PayPal........ Sellers Beware

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PayPal........ Sellers Beware
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flag mountainpig
Posted: Sep 15, 2015 at 19:56 Quote
I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience.

My 17 year old son posted his bike for sale on PinkBike for a good price. He included 10 good photos showing the condition of the bike and a list of the components. He needed to sell it quickly as he already had a new bike in mind so priced it sharply. It was on 21 watch lists and more than 1 buyer wanted the bike. He decided on a buyer from the US because he would pay for shipping even though his dad had to drive him to Bellingham to ship it.

Here is where it gets bizarre. Within a week the guy who bought it emailed with a list of complaints so long it took 10 minutes to read them all. He then demanded a refund of $700us, this was for a $3000us purchase. We refused as it really was ridiculous. He then demanded a full refund, of which we again refused. He started a dispute with PayPal. We supplied PayPal with links to Pinkbike ads showing similar bikes for sale for much more money and a link to JensenUSA showing that a new bike of this caliber sells for more than $6700us new with lesser components than the one my son sold. We also made reference to the rebuilt Fox 40 and new levers for the Saint brakes. All in all the bike was in stellar shape.

We waited for a response from PayPal which arrived today, more than a month and a half after we sold the bike. We were pretty confident that they would have a look through all the info we sent and tell the buyer he received good value. So wrong, they authorized him to ship the bike back and issued him a full refund. We are sitting here trying to figure out what they based their decision on in the meantime the Canadian Dollar has gone down and the season to sell a bike has passed.

Be warned, this could happen to you and our research has shown that there are people who regularly pull this scam to get a partial refund and or a full refund for an item they no longer want. PayPal will play right along.
flag JayKay3000
Posted: Sep 19, 2015 at 14:06 Quote
Been lucky with everything I've sold. I tend to pick up bikes in person or have a buyer come round and as far as I'm concerned I disclose everything wrong in the ad and once money has been handed over there would have to be something stupidly wrong with the bike. I don't mind paying for a service post-purchase to fix anything that's a bit wonky.

Shame though. Interesting story all the same. Good luck!
flag yogegoy
Posted: Apr 26, 2016 at 2:31 Quote
It's because paypal guarantees the return of buyers money up to 90 days if they claim it's "Not As Described". Doesn't matter how solid your defense against the claim is, that policy stands solid. "Not As Described" are three powerful words that would always topple your "Absolutely No Returns Accepted" policy in your add. Sellers who've gone through this experience will now have the words in their add "14 days money back guarantee" listed, somehow this guarantee challenges paypal's policy. This pressures the buyer to go over the merchandise that courts see as enough time for both parties agree/disagree with the sale in a legal way as opposed to papal's 90 day policy which is stupid although it looks good for buyers in so many ways.

My experience as a buyer:
I bought a set of spark plugs through ebay, I supplied them pictures of the spark plugs I wanted and seller still sent me the wrong ones. They agreed to replace it with the same ones I didn't want, because the plugs I wanted were only manufactured for motorcycles and 2 cars (my car is not any of the 2 cars in the list). They just wanted me to buy the plugs and somehow reason their way out into buying the plugs anyway. So a claim was filed and I won my case and returned the plugs, now they try to charge me a restocking fee of $25. I explained to paypal that I sent pictures to the seller before the purchased and guaranteed it's the plugs I showed them I'll be receiving. In short the "Not As Described" solidified my argument and won my case. Thanks to the pictures I sent them before hand.

My experience as a seller:
I sold a Zapco parametric equalizer for $525, buyer paid right away using paypal. Before I received payment, paypal took it's cut from the sale of $15. The eq was working because I tested it before the day I hand delivered it to the buyer but forgot to video proof of operation (my lose). Two months later the buyer tells me I sold him a non working unit and filed a claim through paypal. Believing in the strong power of "Absolutely No Returns Accepted" deterring a would be cocky buyer before the sale as my legal savior in case shit happens, I'd swallow a hard pill later learning what that meant. The buyer said it smoked after it was turned on by a reputable car audio installer. I argued with paypal I sold him a working unit because before you could smoke something it had to be working first and it had a fuse to save it in situations like this. Only way to keep it burning was to bypass the fuse and directly connect it to power. My argument was lost so now I have a broken unit besides the loss of a sale. I tried arguing I would correct the problem for free sending it to the manufacturer to be fix just as long as I didn't have to return the money. Paypal just went ahead and refunded the money owing paypal since I couldn't cover the refund. Now I'm trying to ask for a refund from paypal for the $15 fee which I notified them 2 weeks ago to no avail... F ck you paypal for screwing me some more same with ebay with the $52 fee they say I was refunded but got hit with this months invoice for get this.....$52....


Sorry for the rant, just felt it was the right place to vent it out.
flag gbort
Posted: May 7, 2016 at 11:26 Quote
You folks are brave.

I do not PayPal, ever. I only ship or buy things second hand that require shipping >$100.

Anything over $100, we meet in person. Will always be my way of thinking.
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