PayPal policy with counterfeit goods

[Tictac858]

I am so frustrated with PayPal at this point. I purchased an item and paid through PayPal- the item turned out to be counterfeit. I was told that in order to have my funds returned to me, I would need to return the item to the seller. Thinking that this was an odd request, I contacted my local police dept. They told me not to return a counterfeit item to the seller since it is against the law to sell counterfeit goods. I informed the PayPal agent of this and they did not care- I again was told the only way I would get my funds returned was to return the item. Since I refused, PayPal ruled in favor of the seller. I filed an appeal and even sent in a letter from an authentication service stating that the item was counterfeit. I find out today that they never included the letter in with my appeal. I resent the letter and asked for them to please look at the letter as they were considering the appeal. They told me that they still need a tracking number to verify that the item has been returned! Seriously? What part of illegal does PayPal not understand? The seller has been treated like a queen in this situation and the victim has been treated like the criminal! Not only am I out the original price I paid for this item, I am not out the price I paid for an authentication service- and PayPal wants me to spend additional money to ship this back. I am now asking if it is possible for me to destroy the item and send them a notarized statement to that effect. PayPal seriously needs to review their policies on counterfeit goods- the buyer is treated worse than a criminal!

[DPCreations]

PayPal does not screen or evaluate products sold.  PayPal also has policies in place for refunds.  PayPal can't prosecute for counterfeit items.  If you wanted to prosecute the seller to get a refund you would need to do that through legal chanels, not PayPal; PayPal is just a payment processor pass-through.

So, if you want to use PayPal the recover funds you need to go through PayPal and follow PayPal policies.

If you want to go the prosecutorial route, you do it through a legal process.

[Tictac858]

Sorry but I disagree. PayPal supposedly offers buyer protection. I did not receive what I was told that I would. I received a counterfeit item instead of an authentic item. It is still against the law to sell counterfeit goods in the US. According to the officer I spoke with, I should not return counterfeit goods to the seller since this is an illegal activity. What PayPal is requesting me to do can be considered aiding and abetting a criminal act. Once PayPal received documented proof that the item was counterfeit, the funds should have been returned to my account. I should not have to file a lawsuit in order to get my funds returned. I will be contacting the att. Generals office to file a formal complaint with the way this entire case was handled.

[DPCreations]

Suppose the seller also submitted proof that the item was not counterfeit?  Should PayPal beleve buyer or seller?

As for being against the law to sell a counterfeit item, PayPal did not sell the item.  PayPal only passes the funds from buyer to seller.  

Legal process is always the best way for this situation.

[Tictac858]

The point is that the seller has not disputed the proof that it is counterfeit- in fact the seller has not responded at all. The second fact is that selling counterfeit goods is illegal. The third fact is that PayPal promotes their wonderful buyer protection program that guarantees that you will get what you purchased or you will receive your money back. Now I would say that if I purchased an authentic original item and received an illegal counterfeit one , and proof was submitted that the item was counterfeit from a legitimate recognized authentication service and the seller has not even bothered to dispute the evidence- this should be a fairly easy case to resolve. My point is if PayPal is not going to honor their buyer protection guarantee then don't go around promoting it. Not everyone can afford to file a civil case against a seller in order to retrieve lost funds and filing a criminal complaint is not going to get funds returned.

[DPCreations · Accepted solution]

You could go back to the PayPal policies to which you agreed when you signed up for the service.  I think this also included arbitration procedures in case of disputes.

You could also go back to your law officier whose legal advice you took and ask for more legal advice on how to fight PayPal.

I suspect, howeverr, that PayPal legal department has thoroughly invesitigated legal issues before writing the policies.  I suspect that PayPal has a much better legal position than your law officer friend.

[Tictac858]

I'm sorry but I disagree. Just because a corporation has a team of lawyers does not make their opinion correct. I can give you a long list of companies whose legal advisors provided them with incorrect opinions and later this was proven in court. If you retread my original post, I am simply saying that if an item has been proven to be counterfeit, it should not have to be returned in order to have the buyers funds restored. I have absolutely no problem returning a not as described item to the seller if it is not counterfeit. But this is akin to my purchasing vitamins through PayPal and receiving heroin instead- I should return that to the seller in order to receive a refund? I would think that PayPal would want the item to be destroyed rather than returned- because in almost all cases, the seller will be trying to resell the item again thus creating another case for PayPal to attempt to resolve. I'm sorry but I guess we'll just agree to disagree on this one.