I sold an item to a buyer in South Africa who did not purchase insurance or any other form of delivery confirmation. The buyer claims to have not received it. He tried to file a complaint of non delivery three times through Ebay but because his item was under the $25 limit for protection on that site they directly linked him to Paypal which gave him an alternate way to get his refund even if I did send it.
Ebay owns Paypal and therefore governs the rules of Paypal and they have either left rules in place before they owned it that are a conflict of interest or have made the rules on purpose. Either way, they are responsible.
Once the buyer complained through Paypal, which IS part of Ebay, says you have to go by their rules and your prior contracts are basically of no consequence. Ebay requires "reasonable proof" the item was sent. Paypal requires proof of delivery to the buyers door that can be tracked on line. Keep in mind that Delivery Confirmation is not available to South Africa nor did the purchaser ask for any.
Paypal basically says "too bad" even though I provided proof of delivery to the post office with my Customs Declaration number and receipt number which they were able to view on line. They claimed that because I accepted Paypal as a form of payment that I was bound by their rules regarding delivery and ruled in the buyer's favor instead of ruling on the fact that I had a prior contract with the buyer that says I take Paypal under specific terms and finding the buyer at fault. If the buyer had been allowed to complain through Ebay my proof would have been enough but since Ebay SENT him to Paypal it wasn't. Paypal/Ebay ruled that he received his money back even though there is no proof he didn't get it plus an additional $10 chargeback fee which goes right into their pocket.
Ebay/Paypal are using Extortion Practices to receive monies they are not entitled to by having conflicting rules. And of course there is no recourse for me to file a claim of breach of contract with Ebay on the buyer since he did pay for the item. They have it all figured out.
If I email them they send mumbo jumbo which has nothing to do with my claim. One of Ebay's employees suggested using Paypal as a form of payment to protect myself after I had just sent a letter saying what happened. I wrote back asking if she even read the letter or just sends out this stupid unrelated unhelpful reply. Obviously they're not going to help me since they're making more money off me.
Paypal has limited my account, basically I can't buy anything using them, until I put enough money in my account to cover the refund plus the ten dollar chargeback. I have filed a complaint through the Better Business Bureau and have not gotten a reply yet. I noticed they had thousands of complaints on there as well.
I received a reply from an Ebay Fraud investigator named Bolton in their Trust & Safety Department. He states...
"eBay Customer Support wrote: Hello, Thank you for contacting us again, my name is Bolton, a Fraud Investigator here at eBay.
EBay owns PayPal, however PayPal and eBay are two distinct companies with two very different set of policies.in our books, the buyer enters a binding agreement with you to follow the shipping terms set up in your auction, however, PayPal obviously does not follow the same beliefs that we do. They don't look at the terms outlined in your auction or the fact that the buyer does not purchase insurance when settling these kinds of
disputes. Unfortunately, when you agreed to accept PayPal for payment, you agreed to follow their policies on resolving these disputes (which obviously favor the buyer, not the seller).
Now that you know how PayPal works, you can decide to what extent you want to continue to do business with them.
I hope that this email has addressed all your concerns and questions. We are committed to working with you to protect your safety and help you succeed on eBay.input from members like you is invaluable and helps us reach our goal to keep transactions on eBay free from fraudulent activity.
Regards, Bolton, Fraud Investigator, eBay Trust & Safety"
He outright admits that Ebay owns Paypal and that their companies have conflicting rules that do not favor the seller. The truth is Ebay SENT the buyer to complain to Paypal. If they did not mean to cause this then they would have not linked him there and/or would have asked the buyer in advance if he had purchased any form of proof of delivery. If he hadn't he should have been told..."SORRY, we can't help you if the seller can show reasonable evidence they sent the item." But instead of doing this to protect me on their site with my so called binding contract with the buyer, they sent him to their other company so he gets his money back anyway AND Paypal/Ebay makes an additional $10 to boot.
It IS extortion which means... The act or an instance of extorting. Illegal use of one's official position or powers to obtain property, funds, or patronage. An excessive or exorbitant charge. Something extorted.
Thanks for listening and hope you don't make the same mistake I did selling to an international buyer without making him buy some way to track the item to his door.
Dianne
west plains, Missouri
U.S.A.
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