Why does PayPal allow sellers to use false advertising.

[CoosBayBigDawg]

Purchased an item from a vendor in China. It’s a set of 2 knives. The ads they run clearly, and only show the knives sold as a set of two and in the ad ad they say sold as a set of 2. They don’t not advertise the knives singularly or offer any option to purchase one without the other. They came out with the same ad, for a period of time with no changes to the ad as previously shown, with a promotional heading of “buy 1 get 1 Free”. Looking at the ad and seeing the same “set of 2 knives” I made a purchase of what appeared to be two sales units they show, 2 sets of their 2 knives. When my order arrived it only contained one set of the 2 as pictured, not 2 sets of 2. I followed up on resolution with vendor and they say sorry, you bought and payed for 1 knife and we included the 2nd knife for free. Clearly they knew it was very misleading. They would only offer a ship back back, with me paying return postage to China, then future refund after they received the original set back. Not agreeing to this I upgraded the dispute to PayPal but they denied and closed my case. Obviously they didn’t really look at the ad, I enclosed copies, and used some non descriptive terminology to try and explain their reasoning which makes no sense at all. Shows as only sold as a set of 2Shows as sold as a set of 2Confirms order

[kernowlass]

@CoosBayBigDawg 

Chinese Web Sites or on Social Media ads easy to spot (once you know the below signs) so buyer beware.

Paypal would not be able to check every individual seller / merchant / company in over 200 countries worldwide that adds paypal to their website to accept payments.

So they give some buyer and some seller protection. However that protection can never be a 100% coverall so you need to read it so you can risk assess your transactions.

They do stop bad companies from using Paypal when enough claims start rolling in.
However as they are in China (mostly) then its easy for them to just start over with a new name, so stopping them does not really do anything.

The best thing is to not buy from them in the first place, to recognise them -

1. No return address on the returns policy. The site will look as if its in your country (where they despatch goods from) but they will ask for returns to go back to China (returns depot) at a shipping cost often more than the item is worth.
2. No contact telephone number. if you click on contact the most you will get is webmail or an email address.
3. Rarely company address information.
4. Great pictures of items at bargain prices that turn out to be tat.
5. Fake reviews.
6. Google and you can often see previous company names as they change them once enough claims roll in and Paypal stop them using their services and start over.
7. Send fake tracking numbers to win item non receipt of item claims.





How do I open a dispute with a seller when a purchase goes wrong?

You can open a dispute in the Resolution Centre of your PayPal account within 180 days of payment if:
•You don’t receive the item OR service
•You receive an item but it’s significantly different than the description or you receive a totally different product.

By opening a dispute, you can communicate directly with your seller to work out a problem transaction.

If you reach an agreement with the seller you can close the dispute. If you're still not happy with the result, you can escalate the dispute into a claim. Paypal will review the claim and decide on reimbursement.

These steps apply to Personal accounts. If you have a Business account, please log in to see the steps that apply to you.

To open a dispute:
1.Log in to your PayPal account.
2. Click on the transaction and use the resolve a problem option at the bottom of that details page.

Note:
•Generally buyers must wait at least 7 days from the date of payment to escalate a dispute for an item not received
•Where an item has not been received, please ensure you have given the seller enough time before opening a dispute

Do not close the dispute until you have a refund or your item.
If a seller states that they can't refund until you have closed the dispute don't believe them.
Escalate the dispute to a claim within 20 days (before it times out), if you need Paypal to get involved.

If you lose because the seller provides a fake tracking number then post back here for more advice.
If the item arrives and its not what you ordered / not as described then make sure you change the dispute quickly from non receipt. If the dispute times out before you can change it then contact customer services to open a second dispute for the new reason.
If that does not work then if you funded your paypal payment via a card then contact your card issuer and see if they will issue a chargeback.

[CoosBayBigDawg]

Thanks for the response and info you provide. Believe me I read it all on site prior to making my claim. Trouble is that PayPal overcomplicates the issue. It’s pretty black and white and easy to see with info provided. Any reasonable person seeing that ad would think the same. PayPal could easily provide relief/solution but even after all the hoop jumping have decided not too. Shouldn’t have to take a tsunami of complaints to evaluate and recognize the seller is misleading the public with its deceptive ads. That being said a refund or getting what was actually advertised would have been nice, and appropriate but again PayPal has decided not too. I really doubt true study and consideration to the issue was given. It’s a numbers thing for sure and having no real recourse we as customers just have to take what we get and that’s that. I know my transaction complaint and feelings are insignificant to them in the grand scheme of their business. So all I can do is go on knowing I tried and feel sorry for all that follow me and get duped with these ads.