PayPal payers protection may have no value

roygbiv

I purchased an item through Facebook paying with PayPal to get what I thought was payment protection, the item was not as describe so opened a case  in PayPal the seller has offered a full refund but I must send it back to china at my cost, costing me twice the value of the item to get my original money back for the wrong item being set to me which seems to make PayPal payers protection a waste of time I thought and have done this before that if a wrong item was sent it was the responsibility of the seller to pay for return postage? is there anything I can do or do I have to just let the case close by default and just lose my money. it would seem that all sellers have to do is say they will give a full refund knowing it would cost to much to send back.

soolin

There have been several threads a week on here that start ‘ I bought an item on Facebook from China’, most end badly. Yes you are correct, if you buy something from a UK seller online it is up to the seller to pay return postage if item is not as described, however you didn’t buy from the UK you bought from China so need to abide by their consumer rules. PayPal do offer returns if you sign up before starting the claim, they limit you to a Certain number a year and only up to £15 on return postage, I have no idea whether that applies to non UK transactions though.

Even if you do return the item the chances of it actually showing as delivered are poor, so you will just be further out of pocket. These Facebook ads are so well known, they often steal images from real sites and make all sorts of outlandish claims, and then send rubbish Or a different cheap item and are aimed to catch out people a bit new to buying online.

You haven’t mentioned import duty and tax which implies this is a cheap item, in that case I would write it off as a learning event and just be more careful where you buy from in future. Your only real hope is a goodwill payment from PayPal, they do occasionally do that if you are polite and are persistent. 

forgotmyname

I bought something that cost £5 delivered, checked the return postage costs and it would cost £14 to return.
The tracking would have stopped half way and no proof the seller received it.

Luckily I bought on ebay where the seller refunded without a quibble.  Stick to ebay or real UK stores.

My thoughts are only buy what you can afford to throw away because returning them will not be
cost effective.  Nearly made a mistake myself on that one also, I should listen to myself more.