Thanks for posting to my topic. Update: I eventually lost my battle with PayPal. The reason - the incident report (a.k.a. Information report) that I faxed to PayPal was not specific enough, although I included all the information that I was told to put in the report! I found that PayPal dispute/resolution phone support division is separate from the PayPal dispute/resolution specialist. The specialist actually makes the decision on who wins the dispute case. They do not give any weight to any of the notes that are put into a dispute file by the phone support personnel. I spoke to a supervisor in the phone support division and he offered me a settlement, 25% of my loss, and told me that I needed to move on with my life. Note to the wise. If you plan on fighting PayPal, it's an uphill battle. PayPal and eBay will do everything in their power to find for the first person who escalates a complaint to a dispute. No matter if that person is right or wrong. Also know that there is a HUGE disconnect between the phone support division and the specialist! DO NOT depend on what they tell you. They may sympathize with you, they may agree with you, but in the end they have say in how your case will turn out. Anyway... The PayPal User Agreement contradicts itself in 3 policy sub-sections concerning the process for 'Significantly Not As Described' (SNAD) disputes. First in § 13.4 Dispute Resolution, 13.5 PayPal Buyer Complaint Policy and 13.9 Relationship between PayPal’s protection programs and Chargebacks. In §13.4, 4th bullet, it states "For Significantly Not as Described (SNAD) Claims, PayPal may require you to ship the item back to the seller - or to PayPal - or to a third party at your expense, and to provide proof of delivery." The first part of the sentence (in italics) clearly indicates a SNAD dispute that was escalated to a claim, which is in direct conflict with the next section. In §13.5 (A) states "...– but you may not escalate a Significantly Not as Described Dispute to a Claim. You may not file a dispute for a Personal Payment. and (B) states "... You should not escalate a Dispute for Significantly Not as Described (SNAD) to a Claim because PayPal will not make a decision on a SNAD Claim under the PayPal Buyer Complaint Policy." In both paragraphs A and B, the buyer is instructed that they may not and should not escalate a SNAD dispute to a claim. In §13.9 states "Before contacting your card issuer or filing a Dispute with PayPal, you should contact the seller to resolve your issue in accordance with the seller’s return policy as stated on their auction or website." Again, PayPal instruction contradictions confuse the issue of what the buyer must do. In this case, following the sellers auction site return policies. By using the term "You", PayPal does not clearly define whom this particular section is addressing. It can be said that the implied party is the 'buyer' since most all of the sub-section 13 addresses the buyer, but this arguable. Also, by using the term "should", PayPal's policies are only suggesting or expressing a desired action that the buyer do a particular thing. This leaves room for more ambiguity. To even further confuse the issue, PayPal gives a consequence for not following their suggestion without providing a clear referance to why the buyer "should" make the "right" decision. For example: in §13.5 (B) states: "You should not escalate a SNAD to a claim because PayPal will not make a decision on a SNAD Claim under the PayPal Buyer Complaint Policy." It should read: The buyer shall not escalate a SNAD to a claim because PayPal will not make a decision in favor of the buyer on a SNAD Claim under the PayPal Buyer Complaint Policy, "§13.5 (A), para 2, sent 3, which reads in part: you may not escalate a Significantly Not as Described Dispute to a Claim. "The buyer" indicates clearly who the section is addressing. "shall not" is a command or giving instruction "§13.5 (A), para 2, sent 3", which reads in part: you may not escalate a Significantly Not as Described Dispute to a Claim. says without a doubt what the consequences are for the buyer who escalates a SNAD Dispute to a claim. The last thing is the fact PayPal (and eBay) suggests that the buyer contact the seller first and try to work things out before filing a dispute. Furthermore, both PayPal and eBay suggests the the buyer contact the seller and work things out before escalating a dispute to a claim. To bad it's only a suggestion. What makes this part confusing is that PayPal and eBay both stipulate that the buyer must wait 7 days before escalating a dispute to a claim, but the flaw of the resolution system will allow the buyer (or seller) to file a dispute and immediately escalate it to a claim if the dispute is filed sometime after the 14th day following confirmation of the payment having cleared to the seller. I intend to bring these issues to PayPal's attention. I don't think it will get me anywhere, but there is only one way to find out. I'll post more later.
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