PayPal refund

nobbyc

I placed an order with an Irish company using my credit card via PayPal for the sum of €465.81. My bank account was debited £430.44. I then received confirmation from the retailer that the item I’d ordered was no longer available and issued me a full refund. However, my bank was only credited with £412.43, leaving my account short by £18.01. 

I contacted PayPal, who stated that this was due to the differing exchange rates on those days. 

How can I be out of pocket for goods I haven’t received and is there any way I can get my money back - PayPal aren’t exactly being helpful?

born_again

Retailer should have reversed the transaction, which negates any exchange rate differences.
But do not know if that would work via PayPal.
Sadly nothing you can do, next time you could end up with a bigger refund. Would you then want to give the extra back? It is one of the dangers when purchasing from companies overseas.

George_Michael

When paying for goods and then getting refunded in a foreign currency, what you have experienced is very common and can't generally be avoided but sometimes it can work the other way and the refund is more than the price originally paid.
It's not really any different to buying €465 in a foreign exchange bureau and paying in Sterling then at a later date, taking those €s and converting them back to £.
You will pay commission each time and the buying and selling rates will differ.

What happened isn't down to PayPal as they have done what was asked of them.
You might have a case against the seller of the goods but in reality considering any legal action for the sake of £18 isn't really realistic.

born_again

George_Michael said:

When paying for goods and then getting refunded in a foreign currency, what you have experienced is very common and can't generally be avoided but sometimes it can work the other way and the refund is more than the price originally paid.
It's not really any different to buying €465 in a foreign exchange bureau and paying in Sterling then at a later date, taking those €s and converting them back to £.
You will pay commission each time and the buying and selling rates will differ.

What happened isn't down to PayPal as they have done what was asked of them.
You might have a case against the seller of the goods but in reality considering any legal action for the sake of £18 isn't really realistic.

Why?. Seller refunded the amount they were paid/invoiced the customer for. 

George_Michael

born_again said:

George_Michael said:

When paying for goods and then getting refunded in a foreign currency, what you have experienced is very common and can't generally be avoided but sometimes it can work the other way and the refund is more than the price originally paid.
It's not really any different to buying €465 in a foreign exchange bureau and paying in Sterling then at a later date, taking those €s and converting them back to £.
You will pay commission each time and the buying and selling rates will differ.

What happened isn't down to PayPal as they have done what was asked of them.
You might have a case against the seller of the goods but in reality considering any legal action for the sake of £18 isn't really realistic.

Why?. Seller refunded the amount they were paid/invoiced the customer for. 

Even though the seller refunded the amount they were paid, the OP is still out of pocket due to their failure to provide the goods that were paid for.
The CRA states that a consumer has the legal right to pursue a seller for any losses incurred and even though the seller isn't UK based, just about all EU legislation is based on EU directives, I would be very surprised if the Irish equivalent of the CRA doesn't have a similar clause in it which is why I stated that they might have a case rather than they would have a case.

(9)This Chapter does not prevent the consumer seeking other remedies—

(a)for a breach of a term that this Chapter requires to be treated as included in the contract,

(b)on the grounds that, under section 15 or 16, goods do not conform to the contract, or

(c)for a breach of a requirement stated in the contract.

(10)Those other remedies may be ones—

(a)in addition to a remedy referred to in subsections (3) to (6) (but not so as to recover twice for the same loss), or

(b)instead of such a remedy, or

(c)where no such remedy is provided for.

(11)Those other remedies include any of the following that is open to the consumer in the circumstances—

(a)claiming damages;

(b)seeking specific performance;

(c)seeking an order for specific implement;

(d)relying on the breach against a claim by the trader for the price;

(e)for breach of an express term, exercising a right to treat the contract as at an end

mattyprice4004

It's common with any transaction involving a currency exchange - sometimes you're up on the deal, and sometimes not.

It's just one of those things.

theonlywayisup

Paypal has charges for 'foreign' transactions.  They also set their own exchange rate.  This will vary from day to day and as such a refund may not equate to a payment.  That is how it is when you chose to use a payment method that charges both.  To lessen the exposure use a payment method that has zero Forex charges and only utilises the exchange rate on the day. 

nobbyc

To be fair the retailer has said that if I contact him directly and see if parts are in stock first,  then he'll give me a discount code for the whole order, so hopefully I'll recoup what I've lost.

He's not experienced this issue before so it's a bit of a heads up for both of us.