got scammed by a chinese online shop but dispute denied by paypal .. am i stuck now?

[vallave]

1. I placed an order for a shoe rack thinking its US based online store. After placing the order, I never received any shipment date or no tax is collected. I immediately cancelled the order (within 30 mins) realizing it was a scam. In fact they mentioned on their website FAQs,order can be cancelled within 12 hours but never honoured it

2. They denied the refund saying the order was already shipped though i cancelled the order with in few minutes of placing the order

3. Then I recieved a main with fedex label with delivery date of 2 days and that never happened. then i received another email stating that that shipment would arrive via sea in next 25 to 30 days .That is completely misleading the consumer. Looks like i am not alone but Many people got scammed by this company and needs to be stopped.

4. The fedex label still shows the projected delivery date of June 23rd. But another  confusing email from Chinese company says that the goods will come via sea in 25 to 30 days

5. It is unlikely that i would recieve any reasonable quality goods (if any) from this company. Paypal closed the dispute in favor of the merchant (unbelievable). Loooks like i cant open any other dispute on that transaction. Am i pretty much at the mercy of this chinese merchant? I undertsand paypal doesn't cover buyers' remorse. How about when people get scammed like this?

6. Looks like there are many complaints filed on this company.. there is no way paypal can stop these sort of companies?

[kernowlass]

@vallave 

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.

[invisibleaccoun]

Paypal is not toing to side with customers they are more merchant side.  My dispute was denied even after I mentioned I was scammed.

I am planning to not use pay pal anymore.

[shoptoomuch]

This sounds familiar .  Me too.  Chinese online store - set up as Canadian with Canadian extension.ca,(I'm Canadian)  charged me in American funds, and charged me double, and an extra for something who knows.     I realized it the next day, when I didn't get an email a confirmation # etc, of my order,,  so I emailed them.  - and when i try to contact them their email on the website came back undeliverable.   And when looking for another email, I see the name operating under is different on website, email, paypal etc.- all different.      I opened a transaction dispute immediately  ( to say they charged me double in US etc) and within 2 days I changed it to"unauthorized"  fraud - and paypal closed the case because it wasn't an unauthorized use of my card. -  I meant fraud from the seller, not on my part but that was the closest  category .....  and here I am 7 or 8 days later  after emails showing website, my emails, etc as proof,   I'm still waiting for an answer.  It could have been dealt with before releasing the funds.   Paypal converted it to local funds, CAD$ and it seems I'm out almost $300, with no urgency by anyone to fix this.    Buyer protection? That's a joke. It takes an hour to even find a way to contact them for a dispute.   Bye Bye Paypal.Oh I guess I should post my own complaint. Beyond **bleep** off. 

[vallave]

My credit card company is lot more open to discuss what happened - Of course, will wait for their decision. But i am so surprized by the PayPal handled these sort of scam companies. It was a simple open and shut case without even considering what happened. 
The company showed the item in stock on your site without any indication that the item ships from china.. 
When I realized something wrong and cancelled it immediately. of course, company denied the cancellation saying the item is shipped (virtually impossible). Then they created a label showing 2 day delivery  then  informed me 20 to 35 days via sea.

And also told me - if you don't like the quality .. ship it back to china but the customer pays the shipping costs to CHINA..

what a scam !!

Paypal informed me the transaction is Valid hence they denied my claim !! Hello Paypal, Can you see somehting wrong or  just turning blind eye ? what kind of consumer protection would you proide?

[kernowlass]

@vallave 

If you used the criteria I gave you in my above post you would then see they are China based, but as a safe bet anything on Social Media that is cheap is normally China tat. Buyer beware and do your research, as I said paypal give 'some' buyer protection but its up to all of us to risk assess our own transactions.

Paypal can't check every company in the world out for you so check before you buy.

[vallave]

Thanks for your reply. But with due respect, I am not in anyway expecting PayPal to catch all the scammers and it is not possible to do so. And also, I don't expect them to handle buyer's remorse. But something has come to their notice via a dispute mechanism and obviously a intentional misrepresentation / scam by the seller, they should do better than what thye did in this case - simply close it without even reviewing the evidence.

[kernowlass]

@vallave 

They didn't just close it though did they.

You had buyer protection but that buyer protection states for a refund you have to return the item back to the seller first before you got a refund.

You chose not to due to the cost, that is not Paypals fault they were just following their buyer protection policy.

[vallave]

They just closed it even without a single question to the cosumer .. hence my point..

Merchants can hide behind many loopholes and it is consumer's burden to decode all the misinformation..

I guess it is what it is