Paypal rant

[sx_turbo]

What goes through PayPal's mind when there is disputes. They seem to always side with the buyer and leave the seller out of pocket.

I sold a Honeywell evohome starter kit, I bought back in 22 because I thought mine was faulty but turned out it just needed a firmware update.

It's been sitting in my garage since so decided to sell it.

I sold it for £50.

Guy comes in Facebook says can I send him a video of it working which I did, to do this I had to wire the relay and pair it.

Sent it to the guy, next day he messages me and says it's a counterfeit item, tell him no it's not.

Then day after he says it's broken, I say it's not and I proved it in the video I sent him prior to sale, says he's going to get a pro round at the weekend because I told him they are notoriously difficult to setup (they can be difficult)

Then the next day he says it's not charging. I said it was clearly charging in the video I sent you.

Then he says he's had a pro over and they've written a statement saying it's faulty. I ask for the statement he refuses.

Then he opens PayPal dispute.

Turns out the guy had a MK1 evohome, and purchased a MK3 screen. They are compatible but the charger is different and it doesn't use the wireless gateway as it's built into the MK3.

Explain all this to PayPal, I prove the purchase and the serial number is recognised by Honeywell as authentic. I showed them the evidence that he bought the new unit as a replacement for his old one and he needs to modify his system with proof from Honeywell that's the case.

Then PayPal give the guy my address to send the unit back, without my authorisation.

When it arrived the guy hadn't done a factory reset as it still had the old settings I made playing with it showing him it worked. Which meant he didn't get a professional out. I then took a video and photos of me pairing the relay and it all working.

Advised PayPal I would be returning the unit and expect not to have a charge back.

I didn't send it I thought I would wait a couple of days as I had zero response from PayPal.

Today they confirmed I received the unit and refunded the guy. Then Charged me a further £12 for the dispute.

I phoned customer services and they refused to refund the £12. I explained to them I proved beyond doubt the unit was not faulty for them to tell me I have recieved the item and as it's not faulty I can sell it again.

I know it's only £12, but I'm also £15 down due to the postage, so I've lost £27 and I've done nothing wrong.

I'm more annoyed about the principle of it than anything, 20 years I've been using PayPal and not 1 dispute until now.

Very frustrating.

 

[sx_turbo]

There's a reason PayPal are known as the Pal you Pay. Been the same for many many years. I stopped selling on eBay a long long time ago. Plenty of other options to get rid of stuff, might not get the same ££ for it but at least they are less hassle.

tbh i hate selling stuff, id rather bin the item, ebay is difficult, facebook is now full of scammers or dead beats that want everything for nothing and rarely do they even show up after begging you to hold the item, i've not had an issue with paypal before but wont be using them again in the future. i've a couple of direct debits that go through paypal, i'm going to transfer these to my actual account and close down paypal.

 

[sx_turbo]

I had a similar experience selling an AV Receiver on eBay - what stuck in my throat is that rather than risk postage, I offered to deliver it personally (about an hour away) AND helped set it up, showing him how it worked!

Three weeks later I got notification that he was returning it as faulty - despite me taking videos of it all setup and working.

He posted it back to me using Evri, so you can picture the state it arrived in. Down £500 AND left with a battered item.

I may or may not have used this service the following Xmas:

I really don't understand how eBay and PayPal make these decisions. Surely they are there to protect both buyers and sellers. Not just the buyers