The PayPal Dispute System is Flawed

[asdf1]

From a previous post:

"PayPal certainly does not approve of the practice of stringing along a buyer to wait out the dispute timeframe. If you find yourself a victim of this practice, you can file the dispute anyway outside of the timeframe by calling PayPal Customer Solutions. "

I don't think that this is true.

I bought $1000 worth of fraudulent merchandise online. Due to the amount of time that corresponse with eBay took, as well as with the seller, I didn't find out that the software was counterfiet until very close to the 45 day mark.

I escalated the dispute on the 46th day after payment, and at that point it was automatically closed (with the reason: "Paypal buyer protection does not cover fraudulent software").

After that I looked into the Paypal buyer protection, and it did in fact say that it was covered, but they basically just ignored the email requests that I made to review it after that.

For the amount of money that these guys make off of us (basically 3% of all transactions), you'd think they'd have better customer service (not to mention that it's absurd that they charge $.40/min to call them, come on, no toll free number?!)

[samsungelal]

Had the same problem in trying to open a claim after the 45 days policy.  My problem was that I had been corresponding with the seller as pay pal and ebay suggest to resolve the issue.   Contacted the seller using the ebay message center  and was under the impression that it would automatically initiate a dispute.   Found out that when you want to file a dispute you first file the dispute and then contact the seller  so that you will be within the 45 days frame work.  You,re right that there is a way to file disputes after the policy period, but it is a hassle.  The thing is that I did not know that I will be charged  for the call to customer service.  Pay Pal may extend the the dateline and contact the seller on your behalf and maybe open a claim.  I feel this Policy should be changed and they should check the correspondence buyer has had with seller and waiver the 45 days if buyer has been corresponding contineously trying to resolve the problem.

[phbthh]

i sell quite a bit on ebay. you need to remember ebay and paypal are 2 different companies. If you are emailing back and forth in ebay it doesn't mean anything. we do it all the time. i have buyers who 'chat' throught listings and ask questions about other items. 

My suggestion is to not get into discussions with the seller and get caught up in a back and forth situation. My favourite buyer would:

a. receive and fully test the item as soon as they received it. 

b. contact me if they had any concerns or questions.

c. If I didn't resolve the problem to their satisfaction they specify what they would like to resolve the issue.

d. If I didn't agree to it then they start a dispute with their payment processor,  for me this is paypal but could be a credit card company. 

There is an old saying CAVEAT EMPTOR, or buyer beware. The point is the buyer has a lot of responsibility. It is, after all their hard earned money. I make sure I am happy with what I bought. Especially when you buy used from unknown people like me who work out of my basement.

I'm not Walmart but places like walmart and costco with their generous return policies have trained buyers to assume they are protected all the time. You are with paypal but it's not unreasonable to ask that the buyer initiate a dispute with paypal within 45 days. 

The days of lenient return policies are disappearing. It's not a bad thing. Margins are squeezed, prices are lowered, and buyers get more value of product for their dollar. You do have to be more vigilant but that's the trade off. 

[joeforts]

I'm just trying to respond to a dispute and the tutorial doesn't explainmuch on how to do it... can anyone help me?

[utopiaglass]

If your purchase was backed with a credit card through PayPal you may be able to get your money back through your credit card.  Have all the details of the transaction ready and call the 1-800 number on the back of your credit card.  The time limit to make a claim through a credit card is usually longer than PayPal's time limit, but don't wait too long because there IS a time limit. 

I'm not sure what is meant by PayPal charging for the call to them - do you mean PayPal charged you a fee or you had long distance charges. There is a 1-800 number for PayPal but they don't make it easy to find.  You have to be logged into your account and click 'contact us', 'contact uc by phone' and a number of links until you get a PIN number to reference when you call PayPal.  The 800 number should be on the same page as that PIN number. 

Joeforts - have you tried logging into your PayPal account and accessing the PayPal claim through there?  It should tell you what your next step is in there, and if you need more help come back and ask again and hopefully someone can help you out.

[Misty11]

Hello joeforts,

Welcome to the Forums.

I am sorry you are having trouble responding to your case. You can respond to your case by logging into your PayPal account and click ‘Resolution Center’ (near the top of the page under my account), click ‘View’ under ‘Action’ next to your case, respond to the buyer and enter any relevant information (such as tracking information), and then click ‘Post Message,' and click ‘Post Message.’ I hope this helps.

Misty

[ddrr]

Pay Pay scewed me over too.  I purchased items and they sent to "E-check" even though my account had the funds and my credit card was valid.  They then informed the sellers to hold shipping for 10 days.  They could not give me a reason for why they did this.  I need the items to be here on time or they are not needed.  I am going to cancell all purchases and not deal with these sellers because they only use paypal.