EBAY QUEEN: Is PayPal crooked or legit?

Dear eBay Queen: I don’t get to see The Ottawa Herald very often, but I purchased a dish at the Goodwill store yesterday and they wrapped it in the weekend July 4 issue of the paper, so I read your column, “Photo Lighting Crucial on eBay.”

When you say: “I don’t want to come off like a cheerleader for PayPal,” I beg to differ. Please do not misinform people about PayPal. Don’t only represent one side of the coin. That’s not fair and accurate journalism.

If you spent only 10 minutes Googling PayPal problems, you could read hundreds of horror stories concerning PayPal and their crooked behavior.

They do not refund your money, as you stated in your article: “If the seller does not send you the goods, or they are not what you expected, PayPal will intervene on your behalf and get your money back for you.” Absolutely not true, so please, again, don’t misinform people.

When the seller I bought from sent the wrong item, I filed a dispute with them. I heard nothing from them, and there is no real way to contact PayPal. I sent the item back with delivery confirmation and the seller never refunded my money, so I was out my money and the bad product.

When this incident happened, I tried to file a complaint with eBay. They didn’t want the complaint. They referred me to PayPal. My only way of handling dispute with PayPal was to fill out their online form. The only response I heard was that they were looking into it. A month later, they closed the case. I lost my money, my postage money for sending the seller’s product back and I had nothing in my hand. Wow! Again, what a way to do business.

Please print both sides of the story. — Dee, Ottawa

Dear Dee: When I give someone advice, it comes from my 10 years of full-time selling experience. If I haven’t experienced an issue before, I let my readers know.

You are right about Googling PayPal and the issues other people have had. When reading those, make sure the problems you are reading about are not just people venting, but real issues from people who are not hiding behind a pseudonym. Most importantly, know that there are millions of PayPal users doing business everyday without problem.

I don’t know enough about your situation to be 100 percent sure what happened. I do know that you should have received a full refund if your item was not as described. PayPal is like any other company or business. They have rules you must follow in order to get your money back. I can’t stress enough how important it is when you are dealing with PayPal that you follow the rules, no matter which side you are on.

With your transaction, you opened a dispute. Did you communicate with your seller in the dispute console? The dispute is between you and the other party. If the two of you can’t solve the issue on your own, it can be escalated by either party. If one of you escalates the dispute, then PayPal will come in, read your communication and then ask both of you for your input. In this case, since you did not receive what you purchased, they will ask for you to return the product. They will have a form to fill out online and a place for the return delivery confirmation number to go. Once the D/C has been scanned delivered, PayPal will put the money back in your account.

You said that there is no way to contact PayPal. If you click on the “contact us” button at the bottom of the PayPal page, it will take you to this page: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/helpscr?cmd=_help&t=escalateTab. You will see several ways to contact PayPal, including a toll free number.

I would like to help you with this issue. If you would e-mail me your delivery confirmation number and the PayPal transaction ID, I will forward it on to the connection I have within PayPal. If you returned the item and can prove it with a delivery confirmation, there is no reason your money will not be returned to you. Please know that this experience is not common.

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Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? E-mail: the eBay Queen.