Paypal fees on seller refund

[Back2Volts]

About six weeks ago, I ordered a $47.99 (+$4 shipping) item from a seller in China.    The item got lost...    never arrived.    I contacted the seller.  He offered to resend.   I asked for refund.   Today I have received a $51.99 refund with a @2.59 transaction fee from eBay.   Has this ever happened to any of you?    It looks to me like the seller, instead of processing a transaction refund with eBay/Paypal, he initiated a plain send funds transaction with Paypal.

I do not care much about the few $, but it looks odd to me.   What do you guys think?     

[NorthGuy]

Happened to me once. The seller simply sent me money from a different paypal account as if he was paying me fir my goods/services.

In this kind of transaction you're the seller and he's the buyer, so you pay the fees.

Theoretically, this gives him a right to reverse the transaction later on the ground that you haven't provided any goods or services.

[Ice-Tea]

Don't know by heart, but I think fee reversal only works within 30 days..

[Bud]

Maybe this is to improve the seller's statistics on refunds. High number of refunds may hurt sellers reputation and/or rating.

[wraper]

Paypal dispute can be opened within 6 month since transaction.

[bdunham7]

About six weeks ago, I ordered a $47.99 (+$4 shipping) item from a seller in China.    The item got lost...    never arrived.    I contacted the seller.  He offered to resend.   I asked for refund.   Today I have received a $51.99 refund with a @2.59 transaction fee from eBay.   Has this ever happened to any of you?    It looks to me like the seller, instead of processing a transaction refund with eBay/Paypal, he initiated a plain send funds transaction with Paypal.

I do not care much about the few $, but it looks odd to me.   What do you guys think?     

I think you have been scammed and are going to lose your money.  Not the $2.59,  but all of it.

You don't provide enough info.  Please tell us the platform (OK, I see you said eBay--was it an actual eBay transaction?) , seller name, item (unless it is something kinky    )  and so forth.  How do you know it was "lost" as opposed to never shipped? What communication have you had with the seller and what did they ask you to do to get the refund?

At this point I would have simply filed an Item Not Received case with eBay.  That PayPal "refund" is susceptible to reversal a few weeks from now, once all the dust has settled and you have closed any case against the seller.

[wraper]

1) Aliexpress and you paid via credit card.
2) Seller had lowest price or best deal on common item like a hot air station or amplifier module.
3) Either you received no tracking or a tracking number that ended up going nowhere (not shipped/no scans) or went somewhere other than to you.
4) You started a dispute because you hadn't received your item.
5) The seller sent you messages asking you to drop the dispute, perhaps claiming they can't "do anything" while the dispute is active.
6) The seller offered to refund you separately to PayPal if you would either drop the dispute or (fraudulently) report the transaction as "good received".

How come Aliexpress is involved with something related to paypal and ebay?  Please actually read the first post before writing nonsense.

[Back2Volts]

The item was
https://www.ebay.com/itm/RGeek-Mini-ITX-Computer-Case-USB-3-0-Aluminum-PC-Top-Cover-with-Holes/312518926585?

And the seller is  https://www.ebay.com/usr/coshare_rgeek   which has good feedback, although not a large number of transactions, but again if they where scammers, I would think there would be negative feedback.   

The Speedpack tracking end with the received data event.   No trace of arriving to carrier/distribution center.    The seller said the carrier lost it, but for all I know it was never given to the carrier, knowing or unknowingly.   

I have tagged the eBay transaction as item never received, asking for full refund on the transaction.

Thank you for the comments.   I have to say that in over a decade of dealing with eBay, I have never had a significant problem.


 

[bitseeker]

If the seller sent you the money outside of the eBay refund/buyer protection process, he/she did it wrong. You can call eBay and have them intervene. When things hit the fan like this, I generally get the best results by talking with eBay customer service on the phone. Fortunately, I don't have to do it often, but it results in the most expedient resolution regardless if I'm the buyer or seller.

[sleemanj]

I don't think it is related to this case, at least it sounds like of no benefit for them to do it as you have described they have, but it should be noted that Pay Pal is or is going to change the refund policy such that sellers will be charged 2.9%+30c regardless if a payment is refunded or not (so if they refund the buyer gets the whole amount for a net-zero transaction, but the seller ends up paying 2.9%+30c extra to paypal).

https://www.techspot.com/news/79545-paypal-new-refund-policy-has-sellers-up-arms.html

[bitseeker]

What's with the name calling? Take another look at the OP, blueskull. The buyer got stuck with the transaction fee of the "refund". No need to help out the seller. He just helped himself by cheating the buyer.

[bitseeker]

No, unless I'm reading it wrong, the buyer paid "$47.99 (+$4 shipping)" and "received a $51.99 refund", plus had to pay a $"2.59 transaction fee from eBay". This transaction cost the buyer $2.59 out of pocket. He even said, "I do not care much about the few $," which says to me he had to pay it.

[bitseeker]

Ah, OK. No worries.

[jancumps]

If the seller sent you the money outside of the eBay refund/buyer protection process, he/she did it wrong.

As the buyer, you are not losing a single dime, and you can do the seller a favor by helping him cheat on refund rate. Win-win, so why be a dick?

Chinese sellers REALLY cares about statistics. China is a nation of number, and literally everything is quantified. Therefore Chinese people have a morbid idolatry to numbers.

the OP says he lost money.

[Back2Volts]

Wrap up update:

I opened an official "item not received" situation.   The seller sent email asking how much was missing for full refund.   I called eBay customer service, which to my surprise, I got to a rep with no wait.   I explained the situation.    She stated that once I have accepted funds from Paypal, the sender has no way to reverse the transaction and pull back the funds.    She said that given the situation, I should be fine accepting the first transfer and requesting payment of the missing amount. 

I accepted the first funds and asked the seller to send me the fees with the additional corresponding fees, which I calculated came to $3.    The next day I received it and closed the eBay problem. 

The eBay rep said the seller had the account blocked until this was solved.    I supposed the seller must have learned something after having the account closed for days, although it is not a high volume seller.   I personally think they guy that handled the refund screwed up.