Seller offers refund but wants me to post scam item to China at my cost

[colacolb]

Hi all, I submitted a dispute that I escalated for review. The seller immediately offered a full refund, I believe to prevent the case from being reviewed by a PayPal person. However the condition of the refund is to post the scam items (jeans) to China at my own expense and I get the refund when they receive the item back. The messages I got from the PayPal system were also really confusing, and I thought I was waiting for PayPal to review the escalation but I logged in to check and apparently I have to respond to the seller with a photo of my tracked postage of the item back to them by tomorrow otherwise the case is closed. The whole thing was a scam, as I've since googled and discovered this is a fraudulent website that sends inferior products (paid 75USD, they are not wearble, and the tracking said the jeans were being sent from the US... then got delayed for 7 weeks due to "a customs issue"). I suspected they were coming from China and sure enough I have to return them to China. How can I get PayPal assistance as there's no option to actually have this dispute reviewed now a refund is offered. It's a scam to even have to post it back, esp at my own expense and I need someone to actually review the case. Can a second dispute be lodged once this one is closed? I've never had to dispute anything on PayPal before and am quite concerned about not being able to speak with a phone or chat agent.

[AMC-2]

Sorry you're having to go through this. I've been battling similar with no results from the seller OR PayPal. Good luck getting PayPal or PayPal Credit to do much of anything on your behalf. I've literally and actively been disputing (and re-disputing) a purchase since last November and PayPal hasn't been ANY help at all; in fact, they keep siding with the seller even though I have plenty of evidence on my behalf. Sadly, the only reason I even made the purchase was because of PayPal's Purchase Protection, which turns out isn't protecting you from anything.

Hopefully you'll have better results. Please share what happens with your dispute; maybe it'll be helpful to others like us.

AMC-2

[PayPal_Bindu]

Hello @colacolb and @AMC-2 

Welcome to the PayPal Community and thanks for posting here!

I understand your concern about returning item back to the seller. Once a dispute is closed, it can't be reopened or escalated to the claim. Before closing a dispute, please make sure it is resolved completely. If the seller promised a refund, make sure to see the money in your account before closing a dispute. 

To keep purchase protection policy fair for both parties, PayPal asks the buyer to return the item to the seller as it would be unfair for one party to have both the item and the money. Without return information, PayPal will be unable to process the refund. You can learn more about PayPal's Purchase Protection Policy here. You can also reach out to PayPal Support team to get this resolved. You can find the options by clicking the "Contact Us" option at the bottom of PayPal page. Support is also available through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. 

Best wishes,

Bindu

[pstambau]

Except when the seller provides FAKE RETURN ADDRESS! I'm done with PayPal and contacting a lawerbwho handles class actions. I know I am mot the only one.

[colacolb]

Hi Bindu, I did not close the case- PayPal did automatically. I reached out to PayPal via phone and the agent helped me to my satisfaction. Options included reopening the case and sending the item back and receiving compensation for the postage, noting this is my first dispute after about 20 years of using PayPal. The phone agent was very helpful.

[AuntieCazza]

How did you get to talk to someone at PayPal? I find I just go round in circles with standard automated messages

[colacolb]

@AuntieCazza I went to: https://www.paypal.com/au/smarthelp/contact-us and clicked 'call us'. Gives me the phone number: [removed] (I'm in Australia)

[pstambau]

I got the EXACT same thing. They send a Chinese character address that is impossible to intruprut. Also had a Chinese (born/raised) to try to read it and was complete jibberish. I think a class action lawsuit is at hand.

[lozb]

I am having the same problem  purchased a pair of lambs leather boots size 3 got sent rubber boots size 4 and were also faulty, sent photo's everything to Paypal but it is like talking to a brick wall, they expect me to pay £28 to send the faulty boots back when the cost of them and original postage is £27  what is the point of using Paypal for protection  when they side with scam sellers who make out they are in UK but return address is in china, and is just jibberish not a real address,  makes me wonder what the hell Paypal are playing at, seems very very suspect, and there will be an official formal complaint about this going to Paypal but suppose they will just brush it under the carpet and ban me from using Paypal again for pointing this out, someone needs to look into these china scams, and stop them

[austxdiver]

Same problem here.  Ordered lamp from what appeared to be a US company (shipping cost of $6 supported that).  Turns out it was a Chinese company and not what I expected.  I thought I could just return it to the CA address on the package but the address is fake and is being used by multiple Chinese companies.  Further research indicated that I would need to send the item to China for a refund.  Yeah like that's going to happen!  I don't understand why PayPal doesn't drop these crooked sellers.  Ideally isn't the buyer their priority?