I sold a 256GB SSD drive to a buyer. He had great feedback on eBay and seemed genuinely interested, so I accepted his best offer despite it being nearly 25% less than my asking price. I mailed him the SSD drive, and he received it. He emailed me shortly after and claimed that the item was "broken" and did not work, and that he wanted a refund. He offered to provide photos of the damage, which I took him up on and requested to see. I also asked if the box was damaged at all, etc to determine if it got damaged during shipping. A couple minutes later, he replies (without pictures) and says he actually realized the drive was not compatible with his MacBook Air, and that was the reason he wanted to return it. I asked him if the drive was broken or not (he had just said it was...), and he actually stated that he had the drive tested at an Apple store after receiving it and that they confirmed it as working fine (so he received the item in working condition--good news for me, or so I thought), but they also told him that it was not compatible with his particular MacBook Air. Turns out he didn't really know what kind of MacBook Air he had, apparently. Due to the specialized nature of the item, I had listed it with no returns, mainly because it was a very fragile computer component and was only compatible with particular MacBook Air models. I knew that this "no returns" policy wouldn't really hold up if it escalated to a dispute (as PayPal is certainly a "buyer's service", not a seller's service). Not surprisingly, about 10 minutes later he files a dispute with the reason that the item (SSD) is not compatible and that my description was incorrect (it wasn't). In the auction, I provided the SSD serial number, model number and even did the "dirty work" to assemble a list of compatible machines. The buyer claimed that I had the wrong information on the auction with regards to compatibility, although I did not. He either didn't know what MacBook Air he had (or assumed that all 2011 MacBook Airs are identical), broke the drive when trying to install it, or simply wasn't happy with it for whatever reason. Long story short; PayPal took less than 2 hours to rule in his favor, despite my evidence of his emails stating it showed up "broken", then changing his story that it wasn't compatible (including the part about him having it tested by Apple to be in good working condition). I even included a link to the spec page for the SSD that clearly states that my information in the auction was accurate. Despite all of my evidence, PayPal is requiring me to offer a full refund. I'm not terribly upset, and I realize that mistakes happen and compatibility with these types of parts can be tricky (that's why I took the time to provide exactly which MacBook Air models it would work with). My issue is: what happens if this guy broke the drive installing it, claimed that it isn't compatible and now gets a full refund? I'm stuck with a useless SSD drive and out $165.00. The guy even admitted that Apple tested it for him before telling him it wouldn't work in his machine, right after claiming it arrived broken! I pointed all of this out in my evidence, but still got ruled against. How is this all even legal? How can Paypal act as a mediary to all of these scammers? Can I buy a $1500 item, receive it as described, claim it isn't working properly, then just send back the box with falsified postage and have a brand new laptop for free (of course this is sarcasm on my part--but the point stands)? I just don't get it. Luckily, that $165.00 isn't going to break me, but what if it was $1,000? What if this was my only source of income? I really don't see how a company can be so blind and oblivious to such glaring loopholes in their service. Despite the outcome of this whole situation, I think I've finally had "enough" and will reconsider using PayPal when selling an item.
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