Seller agreed to refund in Dispute; After return, dispute was denied.

[awh1313]

Hi all,

First off, TL;DR: I opened a dispute about a damaged item, was told by PayPal the seller accepted a refund deal, after I returned the item and it was received, my case was denied. I am now left without refund and my item.

I purchased a wetsuit from a private individual, who described it as "like new, only used once". When I received the suit, I noticed the wrists had been cut and restitched. For this particular wetsuit style, it was a major alteration that he made no mention of. So I believe that covers both of the below conditions of the purchase protection eligibility:

• The item is missing major parts or features and those facts were not disclosed in the description of the item when you bought it.
• The item is unusable in its received state and was not disclosed as such.

After I spoke to him about it, he admitted it was undisclosed, but insisted that it didn't change the functionality of the suit and refused to refund me. I opened a dispute through PayPal and within a few days was told that he had accepted a deal for a full refund in exchange for return of the suit. I gladly packed it up and sent it to him, and a few days later after the package was confirmed by FedEx to be delivered, he denied receiving it. I posted all of the delivery confirmations and information I received from FedEx and waited for him to share info with PayPal. A week or so later, my dispute was denied in his favor because, "we have found no evidence that the item was misrepresented"...

I appealed this decision and spoke with customer service about the fact that I had already returned the item. The agent assured me that the dispute system shouldn't have asked me to return the item AND deny my dispute, so she appealed the dispute for me and added in the info that I was asked to return the item BY PayPal, as the seller had agreed to a refund deal. Two days later, I was told my dispute was denied again, but this time it says, "The case was closed as this transaction is ineligible for PayPal Purchase Protection."

At this point, I am left without the item and without the refund, which feels entirely wrong. I spoke to another agent and appealed the decision again, but I am skeptical that anything will change. I'm not sure what other information to provide or how else to escalate this issue?

[kernowlass]

@awh1313 

Any negotiations or decisions in the 'dispute' part of the claim are between you and the merchant to try and sort things out yourselves.

Paypal just passes on messages between the 2 of you in the resolution centre to try and sort things out amicably.

If you decide to send it back on the word of the seller then that's fine but it is your decision.

If you did not trust the seller or preferred to make things more official to ensure buyer protection then you must escalate to a ''claim''.

Then if you win, Paypal will tell you to send the item back trackable to prove delivery to the sellers registered address that they normally provide.

If the seller then does not refund then Paypal will do so under their buyer protection policy.

Personally I would have sent back with tracking AND escalated to a claim, then the claim would close when the seller refunded and if they did not I could provide Paypal with the tracking number to get a refund. The seller has 10 days once the claim has been escalated, more than enough time to receive the item and refund. However if you don't escalate the dispute will ''time out'' at 20 days.

[awh1313]

Thank you so much for your response. I apologize, it seems my terminology is wrong. I escalated it to a claim almost immediately, since the seller stopped replying to texts. It was through the claims process that PayPal told me to return it. I received this email from PayPal: "Once (Seller's Name) confirms that they've received the item(s), we'll process the refund and close this case. If your seller doesn't confirm receipt of the item(s), we'll continue our review and evaluate your tracking information." I provided PayPal the tracking info, as instructed, and when the package was delivered, the seller said they didn't receive it. I provided confirmation of delivery, a shipping manifest, and photos of the package to prove it was delivered, thinking that was the only issue left in the claim. After all of that, I was told my dispute was settled in the seller's favor. But everything, including the return, was done at PayPal's instruction. Should that change the outcome? Thanks again for your help.