Scammed by Chinese seller and Paypal sided with scammer

[kenstewart2005]

PP-D-45211970 - thank you (sarcasm) for siding with the Chinese fraudulent seller! Seller advertised product, sent significantly DIFFERENT product and only way they would refund me is if I spent more money which would amount to same, if not more, than original sale for my shipping cost (seller would not cover) ... and YOU (Paypal) sided with them ... HORRIBLE service and you obviously support fraudulent Chinese sellers! I will advertise this to others, report to BBB, and anything else I can do via social media. HORRIBLE CUSTOMER (lack of) service! There is NO buyer protection from you, can't wait to pay off this amount and NEVER use you again.

[sharpiemarker]

@kenstewart2005 

If you can't resolve it with the seller during the dispute phase of the case and escalate to PayPal claim, PayPal will resolve it their way, which is, return item for a refund on Significantly Not As Described claims. PayPal actually ruled in your favor and force the seller to accept a return. Can't have both the money and the goods, yo. The seller loses out on a sale/original shipping cost and buyer returns item they don't want and pay return shipping because PayPal cannot refund more than what you originally paid. If it is counterfeit, you'll need some documentation to support that and PayPal might reconsider their decision. PayPal offers return shipping refunds (up to $30) so utilize that or lose the case. PayPal is third party, not there when the transaction went down so have to make judgement call. Otherwise, if you paid with credit card, invoke your credit card chargeback rights, instead.

Buyer and seller protections is not a guarantee, warranty, or insurance; PayPal never claims this and so there are limitations. Please read the full documentations, not catch the phrases.

1. https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/paypal-safety-and-security

2. Purchase Protection

In the future, stick to the merchants you know and trust. Do research on merchant before you buy. Don't get taken in by too good to be true prices or its a cute or nifty item. Anyone can slap a store together these days.

[kenstewart2005]

Little more context ... yes, stick to trustworthy sources ... this was literally a one-time just give it a shot deal, never again. As far as keeping the goods and refund bit you mentioned, I disagree.  Why? The seller defrauded me through their fraudulent sale. They wanted me to ship it back to China (at my expense) to which they said would be very expensive and a long time before they would receive it. Why should I spend MORE of my money to a seller who defrauded me, then wait a lengthy time to see IF they actually refund my original purchase. In the end I'd either be out as much, if not more, money on my end. As far as Paypal covering my shipping, nowhere did that come up during the dispute. You have to research all over their help site to find what you reference. It shouldn't be this difficult. So, on principle I refused to pay for the shipping. Reputable sellers pay for your return shipping or hit you for a small restocking fee ... that was not the case here. 

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@kenstewart2005 

In the event of a dispute you need to bear in mind possible return trackable costs before you buy from that seller / item / country.

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 at some point before you made that transaction .....
https://www.paypal.com/us/selfhelp/article/what-is-return-shipping-on-us-and-how-do-i-activate-it-fa...

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.

[rebhill]

I see that Paypal still has their button on the website of the company that scammed me too. The person I talked to in chat even said the items looked ridiculous. Paypal didn't give me enough time to ship the item back, closing my claim without warning. 

[Jmatisi]

I was in the middle of sending photos and asked for a place to forward my email conversation. I had cancelled my order when they tried to scam me on the money with a phony tracking number. They tried to drag it out over a month so I would miss my window to report it. I opened a case to protect myself and they then sent me a cheap knockoff product to try to cover their **bleep**, but only after I opened the case with PayPal, just to show that they delivered "something". I'm going to stop using businesses that use PayPal, and I'll let them know why and suggest another service for small businesses.

[Quilter2]

This is exactly what happened in my case. The company is called... Danton Co LTD and money went to Fountain Co LtD PayPal denied my claim because I received a .25 pair of novelty sunglasses instead of hats with shields I paid $41.37.

[Jmatisi]

Repeating the same canned message just shows you aren't even reading the comments. No buyer should be responsible to ship back any fraudulent product or cheap knockoff item at their expense, and PayPal should support this. In my case, I cancelled a fraud but they sent it anyway, and PayPal still supported them. It was supposed to be a $230 item and they sent a $25 item and charged $81. I'm not done with them or PayPal yet.

[kernowlass]

@Jmatisi 

Why not, why should you keep item + get a refund?

When you buy from a shop in town and its wrong then you have return it for a refund, you don't just ring them up and they send a refund for you.

You chose to buy from China before doing as per below......... 
Chinese Web Sites or on Facebook easy to spot so buyer beware.

1. No return address on the returns policy............thats because the site will look as if its in your country (where they despatch goods from) BUT they will ask for returns to go back to China (returns depot) at a shipping cost nearly always more than the item is worth.
2. No contact telephone number............if you click on contact the most you will get is webmail or an email address.
3. No company address information.
4. Great looking items at bargain prices that turn out to be tat.

I've never been ripped off because I check out the websites first and don't buy tat from Facebook / China AND I always fund my paypal purchases via a credit card for double security.

Paypal gives 'some' buyer protection but its not a 100% coverall, its up to all of us to risk assess our own transactions.


 

[Gatorguy]

So why does PayPal give them an implied endorsement, the vaunted Paypal Buyer Protection proclaiming the transaction is safe when in some cases it plainly is NOT.