What is the point of PayPal claims?

[Inazuma]

I bought a Game Boy Micro off Ebay. In the description, the seller said it was in good condition. I sent a question to the seller asking for more details about the condition and I got a reply saying that it was like brand new with no scratches on the screen or anything.

When I got the Game Boy, I was shocked to find out that it was in absolutely terrible condition! Everything was scratched up, there were blemishes, chipped sides, screen was scratched, etc. It looked like the previous owner was a pack of pitbulls or something.

I contacted the seller again and complained about how she lied so badly to me. She agreed to give me a refund if I returned it. I sent it back to her right away, but didn't get my refund. I mailed her a few more times asking for my money, and she kept saying she would give it to me, but never actually did. Enough was enough so I filed a complaint with PayPal.

The entire process with PayPal took over a month. Three or four times they asked the seller to respond and gave her 10 days to do so, but she never did. Finally it was over with and decided in my favor. After all, I sent them proof of delivery for the returned item, and the seller just ignored them completely.

Ok, now here is the part that baffles me. All PayPal did was send the seller an email asking her to give me my refund. Well, what good is that gonna do? That's exactly why I needed PayPal's help in the first place. Asking her to send the refund won't work since she just ignores all mail from PayPal anyway. Isn't PayPal suppose to forcibly move money from her account to mine, or perhaps even contact the Police to report her for fraud?

What can I do at this point? If she still refuses to give me the money, what options are available to me? Can I call the police and report her? What is the point of PayPal buyer protection if it doesn't do anything? Someone who knows more than me about this, please give me some advice. Thanks -_-

[scrotumwound]

fuck that sucks
from my understanding your probaly s-o-l
paypal isnt a bank
there just a middleman who holds the money for a few seconds

[alex_dragon]

from my understanding with the recent paypal user agreement they can take the money right out

but you can opt out of it...i would assume this would basically cancel your account(selling wise anyways) but she probley opted out

[superlarz]

Paypal wont let her use her account again until she pays you. They will give her a chance to respond and willingly refund your money before they proceed with legal actions.

About 2 years ago I had a claim that was like this. They found in my favor and I was like okay so where is my money. It eventually went in my account after about 2 months.

[alexis524]

been there too. If you used a credit card opposed to a debit, you may be able to contact the credit card company to see if they can reverse the charge. Good luck.

[ejamer]

eBay can be good once in a while - it really does provide easy access to stuff that would be incredibly difficult to find elsewhere, but between eBay and PayPal I've had enough bad experiences to convince me that it's not worth going back.

Hope you get your money back eventually, and find a Micro in better condition somewhere else!

[otaku]

I haven't had much trouble with ebay/paypal rather like the services actually just some of the people using them suck and the fees are high...

[gtmtnbiker]

I bought a Game Boy Micro off Ebay. In the description, the seller said it was in good condition. I sent a question to the seller asking for more details about the condition and I got a reply saying that it was like brand new with no scratches on the screen or anything.

I'm guessing that the listing had a stock photo, right? This is why many people only pursue auctions with actual photos.

[Inazuma]

I bought a Game Boy Micro off Ebay. In the description, the seller said it was in good condition. I sent a question to the seller asking for more details about the condition and I got a reply saying that it was like brand new with no scratches on the screen or anything.

I'm guessing that the listing had a stock photo, right? This is why many people only pursue auctions with actual photos.

Yeah it only had a stock photo. That's exactly why I asked for more details before I bid on it.

[NotBlaine]

The few times I've filed a complaint with PayPal, I've gotten my money back. If I were you, I wouldn't have sent the gameboy back. You should have taken pictures of it and emailed it with your complaint.

Getting your money back for not-as-advertised products can be a little trickier than never-sent products (god bless tracking numbers).