Customer refused to pay custom fees and Paypal initially sided with buyer, got resolved in the end

[pixelcade]

Just sharing a recent experience in the hopes it will help others. I am a US based seller and had an international shipment to France. The customer refused to pay the custom fees and hence refused the shipment, he then filed a Paypal claim he did not receive the item. I responded to the claim with the tracking number which showed that the buyer had refused the shipment. Within 6 minutes of submitting my claim response, Paypal sent another note stating the case had been decided in favor of the buyer with the reason "invalid delivery information provided". So then I had to call PayPal support and explained the situation and they credited me back the amount while also refunding the buyer so in the end Paypal at the cost. Paypal did still charge me a $15 claim dispute fee which is a bit irritating but I'll let that go. 

So in the end , they did the right thing, albeit a bit painful and had to make a phone call to get it resolved.

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@pixelcade 

Paypal disputes for non receipt are mostly automated, tracking doesn't show delivery = buyer wins.

So you did the right thing in doing a simple appeal and won. 

[pixelcade]

yes I think it must be automated as the response in favor of the buyer came within 6 minutes. Not sure how their automation however can miss a tracking number, that seems quite odd. 

[kernowlass]

@pixelcade 

Not really, tracking didn't show delivery of the item to the buyer and it didn't.

So you had to contact paypal to have them check it manually to see the item was refused and returned.

[pixelcade]

thanks, yes I see your point, the tracking though did show the buyer refused the delivery, just wish Paypal would have a smarter check there and an actual human involved for cases like this where more digging is needed

[kernowlass]

@pixelcade 

Sadly that's down to us to 'chase' up, customer services with big firms now are not like they used to be unfortunately.

Anyhow glad it worked out for you.

[pixelcade]

well good to know, first time going through this so at least know what to do next time, thanks again for your advice

[pixelcade]

may start looking for PayPal alternatives, anyone have a good experiences with alternatives?