Ebay GSP: Paypal issue refund to buyer: how I got my money back

johnbuckworth

I sold an item on ebay, I use the GSP, this item was delivered to a buyer in France. The buyer then opened a case with Paypal stating that the item had not been delivered. Paypal ignored my response ('I use the GSP for international sales, I'm only liable for non-delivery to the UK distribution centre at Fradley Park, I have a confirmation email from ebay stating the item was delivered') and refunded the buyer £175 from "my" Paypal account.

I'll spare you the details of all the attempts I made to make a complaint or register an appeal on the Paypal website, they were many and various. You cannot appeal a Paypal decision, despite the statement "You can appeal any decision within 10 days of the date of the decision" - you can't. there's no "Appeal" button to click. Anywhere. Even Resolver couldn't help, Paypal don't accept Resolver cases. which is an unfortunate side-effect of how good Resolver has been!

Last straw, I clicked on 'Help and contact' at the top of the 'My ebay' page. This brought up a screen showing my latest transactions, I clicked on the item, a message screen came up and I typed all the details, pressed send and expected nothing except confirmation that ebay and Paypal were in cahoots, and the GSP offered as much protection as a hankie in a hurricane, and I am delighted that I was wrong.

The ebay GSP team emailed me the following day to say that: I was correct, I am not liable, I will get my money back. They did ask for a copy of the email from Paypal turning down my appeal, I thought, "Here we go, this is how they get out of taking responsibility" and sent them screenshots of my attempts to "Report a problem" with the Paypal transaction "refundiing" £175 to the buyer ("You cannot report a problem on this transaction") but. pleasant surprise, ebay said that was fine, and £175 was credited to my Paypal account.
However...
The return of £175 to my Paypal account was a payment by ebay, not by Paypal. Does it matter? I think so. I'm still angry!

Paypal accept a buyer's claim of non-deivery and put the onus of proof on the seller. Sellers using the ebay GSP are not liable for non-delivery of items after they reach the UK distribution centre, but Paypal ignore this. I replied to each of their emails in some detail, with screenshots, their last email to me was (buyer name deleted):

Dear John W C Buckworth,
We originally contacted you on 5 August 2020 to ask you to respond to a claim filed by XXXXXXXX. Additional reminder emails were sent as the response deadline approached. Because we didn’t receive a response within the timeframe provided, we had to decide this claim in favour of the buyer.
We've debited £175.00 GBP from your PayPal account to refund the buyer. If this refund has made your balance fall below zero, please restore your balance.
Your participation is essential to the claims process. In the future, please respond to any claims within the requested timeframe.

They have already taken their fee on the original sale price, if they then refund the full sale price from the seller's account, they still keep their fee. They have no financial incentive to even pretend to read the response to their emails or investigate claims of non-delivery. And the last sentence of that email is pure evil genius!
The ebay customer service email address is ukcswebhelp@ebay.com, if you are having a similar problem to mine, email them, ask for Meghan or Amanda to reply, give them the details (a screenshot of the ebay email confirming delivery is enough), refer to "Appeal PP Case 333655169508 SR# 1-275967072976 John Buckworth" and ask them to please resolve your case on your behalf
. (The people who emailed me from the ebay GSP were really lovely, but ebay are not doing anything to stop this happening to other people, which is why I'm posting this)
Hope this helps!
John

BelMalinois

Maybe the buyer knew what they doing by opening a case with paypal rather than ebay assuming they opened a case soon after delivery? I've never had a GSP claim with paypal, only with ebay. Both sometimes need reminding of their own rules.

 I had an item recently showing as having been in a US depot for over two weeks. The buyer opened a case with ebay and they closed it within two hours stating they had issued a no fault refund. Paypal now keep the fees if a transaction is refunded.