Scammed-seller shipped garbage and provided tracking,PayPal resolution denied my claim

[mmkhere]

I had bought some items from a seller on a Facebook group. After making the payment, the seller ghosted me for sometime. Only after I opened a Paypal case, the seller responded with some harsh, racist comments and updated the claims case with a tracking. There was no movement in the parcel until 1 week after that.
I am based outside the US and use a professional freight forwarding/ handling company for all my purchases. They updated me with the info of the parcel once it was received. The seller shipped Wetwipes instead of diecast model cars, which I had purchased. He had also blacked out his name from the label.
I then notified Paypal via the claims that the items received weren't what I had paid for. They dragged this for long only to tell me that they have denied my claim as the seller had provided tracking. WHat sort of buyer protection is this? I have limited resources and work hard to earn.
There is a group which highlights scammers and this seller's profile was mentioned as a scammer numerous times. I asked the Admin of the group to contact the seller to which he threatened her and her kids with harm. I even provided this info to Paypal but they still sided with him. Where's the buyer protection? 😞

Somebody please help.

[kernowlass]

@mmkhere 

Did you open a dispute for non receipt of item OR item received but not as described?

[mmkhere]

The first time I filed the case as Item received but not as described. I then got a notification that Paypal had changed it to item not received. 1 week later(today) I was denied the claim, stating that the item was delivered based on tracking.
I filed another claim now, again under Item Not as described.

[mmkhere]

So I was informed that I have to return the package back to the seller in order to receive a full refund. Which is fine except that the scammer/seller messaged me saying he is expecting all his items back-  This reverse trickery doesn't bother me until when he will tell Paypal that he received the wrong items. 
I'd like to mention that the package is with my handling/forwarding company based in the US.
How to best cover myself further from this trickster's ways?

[mmkhere]

*bump*

The case I have re-filed is under review. Please advice what I can do for either outcome. I'm a bit skeptical of Paypal's dispute team based on my experience( with this case and one about 5 months back.)

[m4n8tpr8]

Unfortunately, I cannot help, I only note that I have a somewhat similar problem. I could get my refund in time, but after the fact, my fraudulent seller also sent PayPal fake tracking data (about a package sent to a different person in a different city near mine), which is now in the case details, and I found no way to report them.

[miljkovic1]

does paypal provide protection, if the item is not original, but a copy.

[PayPal_JonK · Accepted solution]

Hello everyone! I'm sorry to hear some recent transactions have not gone exactly as planned. I'd be happy to try to point you all in the right direction.

@m4n8tpr8, if a merchant has provided PayPal with invalid / fake tracking, our teams certainly need to know about it. In those cases, we recommend reaching out to the shipping company to request a document showing it was delivered to a different address than what is on your transaction details. They normally cannot say where it is delivered to, which is fine - our review teams just need a statement from the shipping company dictating the details show delivery to an address that was not yours. 

Once you have that documentation, please reach out to our Customer Support teams to see what options may be available to open an appeal.

@mmkhere, the main thing you want to make sure you have when you're shipping back the item(s) you've purchased is celivery Confirmation. PayPal will need to know what address it was shipped to, and that it was delivered to the return address provided to you in the dispute / claim details. Our claim teams will do their best to work for and with you from there if the seller replies back with concerns about missing items. Pro-tip, you may want to double check the shipping company is able to provide that delivery conformation if the return address is international. 

@miljkovic1, It sounds like you've received a copy of an item but were expecting an original - is that right? If so, yes, you would want to open a Significantly not as Described dispute to see if PayPal can assist you with a refund. 

Best wishes to you all, I hope that helps!

 - Jon K

[m4n8tpr8]

@PayPal_JonK, thank you for the suggestion! However, no luck so far.

I followed your link, found a list of contact options, of which the Message Center was the one desktop one I didn't try before. There, the messaging option is confusingly called PayPal Assistant, which is rather difficult to use: it times out if I write a message longer than two lines, then gives me an AI-generated reply trying to steer me back to the other contact options, and after I insist, finally says that "no Customer Support Agents are available at the moment". I tried again several times, to no avail so far.

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi @m4n8tpr8, 

Thank you for your reply! I'm sorry to hear that you've had difficulty reaching a support teammate through the options on the Contact page. Were you contacting during the timeframes listed for availability? Even if so, if there are abnormally high volumes at the moment, it may be that the message you saw would come up.

I would recommend trying again during the times of availability, or reaching out by private direct message to one of PayPal's social media handles: Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter/X.

I hope this is helpful!

Olivia