if I request a refund for an item that never came, does it come from the seller's funds or paypal?

[anntiar]

I would like to know if the scammer still has the money even if I refunded mine through a Paypal claim.

[kernowlass]

@anntiar 

If you won a dispute/claim and the seller refused to refund then paypal would do so under their buyer protection policy.

However they would probably put the sellers account into negative and endeavour to recoup the funds back from them.

[sharpiemarker]

@anntiar 

Generally from seller funds where available. PayPal puts a hold on the disputed amount. If seller doesn’t have the funds, their account balance goes negative and will need to add money to zero it out. If negative balance is not resolved after a certain time, the account is suspended and debt sold to collections.

Buyer still generally gets refunded if PayPal ruled in their favor and meets their obligations to receive a refund (ie. returning items with return tracking).

Sometimes, depending on the circumstances, a buyer “might” not receive a refund.

For instance, if buyer closed the dispute before getting a refund for any reason; seller issues a refund within or without the dispute and funds are not available in their account balance or bank account. You’ll be notified the refund is canceled as PayPal is unable to successfully debit funds from seller’s bank account.