Problem with a Seller, PayPal awarded a refund but.....

JonahUK · 4 April 2017 at 4:30PM

Hi All,

Not sure if this is the right place to post this but after some advice.

I recently purchased an item (Jan '17), had issues with it from the start.
Contacted the Seller via eBay, recieved replacement parts etc but issue still not resolved. Seller agreed to a 50% refund and I didn't have to send the item back.

Seller then went quiet and no refund recieved. 30 days have passed so can't escalate via eBay so escalated via PayPal instead.

PayPal ruled in my favour and granted a full refund (although I was happy with the 50%) but I have to send the item back (no refund until then). As the item was a DIY kit which has since been built, I cannot send back in its original state or the original packaging plus several parts have been upgraded in attempts to get it working (although I still have the original, non-working parts anyway)

However, my issue is that PayPal are telling me to return it to China even though it shipped from the UK.

Is that correct? Are they allowed to do that?
Surely I should return it to where it was shipped from?

I ordered it due to the fact that it was being shipped from the UK and NOT China specifically in case I had a problem.

PayPal are not acknowledging any contact at the moment either and I only have 8 days left of the alotted 10 to send it back and provide tracking numbers etc or PayPal will close the case.

I am hoping I can call PayPal tomorrow and speak to someone but I am wondering if anyone on here knows what my rights are regarding where I return it to, Seller's registered country (which is China) or where they shipped it from? I have proof of where it was shipped from.

TIA,
Michelle

ballisticbrian · 4 April 2017 at 5:02PM

Bear in mind they may have simply had the last customer who wanted to do a return ship it directly to you. I mean, that wouldn't meet ISO9000 but that's the kind of thing Chinese sellers on eBay do.

JonahUK · 4 April 2017 at 5:55PM

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Bear in mind they may have simply had the last customer who wanted to do a return ship it directly to you. I mean, that wouldn't meet ISO9000 but that's the kind of thing Chinese sellers on eBay do.

Item was advertised as being in London and shipped from London and listed as New. This was the main reason I purchased it.

Pierre_De_Grenoble · 4 April 2017 at 7:10PM

I suspect (so please correct me) that as long as whatever you've bought is retuned tracked, Paypal will not care if it is partly assembled / whatever.

It may well be worth a phone call to Paypal to query the cost of a return to China for a UK advertised product. In your shoes I would simply state that the product does not work / failed / whatever.

Your Chinese seller will not care if you are in the right or wrong, He/she will mostly be concerned with hanging on to your money.

ballisticbrian · 5 April 2017 at 8:07AM

Item was advertised as being in London and shipped from London and listed as New. This was the main reason I purchased it.

This situation did come up on this forum a couple of months ago. Let's hope someone comes along with the answer for this scenario; PayPal case requires item sending to sellers registered PayPal address in China, and PayPal wont take into account the various addresses relating to the eBay sale concerned.

Pierre_De_Grenoble · 5 April 2017 at 8:57AM

ballisticbrian wrote: »

This situation did come up on this forum a couple of months ago. Let's hope someone comes along with the answer for this scenario; PayPal case requires item sending to sellers registered PayPal address in China, and PayPal wont take into account the various addresses relating to the eBay sale concerned.

Was that the thread about an eBay case (change of mind?) where the seller stated the item was being sent from Estonia even though the seller was in the UK and that the ad. stated that returns had to go to Estonia?

I'd not thought through the fact that a paypal return has to go to the paypal registered address but I can see that it's a given.

I guess the OP will have to decide if the cost of the return is worthwhile.

It does flag up another point though.. How can a buyer know where a seller is registered with paypal.

I'd like to think that I will never be in this situation because I would never let any seller mess me around past eBay's 30 days but there must be more than a few people out there being turned over by such practises.

19lottie82 · 5 April 2017 at 10:23AM

Another vote to phoning PayPal and speaking to someone about your logistical problem, IME they can be quite helpful if you actually speak to a human being.