I recently made a purchase and paid using paypal. The item was damaged and not disclosed in the ad. I contacted the seller and he agreed to a partial refund. The refund shows up in my account that day. A week later it dissappears apparently because funds weren't available to cover the amount. I contact paypal and go through the resolution process. No response from seller so I escalate it to a claim of "Significantly Not as Described" as per paypal instructions. I go through all the steps to explain the reason for the claim and hit enter. 2 secondas later I get an email stating there is nothing paypal can do so they closed the claim. Nobody even reviewed the claim or read it, just case closed! I contact paypal by phone and the explanation is they can't do anything about purchases made outside of ebay. They will send an email on my behalf but they will not penalize the seller. The only reason they even sent the email is because I called and complained! The seller can do business as usual and still use paypal without any consequences for dishonest trading. Here's a quote from the paypal help pages. You can file disputes for Items Not Received (INR), or for items that are Significantly Not as Described (SNAD). However, recovery of any amounts is not guaranteed and is limited to the amounts that PayPal can recover from the seller’s account, even if PayPal makes a final decision in your favor. I understand paypal can't make them issue the refund but I can't believe they have no consequences for this type of dishonesty. Going throught the process is just a waste of your time!
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