can have $700:held just like mine was until my item is returned or he pays the money. Then id feel a bit more protected, but nothing has even been hinted at so who do i name in my lawsuit?

[kernowlass]

@raautoworks 

The chargeback process is external to the PayPal system. The buyer's credit card issuer grants its members specific consumer protection which PayPal has no authority to replace or reduce. If a PayPal user initiates a chargeback with their credit card company Paypal have no way of stopping the claim.

When a PayPal payment is charged back, Paypal are charged a fee by the credit card issuer. They pass this non-refundable fee on to you. 

If the card issuer grants the case in the buyer's favour, Paypal will review the transaction on your account to see if it is eligible for Seller Protection. Please review this link for information on the Seller Protection Policy - https://www.paypal.com/smarthelp/article/what-is-the-paypal-seller-protection-policy-and-what-items-.... 

[raautoworks]

I understand that. But where does it say that he gets to keep my item?

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@raautoworks 

If its a paypal dispute for item received but not as described and you lose BUT you have responded to the dispute then normally the buyer gets a refund on return of the item back to you.

Card issuers however do not get involved in anything to do with the item. All they are concerned about it getting a refund for their client if the item was not received or not as described.

HOWEVER you can take your own private legal action to get the return of your item. First offer to send the buyer a shipping label or return costs and ask if they will send the item back. If not you can take them to the small claims court if you have something like that in your country.

[raautoworks]

Sounds about where im at. Just seeking confirmation or alternatives. Thanks for confirming. I still think its **bleep** for Paypal to drop all protections whatsoever just because a chargeback happens. Just because a buyer wins a  chargeback claim (which it still boggles my mind as to how) doesnt mean he doesnt still have my item and it doesnt mean Paypal has no tools at their disposal. They can put a hold on his account just like they did mine until my property is returned or  the cost reimbursed.

And as for the cost of hom sending it back, well thats what $100 of that $700 was for. So to still not send my item back even though he has been given all of the money back is just that much more criminal imo.

Thsnk you @kernowlass for your insight and expertise on this issue. 

[Saad31]

Same thing happened to me. You are lucky that its just $700. My paypal has $9600 negative. The customer claimed with paypal that the item is not as described however I provided all the evidences that the item is as described. Eventually, paypal decided that the merchandise shall be returned to me. Guess what, I delivered 3 pallets of tiles (96 Cartons) and what they returned was 1 small brown colored box which contained 5 pieces of rocks and as soon as the tracking showed "Delivered" label, paypal closed that case in the buyer's favor saying that they returned the item and the tracking shows delivered.

Their investigation department is so crap that they simply make decisions based on tracking labels and buyer's statements. Evidences are worthless.

I dont know where do I go. I paid $6000 to my supplier to get the material and there is no way they will credit me for this.

Ive been calling paypal and re-opening the case over and over again, providing them evidences and making them understand in simple words. Im just hoping. If any paypal authority is seeing this, I'd really request you to please take action against such things otherwise one day people will stop using your services as a business.

[raautoworks]

Thats garbage and im sorry to hear that that happened to you. Ill tell you what ive been able to do so far (i literally just did this so im not sure if it will work or even apply to your situation). I filed my own claim against one of the related transactions claiming i paid using another method which in the end, is what i did essentially. I paid in shippi b g costs and merchandise to receive $700 worth of currency, preferrably US DOLLARS.

A long shot but worth a try since the sysyem let me file the claim.

[Saad31]

Thank you for the help man. Ill try to do that as well. Moreover You can do one thing as well, call paypal and get connected to the claims & disputes dept and ask them to re-open the case.