I made a purchase on eBay from China for gold coins. Mind you, I had a gut feeling that this was going to be an issue, but I followed through because I was "locked in" by eBay purchasing guidelines.
I paid with PayPal due to the "buyer protection" sense of security.
The coins arrived, and all were bottom dollar frauds. I contacted eBay, PayPal and the seller, and PayPal requested that I send the coins back to the seller for the refund. The purchase price was over $500, and the return shipping fee was over $100. I paid the $100 plus for the return shipping because PayPal requested online shipping registration. They failed to state what would later be something important, delivery confirmation.
I contacted PayPal for 3 months while they sat with my money in "holding" while the item was being disputed. I made sure that they had the tracking numbers, and they kept changing the "resolved" dates.
Finally, PayPal found in favor of the seller, after I had sent the items back and paid the original cost plus the cost of return shipping. They failed to tell me that USPS does not track well once a package is out of the US, and PayPal cannot see any delivery to the person showing online, so they found in favor of the seller.
Buyer protection? I followed ALL requested things from PayPal. I shipped it back in the original container, to the address listed on the resolution page, with an online tracking ID number, and I am still out nearly $700 with no "buyer protection."
I brought it before the Better Business Bureau. No action was taken due to my non-purchase of door-to-door tracking (which I would have paid the extra $20 for had I known I needed it!).
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