Pending Refund

[GuilinHelan]

I paid by an invoice to a merchant to purchase a domain. The seller did not transfer the domain. I asked for a refund, and the merchant accepted the refund. Now the refund has been pending for a week, and PayPal is telling me the seller has not funded their account, so we can only refund when the merchant funds his account. Why should the buyer be responsible for these actions of the merchant because he has not funded his account to process the refund? So it means that if the merchant is acting in bad faith and being unresponsive, I will never get my refund back? What happened to buyer protection? What's going on with Paypal? We are really furious with this situation. We still remember why we signed up on PayPal: it had buyer protection.

[kernowlass]

@GuilinHelan 

Asking the seller for a refund is not using buyer protection.

If you want to use buyer protection for non receipt of item then open a paypal dispute?

https://www.paypal.com/cshelp/article/how-do-i-open-a-dispute-with-a-seller-HELP160

[GuilinHelan]

I already opened a dispute last week, and the case on PayPal is already closed. The seller has already done the full refund. But on my side, the refund has been pending for a week, and when I connected to PayPal customer service,. They are repeatedly saying they are waiting for the seller to fund the refund. Now, my question is:.

When the merchant has already accepted the refund from his side, then why do i have to wait for the merchant to fund his account so i can receive my money. What if the seller is in bad faith and trying to scam me by not funding his account for the refund? Why do I have to take the headache of contacting the seller and saying, "Hey, PayPal is saying that there are no funds in your PayPal account? Please put money in your account so I can get my money.". What's PayPal's responsibility towards the buyer here?

[kernowlass]

@GuilinHelan 

Did you escalate the dispute to a claim or did it close at the dispute stage?

Did you close it or did it auto close.

If you escalated did you do so within 20 days of opening it?

Did paypal award the decision decision in your favour?

[GuilinHelan]

Did you escalate the dispute to a claim, or did it close at the dispute stage?

I applied for a refund. Maybe in 10–20 minutes, as far i remember. I got a message on PayPal that the merchant has sent the refund. I did not escalate it to PayPal because I thought that it was okay. The merchant has sent the refund, which I will receive in 2–3 days.

Did you close it or did it auto close.

No, it closed because the merchant sent the refund without escalating. 

If you escalated it, did you do so within 20 days of opening it?

I did not escalate because the merchant sent the refund and i received this message. Note from Merchant: 1200.0 USD; 2024-08-19 credit has been processed and claim is now closed.  Please refer Dispute ID PP-R-PBM-XXXXX. Thank you

Did paypal award the decision decision in your favour?

refund status is still pending and PayPal is saying that the merchant needs to fund his account

[kernowlass]

@GuilinHelan 

ok anything in the dispute stage is between you and the seller, so if the seller offered a refund and you accepted thus closing the dispute then that ends the dispute.

If you were not sure the sellers would refund then if you escalated to a claim then Paypal would get involved.

If you then won the claim and sellers refund failed or they did not refund then Paypal would refund you under their buyer protection policy.

[GuilinHelan]

So there are two solutions. I open another claim for the same transaction and let paypal decide it. 

The second solutions. I should forget about my money?

[kernowlass]

@GuilinHelan 

You can't re-open a closed dispute OR open a second dispute for the same transaction.

Your best bet is to contact customer services and ask their advice on the refund and if they will open a claim for you if the pending refund fails.

https://www.paypal.com/cshelp/article/how-do-i-contact-paypal-customer-service--HELP378