Seller told me to send as "friends and family" to avoid merchant fee, and blocked me

[helixhour]

Hello Paypal community,

I made a purchase through Facebook marketplace, and the seller blocked me after receiving the 335 dollars. 

I have made several purchases on facebook with no problem, that's why I trusted the seller when he told me to send the money as "friends and family" to help him avoid merchant fees. Then I realize this left me with no buyer protection at all, and I cannot file a claim saying that I never received the item when the money wasn't sent as a purchase in the first place. 

Now Facebook is not being helpful or responsive, and paypal closed my case after determining there wasn't suspicious activity on my account (there weren't other options saying that I was scammed on another platform.) Paypal also advised me to contact the seller directly, which is impossible since the seller blocked me. 

As far as I know, the seller's facebook account was created in the 2000s, have been posting thorough the year, and his paypal account & email address match his name on facebook, therefore it should not be a fake scammer account. I have the screen shots of our conversation, including the part where he said he is going to ship the good to me, and told me to send money via Paypal's "friends and family" option. Please let me know if there's anything I can do with these information to get a full or partial refund?

I appreciate any help and advice, and thanks so so much in advance. 

[kernowlass]

@helixhour 

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.

[helixhour]

Hello,

Thanks so much for your reply. I understand that using "friends and family" option gives me no buyer protection, but what if I can prove that it was in fact a purchase for goods, and the seller specifically told me to use the "friends and family" option?

What should I do next? Should I contact my bank or should I notice law enforcement about this?

Thanks so much.

[kernowlass]

@helixhour 

I already said contact your card issuer if you funded your paypal payment via a card but they may decline also as it was a gift payment.

Equally I doubt police would be interested in a sale on a website but you can give it a go if you want to, thats up to you.

Just to add you can report the seller via a 'report' link in paypals acceptable use policy and paypal will check if he makes a habit of doing this and take action. That probably won't help you unfortunately.

[Barb75750]

This happened to me too but on a supposed secure website and I don't know how to get my money back. PayPal isn't helping either for the same reason