Buyer Protection or Seller to cover return shipping costs

[Cdub2020]

HI team, I had dispute resolved in my favour as a buyer (Facebook merchant shipped me something completely different than what they advertised) as it came from China, it cost me just over $55 AUD to ship it back (not to mention the time and dissapointed - what a waste of life seriously)

Im still waiting to hear if ill lose that shipping cost, or buyer protection will cover me or better yet the merchant should have to foot that bill.

Any advice will be appreciated

[kernowlass]

@Cdub2020 

Did you activate this before you made the transaction?

https://www.paypal.com/au/webapps/mpp/returns

[Cdub2020]

hmm I thought I did - when I went there and click activate I got:

You’ve already got free return shipping!*

ive finally found the way to submit a return refund - fairly elusive if you ask me! lets hope the submission goes through ok

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@Cdub2020 

Thats good then, so when you get a refund (hopefully) when your item is delivered then you need to click on the transaction in your paypal account and use the 'return shipping' option at the bottom of that details page to claim your return shipping costs (but they only give you a % of that cost, not the total amount).

[VegasDV]

BUYER BEWARE!!

I also have a similar situation in which I received something completely different (an extremely cheap knockoff) from what was advertised, and the only way to receive a "full" refund is to ship back the item to China in which the shipping costs are nearly as much as the refund amount!

In other words, even with a "full" refund of the seller's price and (presumably bulk) shipping costs, I'm still out the amount of what it costs to ship it back (not to mention the time and hassle of repackaging, and bringing to a proper international shipping company).

Based on PayPal's own terms and conditions "If your transaction qualifies for PayPal Purchase Protection you are covered for the full purchase price plus the original shipping charges."  However, the FINE PRINT goes on to say that you are responsible for the RETURN SHIPPING costs.

In my case, when deducting my shipping cost back to the seller, I end up getting about a 10% refund of the total cost (i.e. I "lose" 90% of the purchase price, and it seems only the shipping companies make money on the transaction).

Next time I will simply use a bank credit card and dispute the charges for what was a clear cut case of false advertising by the seller.

[kernowlass]

@VegasDV 

Paypal gives some buyer and some seller protection but its not a 100% coverall.  You need to read up on it first to see what cover it does and more importantly does not give you and then risk assess your transactions. This is especially important if its an international sale. Most sellers within your own country you can get legal redress if you receive an item not as described to get return postage costs but if its tat from somewhere like China then you don't have that option.  

Paypal states this >>>

PayPal is not obliged to reimburse you for any costs that you incur to comply with any of PayPal’s requests for cooperation for the purpose of resolving the problem (including, without limitation, costs that you incur to return a SNAD item to the Payment Recipient or another party as PayPal requests), although sometimes it may reimburse these costs.

Although they will compensate you for some of the cost if you have activated this at some point before you made that transaction.
https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/FAQ3544

You also have the option to do a chargeback via your card issuer instead of a Paypal dispute if you funded your Paypal payment via a credit card.

[AngieD91]

I have the same thing happening to me at the moment. I received goods that were clearly a cheap copy and not as described. I complained to the seller who stated that according to their returns policy I had to contact them for return address which of course was in Asia (even though they were sent from the manufacturer in NSW). Originally they offered me a 10% discount to keep the shoes, then when I raised the disputed with PayPal’s resolution centre they offered me 20%, then 30%, but now have offered a full refund if I shop it back to Asia. At this point I am unsure what to do. I want to stick to my guns and have told them it is unreasonable to expect me to ship it back to Asia when they have used false advertising to sell me a product. Should I wait for PayPal to resolve this ? Or If I agree to return the product to Asia will PayPal foot the bill for shipping costs since they offer buyer protection (my item was paid for using PayPal) ? Is there a way of contacting PayPal to ask ?

[maniacmike]

Although Paypal gave me the run-around between different departments, they finally agreed to pay my return shipping up to $30. Mine was $14.20 to send back the one dollar toy to China. Upon receipt they are supposed to refund my full price, I paid.

I'm definitely not holding my breath... 

PayPal needs to step up to the plate for it's customers, or we will use other resources.

[maniacmike]

It's so wrong on so many levels that these scammers get the benefit.

I got scammed on Instagram buying something that they lied and said it was coming from USA. They charged me $29.98 US and sent me something worth one dollar in the dollar store.

Why doesn't PAYPAL back us up and take back their money and refund us, instead of us throwing away money to ship back the product.

Maybe it's time we used a different payment method.