Comments on: Paypal Buyer Protection on EBay is Worthless

By: john

john — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:22:45 +0000

promises by paypal to ” warn you in good tiem” in the case of a dispute, is dishonest. they do NOT do so, and when the time allowed for the dispute resolution has come and gone, they glibly announce that the matter is concluded. be aware people, this organization is one way traffic – customer relations do not exist

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 05:04:57 +0000

Hey thanks Sam! That’s pretty much the conclusion I’ve come to. Paypal provides no useful protection.

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:19:27 +0000

This is a comment on the post that was made by “Harry on
June 25, 2010 at 4:42 pm”

That’s a great tip thank you for sharing!

Although, you could still be burned if the seller is willing to provide proof of shipping.

I won’t bore you with all of the details but last December I bought three Best Buy gift cards on ebay (I’ve done this dozens of times over the last 10 years of being a member) totaling $1200 (from three different sellers). One of them tried to scam me ($485) and sent me an envelope with a business card instead, BUT, get this, he shipped it with a tracking number (he knew how to play the game indeed!).

When I went to PayPal for help they asked the seller to provide proof that he had sent the gift card, he turn gladly provided the URL to the USPS tracking number, and PayPal said, “great, thanks for playing, nothing to see here move along Mr. Buyer.”

In other words, PayPal’s, way of corroborating is only by tracking number (in all fairness, I’m not sure what else they could do). At that point, I kept my cool and called my credit card company; 10 minutes later I had the charge reversed!

That’s why for the last ten years I’ve been telling anyone that will listen, IF YOU HAVE AN OPTION ALWAYS USE A CREDIT CARD!!! Why, because no one cares more about their money than the owner, in this case the bank/company who issued you the card.

Now, before I get flamed, allow me to clarify, make sure you have the solvency to pay the bill in FULL when it comes do or else DON’T BUY SAID ITEM AT ALL!

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:24:33 +0000

Sorry to hear that Laura. As you say, the same arrogance and BS from EBay and PayPal. Sad.

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 05:12:33 +0000

Three years later, still the same. I bought so called solid gold jewellery off ebay Australia from a buyer with 400+ positive reviews. Three days later seller is no longer a registered seller, I lost transaction details. Few weeks later received pieces of plastic in mail. Tried to go through Paypal AU buyer refund, have to pay minimum registered mail to send back to China or else no refund.

Pay Pal told me I should be grateful I even get a refund, as their other customers are. Seller thinks I’m going to cut my losses and not bother to return it so they can make the $? I’d think I’d pay for the shipping so none of my funds go into that grubby fraudster’s hands.

By: Parameswara

Parameswara — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 09:29:50 +0000

I do not much of the real situation inside paypal but i did get my refund and i get to keep the item. I am guessing that i often buy from top seller,so i think that they consider refund. I have deal with seller from china and they are very nice to me. They are willing to return my item and send me refund. I was buying A ROBERTO CAVALLI shirt. My worst experience was with a seller that refuse to give refund despite that i can return the item if i am not satisfied. Paypal did not bother my hearing. I am fortunate enough that i did not experience fraudulent.

By: Fairfax Mom

Fairfax Mom — Fri, 13 May 2011 22:33:22 +0000

Hi
It’s pretty easy for Virginian’s to file in Small Claims court. I suggest you include all court fees in your claims and any other expenses. It sounds like PayPal doesn’t provide the buyer protection and has absurd bureaucracy to insure they never pay. A judge will hand the award to the little guy. Make sure you save all of the inane automated emails to show the judge and bring the complete counterfeit xbox game for example, and shipping envelop as evidence. First call PayPal and tell them you are going to file in small claims court. They might just decide to give you your money! :)

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 00:34:58 +0000

Yeah, I know. I just wish this information could get out there *before* people get ripped off the first time.

But that’s interesting that the person didn’t need to return the item and you didn’t lose your money. I can see how people could scam this (send item to friend, friend says item was broken, gets money back, merchant sells item again).

But I think Mike’s situation and mine is more typical – someone other than EBay/Paypal actually does lose cash out of pocket.

By: Katie

Katie — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 19:35:20 +0000

Well people who are happy with their experience probably wouldn’t be looking for help, so that’s why we don’t hear from him. Paypal sided with the guy who claimed the iPhone he bought wasn’t as advertised, but I don’t know if he got to keep the phone, and got his money back, or if he had to send the phone somewhere. But he got his money back, and I didn’t have to pay it or take the damaged phone back. Maybe they are treating buyer protection more like insurance now.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:59:31 +0000

Interesting to hear from merchants too.

Mike, why did this guy get to keep and MP3 player when I had to return my illegal DVD from a person who had been utterly banned and erased from EBay for his illegal activities?

I just don’t get that. Is it official policy to always side with the scammer? I’d like to here of just one legit case where EBay/Paypal buy protection actually protected the victim instead of the scammer.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 14:56:24 +0000

Ebay (and Paypal) are nothing more than massive failures at this point. We got screwed by this guy in Utah, called “thunderboltboy”, who bought a very good condition (used) MP3 player and he claimed it didnt work. We tested it and packed it WORKING. He claimed it didnt work and wanted his money back. Foolish us, we didnt record the serial number, so we refused the return request. Not only that, it was an “as is” auction of a 5 year old MP3 player. He STILL wanted his money back. Ebay doesnt believe in “buyer beware”, even if we werent scamming him. They sided with him though he was instructed that he could KEEP the MP3 player as well! So we lost the money AND the player – which worked fine.

Talk about scam artists. Its a COLONY of [scam] artists on Ebay. I sold my stock and closed my account and so did my wife. We’re never going to use Ebay again.

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 04:53:38 +0000

I sold a phone on craigslist, and the guy who bought it is claiming the screen has some bright spots on it. It did NOT have these spots when I sent it. For all I know, he did something to the phone. So does anyone know, is paypal going to expect me to take back damaged merchandise?? The phone was sold as used, and he admits that everything on it works…

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 05:03:47 +0000

Terri,

That’s a bummer and I’ve heard a lot of complaints from the merchant side too. It’s obviously a broken system.

By: terri

terri — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 17:56:02 +0000

But US Sellers are hurt I had a buyer lilylotus52 buy software from me then use buyer protection to get a refund and of course keep my product on her computer … she even said she liked the bulk of my product but due to her computer could not view some of the videos. I am out $120 with shipping and she gets rewarded by ebay buyer protection … geez … I am letting my account go into collections I am not paying ebay for this unjust refund!

By: Erin

Erin — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 01:56:32 +0000

I also trusted Ebay & Paypal because of their so called “buyer protection” which is useless indeed! At least, I only lost $17 to a seller who obviously knew how Paypal wouldn’t do anything and never bothered to respond. Now I’m using a CC for all my purchases and will avoid paypal at all cost. The only items I will buy from Ebay now are less than $5. Just not worth the risk to buy or sell high value items through such a horrible lying company anymore.

Ebay definitely needs some competition.

By: Sishabto

Sishabto — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 21:13:33 +0000

I paid for a cell phone $172.88 by paypal through eBay shipped from China! It’s been 3+ months and ever received it! They stole my money and never sent me anything!

What protection plans?! Neither eBay nor paypal helped me, see this:http://reviews.ebay.com/Warning-Enjoyment-Shop-SCAM-SONY-ERICSSON-T707-T707I_W0QQugidZ10000000018546149

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:16:03 +0000

I had similar experience, but it was with a COMPUTER. There should be fiable Ebay competitor. There policies are horrible.

By: First Rule of Support Ticket Management: Only Customers Can Close Tickets :Raised By Turtles

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:00:44 +0000

[...] negative comments about you to my friends, on forums, maybe on my blog if you really upset me (see Paypal Buyer Protection Sucks). You would have to do worse than close a support ticket for me to call you out by name, but it is [...]

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 05:31:37 +0000

Buyer protection sucks and has made me not sell anything on Ebay for more than a year. When I am told I cannot accept checks or money orders and am forced to use PayPal they lost me as a seller. They say “It is for my protection”. What protection? If I do not get the money order or check and it does not clear the bank they do not get there item they bought. All it is about is greed! Plus they bought out PayPal, go figure!

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 03:21:49 +0000

The thing is, Paypal says “you have to trust people” but they have this Buyer Protection thing. The whole point of that is that I don’t trust people and I want to make sure someone has my back. But nobody does if I buy through Paypal. That’s my gripe.

If I had made the same purchase with my credit card, instead of Paypal Buyer Deception, I would have disputed the charge and gotten my money back. That’s why the CC companies are much better at detecting fraud than Paypal – it costs them more because their guarantees actually mean something.

And there’s my rant!