paypal dispute - returning snad item, advice pls

purenotions

I bought something on ebay for £21 incl p&p that arrived barely wrapped in a black bin sack and a few bits of tape, sent ordinary mail. The bag was torn and bits missing, making it impossible to use. No response from seller so I escalated a paypal claim requesting my £21 back.

Paypal have told me to return the item to the seller before I will get any refund. I figure that will cost me at least £10, so even if I get a refund, I will end up paying out £10 or so for nothing except aggravation.

Is there a way to post it back so that there is tracking, but the recipient pays for the postage costs?

Would it be better for me to claim my £21 plus the cost of returning the item via the small claims court? Would the seller also be liable for my £30 court fee?

I'd appreciate your advice.

Thank you.

zenseeker

purenotions wrote: »

Is there a way to post it back so that there is tracking, but the recipient pays for the postage costs.

Even is there is, it is a waste of time because the seller could just refuse delivery, and I'm not sure how that would affect your PayPal claim.

If you won in the small claims court, I think you can claim the fees back as part of your settlement against the seller, so if you are sure that you have a strong enough case (which seems likely to me) it is probably worth doing.

What was the item?

purenotions

Surely I only have to prove that I've posted it, not whether or not they accept it?

It was a pushchair accessory. Listed as good as new, arrived incomplete, scraped, gouged and filthy. Worst ebay experience so far. :-(

Dime_Bar

purenotions wrote: »

Surely I only have to prove that I've posted it, not whether or not they accept it?

It was a pushchair accessory. Listed as good as new, arrived incomplete, scraped, gouged and filthy. Worst ebay experience so far. :-(

Nope you need to prove they received it, plenty of threads on here regarding that. I suppose you could claim the bulk back through Paypal and go for the P&P charged through the small claims but it could be risky.