Refund without openning a dispute scam?

[omikron199]

Hello, I've recently purchased a small semi-precious gemstone through a rather reputable seller on Etsy, we agreed on express shipping and I paid through paypal. We actually had a good communication and the seller (by himself) went to the local certification lab to get stone certified.

The stone turned out be a simple colored glass and seller have sent me the photo of this certificate and a note how heartbroken he was. I replied that I am sorry for the whole situation and I've asked him to go to his paypal account and issue a refund since this is a counterfeit item and there is no point for me to accept it.

I went straight to paypal to open a dispute but something didn't add up since it was only one day since the purchase and I've decided to at least wait for a week as per paypal guidelines and went back to the seller to ask him to issue a refund from his side.

The seller refused to do so, stating that he can't issue any refund via paypal unless the dispute is open. Which to me sound very suspicious. I've had orders in the recent past that were canceled and refunded instantly since the item was damaged or not available. My second "alert" triggered when the seller started insisting for me to hurry, insisting in an unpleasant amount of messages, multiple, every day.

My third "alert" triggered when I've found out about the shipping and wrong address scams. I know that paypal resolutions are mostly automated and I am afraid that the seller wanted the system to automatically close my dispute in his favor so I will loose money. For example if I open a dispute sating the the item is counterfeit - the seller may simply reply that the item is not yet shipped, send and empty box provide tracking and be happy with closed case, or maybe he is trying to avoid paypal fees? Could anyone please recommend a best course of action?

The item is fake and seller admitted it with photo and direct message, item was not shipped. I'm stuck in a limbo of "what to do next to not get scammed"

The whole situation is confusing and stressful enough, please help.

[kernowlass]

@omikron199 

This is my personal opinion, how you play it is up to you.

I would open a dispute for non receipt of item. Then whilst its still in the dispute stage I would add as much information as possible accurate but concise on what has happened.

The seller would probably ship the item then so that they had a tracking number .....wait.

If the seller uploads fake tracking then immediately escalate the dispute to a claim and if paypal close it come back here for info on how to appeal.

If you get the item then immediately take it to be assessed and see if you can get a written statement on company headed paypal from the store that assessed it what it is and then add that to the dispute information and then escalate to a claim. You would then have to wait for paypals decision.

Make sure you escalate before 20 days when it will time out.

You have not said which country you are in or which country the seller is in so not sure if a small claims claim action would be appropriate if the paypal claim does not work. Also you have the option to do a chargeback via your credit card if you funded your paypal payment that way.

Lastly have you contacted Etsy to see if they have a separate policy you can try first. If you upload or they can view messages between you and the seller you may find they will refund you? 

[omikron199]

Thank your for your reply. I'm located in Kazakhstan and the seller is from India. Transaction is worth 410$, it was marked as free shipping.

I've contacted Etsy and filed a support request there, their system redirects one to paypal to resolve any monetary issues if paypal was used as a payment method, but I suppose they can see my communication with the seller in the internal messages there.

My main concern is why seller is refusing to simply select the "refund" from the transaction menu and insists that I use the dispute route instead?

Do Indian merchants have a limitation that they really can't refund without a dispute or this is some shady thing?

Kind regards

[kernowlass]

@omikron199 

They can refund without a dispute being opened, no idea why they are not doing so.