PayPal offers NO protection to either party

[Jason]

Some time ago, I had a problem with a transaction buying a non-jacket related item - the seller delayed posting the item for a month, and when he did (and provided a tracking number- which three months hence still shows "item has left Canada for international destination") it appears to have become lost in the mail.

So, raising a PayPal dispute culminates in the following response, quoted verbatim from an email just received by me:

"After careful review, we have concluded our investigation of the Buyer Complaint described below.
We have decided in your favour, 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."

So I will not see any of my $500 back.
I conclude that PayPal offers no protection for either buyer or seller whatsoever. Yet they have the cheek to append this to the email:
"We hope you understand our policy and that it reassures you that you are safe using PayPal."

Sorry, no. I no longer feel 'safe' using PayPal.

Buyer truly beware.

 

[bazelot]

Some time ago, I had a problem with a transaction buying a non-jacket related item - the seller delayed posting the item for a month, and when he did (and provided a tracking number- which three months hence still shows "item has left Canada for international destination") it appears to have become lost in the mail.

So, raising a PayPal dispute culminates in the following response, quoted verbatim from an email just received by me:

"After careful review, we have concluded our investigation of the Buyer Complaint described below.
We have decided in your favour, 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."

So I will not see any of my $500 back.
I conclude that PayPal offers no protection for either buyer or seller whatsoever. Yet they have the cheek to append this to the email:
"We hope you understand our policy and that it reassures you that you are safe using PayPal."

Sorry, no. I no longer feel 'safe' using PayPal.

Buyer truly beware.

That sucks! I thought they had a $200 or $2000 protection for buyers depending on seller rating.

 

[T-Bolt]

Jason,

I am really sorry to hear about you getting ripped off........and a pretty big hit at that. It would take me a bit to forget about such a loss. I know it's wishfull thinking, but maybe the item will be found at some postal warehouse.

Damned bunch of crooks at Paypal.....in my opinon!!


Ted

 

[HHjackets]

hence proof that paypal cannot access and debit money from bank accounts which is what ive kept saying. so as a seller, take the money out of the account straight away.
what happens now is that the seller's account is frozen, i think the seller can now open another paypal account with a different credit card and email address.
so the seller wins if he takes the money out of his paypal account before a dispute is raised, the buyer has a chance if there are funds in the seller's paypal account (might not be enough though) which becomes frozen and not accessible to the seller if the dispute is raised before transferring the funds, in which case you may get all your money or some of it back.

 

[Hawkeye]

I wouldnt lose heart quite yet. Im just making the assumption that the seller posted the item (I'm assuming a jacket) via International surface shipping. I once made the mistake of choosing that option for shipping a jacket to England from here in Canada. It ended up taking almost 2 months! Now, if I remember correctly your down in Australia, ALOT farther from Canada than England. If the seller indeed did ship by international surface, I find it likely that the item is still in transit, even after 3 months, considering it took almost 2 to ship to England. However your point of paypal providing no real protection is well taken. You never know though, you could find yourself with an unexpected package on your doorstep when you least expect it!

 

[Jason]

I agree Hawkeye - I think what may have happened that the item (electronics, with a bit of weight to it) was indeed sent via surface mail, even though I paid CAD $120 for "2-3 week" airmail. The problem is that the goods are time sensitive - I need to make use of them within a certain time frame which has now run out. Hence my insistance that they be sent, and paid for, airmail.
I did explain all this to Paypal and agreed to wait another month to see if the mail turned up anything - and if so, I'd claim a 'not as described' refund on the airmail / surface mail difference. After that I'd have claimed a full price refund.
A jacket that I bought ages ago from the US was sent surface mail and if I remember it took 6 months and 1 day to arrive.... I had just gotten back to the seller of that one to make a lost post claim when it turned up that very day.
So it may well turn up in another 3 months, but by then the utility of the electronics (to me in my situation) will be useless.

 

[CBI]

that's awful

 

[Andrew]

I know the feeling Jason, though not to the extent you are suffering. I bought a book from the States but it never arrived, filed the dispute, eventually got a message back from them saying the same thing and couldn't recover any money. The dispute stayed on my account for years even though it was supposedly closed. The seller was removed from Ebay after several negs saying the same thing but they still got away with the funds. Some protection.

 

[asiamiles]

The bottom line here is don't wait or accept excuses for sellers delaying shipping an item. If they haven't sent it out within a week at most then something is wrong, whether it's a delaying tactic to take the transaction beyond the Paypal refund period (2 months I believe for International transactions) or some other reason; if a seller can't ship an item out within 7 days they they shouldn't be trying to sell it on eBay.

 

[deeb7]

That sucks! I thought they had a $200 or $2000 protection for buyers depending on seller rating.

In fairness to eBay, if this is a continuation of Jason's story here ...

viewtopic.php?p=5385#p5385

Then it is not an eBay transaction, and the PayPal account holder was a third party ... not the seller.

 

[Jason]

Quite right David, it is a continuation of that story, and ebay had nothing to do with it.

I shoulda smelt a rat as soon as the guy said "not my paypal account, its my friends" and halted everything right there.
Ah well, if it turns up, then fine, I should be able to resell it (perhaps at a little loss) and I won't be too badly out of pocket, save the postal costs.

The guys forum feedback was good too... guess there's a first time for everything.

 

[deeb7]

.
Ah well, if it turns up, then fine, I should be able to resell it (perhaps at a little loss) and I won't be too badly out of pocket ...

I hope it works out, Jason.

That surface mail is a real trap, I'm surprised that some countries still offer it.

 

[Jason]

A happy ending to this story. It arrived yesterday! The item was sent (wait for it...) "Air Surface" mail. As explained to me, its not genuine air mail, nor as fast, but not as slow as normal surface / sea mail.

Despite my suggestion for PayPal to 'suspend' the claim on the transaction for one more month, they went ahead and found in my favour, but as advised couldn't recover any funds. I'm kind of glad they were not able to now... that would be messy trying to get the money back to the seller a second time.

If anything, I should claim for a part refund, for the difference between air and air-surface mail... :roll: but I can't be bothered putting myself through the stress for $50 sake.