Over the past 2.5 years, I have filed two claims with PayPal because of “Item Not Received” (INR) and “won” both disputes. Despite winning both cases, however, PayPal only refunded the money from one of those cases. I wanted to warn future buyers that winning a case with PayPal does not mean you will recover any money back, especially if you are scammed from a non-eBay site. Through no fault but my own, I failed read fully the PayPal User Agreement regarding “Protection for Buyers”. My first case (won but not refunded) was from a non-eBay website; I was unfamiliar with the web site but proceeded to make the purchase because I naively assumed PayPal would protect me. I was wrong and should not have made assumptions! PayPal only grants protection to certain items purchased through eBay. According to “13.2 Eligibility Requirements”, section B of the User Agreement (as of today): For items purchased on eBay look for either a PayPal or eBay purchase or buyer protection message in the eBay listing. If you see a message, and you meet the eligibility requirements, then your purchase is covered by PayPal Purchase Protection. The purchase or buyer protection message will vary based on the eBay website. The message must appear on the top part of the listing and not under the “Description” or “Shipping and Payments” tabs. If the listing does not include the purchase or buyer protection message, then it is not eligible for PayPal Purchase Protection. I hope my post will help buyers avoid making the same type of mistake in the future and will encourage all buyers to actually read their User Agreement in entirety (there is a lot more to their buyer protection eligibility not mentioned in this post). In case you are curious, the following email excerpt from PayPal’s Protection Services Department was how my first case concluded: After careful review, we have concluded our investigation of the Buyer Complaint described below. We have decided in your favor, however, we were unable to recover any funds from the seller's account. As stated in the PayPal User Agreement, recovery of funds associated with a Buyer Complaint cannot be guaranteed. Please know that we will make our best effort to recover the funds in question if they become available in the seller's account in the future and will take appropriate action against the seller. Such action may include issuing a warning, a temporary restriction, or terminating the account. Keep in mind that PayPal uses a number of factors to determine when to take action, including member complaints. Due to privacy laws, we cannot discuss the details of any action taken. We hope you understand our policy and that it assures you that you are safe using PayPal.
... View more