Well, it’s not true that Paypal always sides with the buyer. I’m a buyer who is in a dispute with a seller, for whom the dispute has yet to turn out well. It’s been going on for 10 months now.
The seller used the words “works perfectly” in four places in his ad for a subwoofer, the ad was maybe 1000 words long, maybe longer, and buried towards the bottom in very small print is language to the effect - not explicitly, just to the effect - that a part was missing. I didn’t even see it until I was well into the dispute.
Without the part, there is no way, according to an engineer at the manufacturer, that you can state that the item “works perfectly”, all you can say is that when you plug it in, the amp lights up and the woofer diaphragm responds. The missing part is not off the shelf, and as it is no longer made, it needs to be fabricated from scratch.
My engineer says he could make it for $175 so I offered to accept it if the seller gave $175 back. The seller refused.
amazingly, both eBay and Paypal sided with the seller. Amazingly, eBay said that if I don’t like the sub, I can resell it on Ebay! The only ethical way to do that is to list the parts separately, sold as “for parts only” at a loss of $200 or more.
Fortunately I used Paypal Credit. So, I have yet to pay. I have told Paypal alternatively that I will either:
A - jump into a boiling vat of hydrochloric acid, or
B - walk barefoot across Siberia in the middle of the winter
before they see one penny from me for this purchase.
As the seller is rudely intransigent, and as Paypal has paid the seller, I my return the item to the CEO of Paypal as he is now the “owner”.
I since bought the same model sub at the same price. I saw it on Ebay first, but it was listed in another forum so he suggested to buy it there to avoid Ebay fees, I paid cash when I picked it up and there have been no issues.
The seller used the words “works perfectly” in four places in his ad for a subwoofer, the ad was maybe 1000 words long, maybe longer, and buried towards the bottom in very small print is language to the effect - not explicitly, just to the effect - that a part was missing. I didn’t even see it until I was well into the dispute.
Without the part, there is no way, according to an engineer at the manufacturer, that you can state that the item “works perfectly”, all you can say is that when you plug it in, the amp lights up and the woofer diaphragm responds. The missing part is not off the shelf, and as it is no longer made, it needs to be fabricated from scratch.
My engineer says he could make it for $175 so I offered to accept it if the seller gave $175 back. The seller refused.
amazingly, both eBay and Paypal sided with the seller. Amazingly, eBay said that if I don’t like the sub, I can resell it on Ebay! The only ethical way to do that is to list the parts separately, sold as “for parts only” at a loss of $200 or more.
Fortunately I used Paypal Credit. So, I have yet to pay. I have told Paypal alternatively that I will either:
A - jump into a boiling vat of hydrochloric acid, or
B - walk barefoot across Siberia in the middle of the winter
before they see one penny from me for this purchase.
As the seller is rudely intransigent, and as Paypal has paid the seller, I my return the item to the CEO of Paypal as he is now the “owner”.
I since bought the same model sub at the same price. I saw it on Ebay first, but it was listed in another forum so he suggested to buy it there to avoid Ebay fees, I paid cash when I picked it up and there have been no issues.