Scammed

[GraceG103]

Hi I’m Grace and I’m 16 years old, I used an app called Vinted to buy a coat that cost £65 and I had contact with this lady and I said I wanted to buy it but she said that great but wanted to pay on PayPal because she had sent set up her wallet for Vinted I said okay and didn’t think much of it she also said could I pay using the friends and family option because otherwise the money gets held so stupidly thought that as reasonable as I don’t have much experience, after that she asked for my address and said thank you, she then deleted her account and the item for sale, I tried to make contact through Vinted,email and PayPal chat and nothing and I really just want my money back as it’s a lot of money for me and I’m really upset because this has never happened to me before and I don’t know what to do, so I was hoping you could help. Thank you Grace [removed]

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@GraceG103 

Then its a shame you broke paypal rules by opening an illegal underage account.

This is one of the reasons you should not be using paypal until you were 18.

A friends / family (or gift payment) is intended as a transfer of funds from family or friends to one another. For this reason, there is no processing fee when payment is made with bank or PayPal balance.
However as it is a gift payment, there is also no buyer protection as no goods or services should have been exchanged.

If he was not a close mate or family member you should never use that option as it enables the seller to evade paying his Paypal fees and negates your buyer protection at the same time.

You would also not be able to open a dispute (apart from one citing an unauthorised transaction), which would be automatically closed as you did authorise the initial payment.

Be careful as using that option for purchasing goods is against Paypal rules and can lead to account limitation.

If you funded your Paypal payment via a credit card then contact your card issuer and see if they will help you but unfortunately they may decline as well as it was a gift payment.

[craig85006]

 Hello, kernowlass.

I don't think Grace wanted to be chastised for her actions. She's needing help to get her problem resolved/a refund for her purchase, and posting such a belittling response does not help.

[kernowlass]

@craig85006 

I pointed out she should not have opened an illegal minor account which she is still using and then she would not have got scammed = FACT.

I then explained how the friends/family option worked and her only option on a refund.

So sorry that you (who have never given up your time to help a single person on this forum) chose to make your first post a criticism of my advice.

The original poster should not be using a minor account, its against paypal rules and she may well end up with a permanent ban and not be allowed to use paypal again. So its only correct that I tell her that information.

So feel free to actually try and help someone on here and as for your advice I will ignore it, have a good day !!