Defective Product from China

[Deer2u]

So I am trying to get a refund from PayPal regarding a $30.60 item from China. They told me that I had to return this useless curling iron that won’t open for a full refund. So I went to the post office this morning to find out that it would cost over $36 to return this item to China with tracking. This item cost $30.60 - therefore I believe that this should be considered in a determination.  The company obviously did not examine their product before shipping it out or just makes defective curling irons. It was not damaged just cheaply and improperly made. I do not feel that I should take a loss on their poor quality. 

Waiting to hear back from PayPal regarding this. But has anyone had a situation like this or any thoughts on where to go from here?

[kernowlass]

@Deer2u 

Paypal buyer protection can never be a 100% coverall, so in the event of a dispute you need to bear in mind possible return trackable costs before you buy from that seller / item / country.

Paypal state 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/selfhelp/article/what-is-return-shipping-on-us-and-how-do-i-activate-it-fa...

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.