ebay & paypal    12/23/2015

The eBay / Paypal terms of service currently now favors the buyer versus the seller. This incident is for historical purposes.

Bad transaction by eBay seller coronado092404

The above was prepared to support my chargeback case with the Paypal Buyer Credit credit card.

eBay and PayPal have initiated a full money back guarantee and have made it very easy to file claims against sellers. I just made a claim of an item not described accurately. The seller provided a prepaid return shipping label and will refund my money when USPS delivers the product.

eBay & PayPal
There are a lot of horror stories about eBay / PayPal and I have one also.

I won an auction for an unlocked, one month old Motorola Razr v3 cell phone. As always, I pay with the credit card on my PayPal account, despite PayPal wanting you to do EFT or others. When the phone arrived, it had more scratches and scrapes for a month old phone and it was locked to T-Mobile. It also appeared that it had been dropped. The seller and I agreed to a $30 refund. She issued an eCheck and then it bounced a few days later. I ask that she send a money order and she agreed. When nothing arrived, I asked again. She did not respond so I escalated the dispute to a claim. When PayPal contacted the seller, she only offered a refund when the item is returned. The only option given to me on the Claims page was to fill in the tracking number of the package to be returned, otherwise the claim would close in 10 days. There was no place I could enter any other response.

Not having other avenues to go to, I called PayPal at 402-935-2050, who then asked I send an email to [email protected]

Even though I detailed the entire email chain with the $30 refund agreement, PayPal Protection Services Department pointed me to their User Agreement that required the item be sent back. It did not matter to them that the seller was fradulently describing and then breaking promises in refunding some money. This was very puzzling since I indicated I got a $30 chargeback and they should get it back from the seller.

Obviously since only sellers make money for eBay and PayPal, they will not step on their toes. On the other hand, since I got my $30 chargeback against PayPal on the credit card, I’m not out anything. Besides, by winning a claim, PayPal has the right to charge $25 for recovery of any monies - that has since changed.

 Bottom line
Do communicate with the buyer. Most are open minded and ethical.

Always pay for eBay auction items with a credit card or credit card via PayPal as you have chargeback privileges, otherwise you have zero protection. eBay made changes a while back. If you see eBay Buyer Protection and pay with PayPal, you are covered for that purchase.

According to the PayPal Help Center, if you win an eBay auction and the item is significantly not as described, you may arrange for some credit or return the item to the seller at your own their expense.

What’s eBay good for?
If you want to skip domestic importers and retailers and their high markups, there are Chinese sellers of China manufactured goods that sell very inexpensively on eBay. That works if the items are not needed soon.

Canon and most other camera makers require a purchase at an authorized dealer to validate the warrantee. These dealers will discount camera bodies and lenses more on eBay than on their websites.

Stuff you can’t get or can’t find easily like the Shure V15 Type III replacement stylus that I bought in December 2007. I was also surprised to find that good turntables are $300 and up.

craigslist
This is my alternate place to get things, especially for in-demand items. Inspect, cash, and carry. Downside is gas and time involved.