Won PayPal SNAD claim - now seller wants item back

I bought a item and what I received is useless/worthless/not as advertised. The person was clearly trying to scam me. I emailed them saying lets work this out, let me return the item and get a refund which they refused.

At this point, I filed a PayPal SNAD claim and they strangely never responded to the claim. The claim was found in my favour and I got a refund.

Afterwards the seller said their email was down and couldn't respond. They are now getting PayPal to repeatedly email me asking to 'kindly' return the item. I had a PayPal phone rep send in an email that I am not actually required to return the item (the seller hasn't offered anything to me for return costs etc).

My question is, would there be any other recourse options ie civil action?

closed Comments

  • +1

    Is the seller located in Australia?

    • yes but interstate

      • Is a private sale, or are they an Australian business?

        If it's a business, then under the ACL you'd be responsible for shipping the item back unless the cost was unreasonable.

        You could email the seller and tell them they are welcome to organise a courier to pick-up the item (seller obviously has your address). Or if you don't mind posting it back, you could give the seller the opportunity to pay you the cost of return postage.

        • private sale and i already asked nicely - their response was too bad so sad until I won the PayPal claim

        • +16

          IMO, too bad so sad. Ask them to dispute it with paypal.

          If they REALLY want it back, ask for postage compensation, if not no go.

        • +1

          To sort out the paypal dispute doesn't require emails. It just requires active internet connection. If the seller knew that there was a dispute then he could have just logged in to paypal. If the internet was also down then it's very strange because you would think that any business selling items for $500 or so would have other means to get online. Just my opinion.

        • I thought it was just a private sale (ie selling something they don't want), not a business?

      • Dont worry, just kept the item, once paypal decide and you got refund, that is all matter. now it is trully up to you, no obligation or such to return the item.

        if they want to sue, he should sue Paypal, not you :)

        and you always can say "i already posted it"

  • whats is the $ value of the goods ?

    not best piece of advice for you below:

    Personally would wait and watch…

    -> your emails were down, so you could not respond( tell them after another 3 weeks)

    and ask later who will pay for postage/freight or request prepaid satchel. Proceed based on the response

    • $500

      • -1

        tell him you will driving sometime in near future close to his address and will drop the packet. if he is keen, can arrange pick up by courier company. (jus kidding)

  • Ask the seller to pay for postage fees and return it to him.

    • already done that - their response was too bad so sad until I won the PayPal claim

      • +1

        Specify cash on delivery?

  • +3

    I'm sure, you can go to the post office, send the item and have the recipient pay all costs.

    • COD but only collect costs that end

  • +10

    Just curious… what could be valued at $500? and "useless/worthless/not as advertised" ??

    When purchasing something of that value over the net and especially through ebay ;-) most people would take some steps to confirm the item was worth it.

    If the item was genuinely faulty, fake, not as advertised then the seller should pay postage and packaging for sure.

  • +27

    Wait 3 weeks and email the seller telling them your email was down and you could not respond.

    • +1

      The best :-)

  • +2

    Tell them to cover cost of return. If the item is useless you wouldn't want to keep it - would you?

    • I have tried and they previously refused to help and I'm not satisfied I would be reimbursed for the return costs. The item is not so much the issue, it's the (my) time, money and principle of the matter.

      • +6

        $500 is not an insignificant amount.

        You won and got reimbursed, I do not think that withholding the item if they cover postage/packing/registration costs is fair or has anything to do with 'the principle of the matter'.

        • PayPal offered the seller the option for me to return the item as part of a controlled return process. The seller never agreed to any return until now as they lost the case. How do you suggest a fool-proof way of sending back the item and get my costs covered?

        • +5

          COD Australia Post. No money returned to sender, just collect COD and postage costs

        • +10

          Advise them to have a courier collect the item at their own expense.

      • You simply ask them to pay return costs up front, or do COD.

  • What is SND?

    • +1

      SNAD = Significantly Not As Described

  • +10

    Sounds like you are now trying to rip the seller off. I can speculate you bought some mobile phone/apple device and the condition was not as new as described, raised the claim and won. Whilst you have been refunded, the item is still worth 500 bucks!! This isn't a fake Prada bag, this is something of value that you now think you are at liberty to resell elsewhere. Am I right?

    • +10

      Yep. Even though the seller was acting like a dick earlier you should return the item. Lol this IS Ozbargain but stealing $500 worth of goods from someone isn't right. No matter what your buyer-coddling PayPal buddies say.

    • +1

      a bit whirlpool-ish

      • +6

        Whirlpool or ozbargain , its not difficult to distinguish what the morally appropriate action is in this situation.

    • +6

      I suspected that since this is Ozbargain, people who post threads about getting ripped off may not be telling 100% of the story here. While I don't know the whole story, the OP avoiding questions on what the item was or what he received seems a bit fishy.

      My advice is to contact the seller again and ask him to pay for postage back, then send it once he pays. If he refuses, then that's OK. If you just keep the item, then you are probably ripping him off.

      • +3

        It doesn't matter what the item is or what was received.

        OP paid, then disputed it in accordance with the terms and conditions both buyer and seller agreed to be bound by.

        The seller's case is against Paypal - they agreed to Paypal's terms and conditions for getting the money, they failed to meet the conditions, Paypal took the money.

        It sounds like the OP is agreeable to the seller organising the return of the item. If Paypal wants OP to send the item back, that's between Paypal and the OP.

        • Right, there's the legal obligations of all 3 parties, namely Paypal, OP and the seller, and you're right in that legally, Paypal's ruled in OP's favour. I don't think the seller has any legal recourse.

          Without the other side of the story though, I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt to the seller and suggest the OP return the thing on the seller's dime. If he refuses, then OK,fair enough.

    • +3

      Considering that Paypal found in his favour that it was significantly not what was offered I dont think he should send it back considering that he offered it in the past and was offered during the process. If he does send it back all they are going to do is try and scam someone else and then Orgazmo and someone else will be out of pocket.

  • +7

    What was the item and ebay link.

  • +15

    You have your money so if he wants it back - tell him to contact paypal or arrange a courier. Simple.

    "Hi, if you would like your item back - it is here and available for you. Please let me know how you would like to get it and when."

    "I want you to send it to me because my email was down and I couldn't reply to blah blah blah"

    "This is not my issue - please take this up with your email company. Your item is here and ready for pick up."

    "You got your money back you have to return the item"

    "I am following PayPal's instructions, which clearly say that I do not have to return the item. Please take this up with PayPal. Your item is here and ready for pick up."

    • +4

      COD is not going to guarantee anything.

      If the customer doesn't pick up the item - YOU will have to pay for the shipping - both THERE and BACK.

      COD is not a good idea.

      • As suspected reading earlier comments.

  • Ask th m to verify their claim that their email was down.

  • +1

    OP, I'd double-check the fees before using AusPost COD.

    If the seller decides to be difficult and refuses to collect the item, I believe the sender has to pay a fee to Australia Post ($17.85) plus the cost of return postage.

  • +2

    I would think that any reasonable person, who genuinely wants the item back, even after having bad luck with emails and losing their Paypal case, wouldn't mind spending $15 or similar to get their $500 item back. I think we might be missing some info here?

    It might be possible that the seller knows the item is dodgy therefore doesn't want to increase expenditure… But really we don't know without more info.

  • +7

    My question is, would there be any other recourse options ie civil action?

    I'd say so - you have an item of his that you haven't paid for. He'd be well within his rights to pursue the matter through the courts.

    Message him through the ebay system or Paypal, so that there is a record of the discussion and tell him you have the item ready to send, and that you're just awaiting his instructions on how he would like to pay for the return shipping. If he does't bother replying, there's not much you can do, but at least there is a record of you having tried.

  • +5

    Hi there,

    I am an Australian retailer and do business for more than 5 years now.

    You were definitely in the positive see of winning the case since the beginning, so that’s not the case, now don’t get excited as you have won the case. Because PayPal protect you as a buyer as well and seller as they give them commission.

    Unless, there were specific rules described when selling the item that return postage is paid by seller, you can ask seller for the postage to return the item. I would suggest fully traceable and insurance option return like and express post with signature as the value of an item is over $200.

    If you don’t return the item ( which in your case you have no intention to do so) , seller can than claim that you have not returned the item and can re open the case. ( Same way if you send the normal post return , and buyer don’t get it).

    The consequences will be endless emails and hassle.

    There will be no Legal stuff going around like a court case as seller was just trying to cheat you.

    I am more than happy to provide the answer to Ozbargain community. Sharing is caring

  • -4

    As part of the paypal not as described case you may be required to return the item - morality dictates you should.

    If I were you I would suck up the $15 return cost and send it back.

    I am an eBay seller and I have to say the number of unscrupulous buyers vs sellers is about 10:1, so very unfortunate you encountered a bad seller as most of the scammers these days are actually buyers who "work" the paypal system, but if I were you i'd just send the thing back and forget about it.

    If you are really cranky about it - just send it back via PAYMENT ON COLLECTION, RECEIVER TO PAY - and dictate the amount they have to pay as the value of the freight - Aussie Post will let you as sender do that with no money down. This then costs the receiver an additional fee, but it's then - their choice to collect it or not.

    • +11

      Frankly the time, cost and effort to return the item is no longer the buyers problem. The seller had their chance to respond to paypal and they chose to be ignorant and try to ignore it.

      All they need to do now morally or otherwise is make the item available for collection by a courier to be organised by the seller.

      • +10

        Yeah seriously - why should he send it back, at his own expense, time, and hassle, when the item he received was not what he paid for???

        OP would be down $15 (or whatever it costs for postage) for literally nothing - sure he got his money back, but if he'd known the item he purchased was dodgy he presumably wouldn't have bought it in the first place.

        • -1

          Because he has received a full refund - regardless as to the circumstances surrounding that fact I believe it is improper to retain the item and keep the refund (just my opinion).

          When you start turning over hundreds of thousands of dollars paypal actually treat sellers a little differently, if there is a dispute such as this and the seller has been forced to refund and the buyer has retained an item (and is not returning it) Paypal will (in my experience) also just pay out the seller to try and keep some sanity.

        • +9

          Are you happy to pay the $15 for him to return it? Because he has as little incentive to do it as you do. It's entirely the seller's fault and the seller should be paying the return shipping cost.

          I don't think he should get to keep the item, but it should not be returned at his expense.

      • +6

        Absolutely.
        The buyer paid postage to receive the item already. If the seller wants it he should do likewise.
        Why should the buyer pay twice? Not his fault the item was dodgy!

      • -3

        All this "time" spent on ozbargain discussing it could have made back all the "lost time" by now.

        • +2

          How about you wire him the $15 to send it back then and that resolves it?

  • +2

    I am curious,does paypal chase the seller for the money after the refund for the buyer is givin? If not then technically the seller doesn't own it as the buyer orginally paid for it and the buyer doesn't own it as Paypal has reimbursed them.

    • I am curious,does paypal chase the seller for the money after the refund for the buyer is givin?

      Of course they do, only not in that order. They take it from the seller then give it to the buyer. Paypal doesn't just give the money to the buyer from their own funds.

  • Send it back the cheapest method possible. Accept the little bit of burn and move on. This is the cost of buying from the Internet from private sellers. Lesson learned, hopefully.

    • +4

      Send it back the cheapest method possible. Accept the little bit of burn and move on. This is the cost of buying from the Internet from private sellers. Lesson learned, hopefully.

      what lesson would this be? scratches head

    • +1

      IIRC, haven't you just described one of the original ebay scams???

  • +1

    Post it back at their expense.

    It might not be worth $500, but maybe it's still worth $300.

    Would be interested to know what this is - a phone?

  • +5

    In all seriousness just tell them to organise a courier. He can do it online with most of the major couriers.

  • I have one question about this whole thing - When PayPal refunded the OP, do they get the money back from the seller? Is it possible that PayPal pays out of its own pocket (insurance)? If that is the case, is the seller just out to scam paypal because if the item is returned he/she gets to keep both the money and the item?

    • They remove the amount from where they sent the payment initially. They have the capacity to make an account go into overdraft in order to access the money

  • I remember reading somewhere under law you got to return it under your costs.

    Its like going to a shop, and a sales person sells you something, then you go home and when you take it out to try it yourself, you find issues which the sales person neglected to mention. You cannot just call them up and say "give me a refund, here is proof that your product is crap".

    Obviously you need to drive all the way back to get the refund and return the item.

    Use your common sense, even though its a online purchase it isn't any different to purchasing from a store.
    A store will not reimburse you for wasting fuel to take it back, or reimburse your time.

    • how about you actually read the post?

      • Read the post, basically the OP:
        1. Raise a issue with Seller, they said no return and no refund.
        2. Raised a Paypal Case
        3. Seller couldn't respond therefore was closed automatically in their favour
        4. Now the seller wants the item back.
        5. The buyer cannot be f'd sending it back because it wastes his money.

        The seller can probably take you to small claims court to get you to give back the item, as technically speaking the item you have at hand is no longer yours as you got a refund.

        Paypal would have taken the money from his account and debited it to your account, therefore the transaction is reversed therefore goods should go back to the "owner".

        They must have had some sorta technical difficulty, as they should have known that no respond = you lose, when it comes to Paypal, therefore for them to not respond means they are admitting wrong, which doesn't seem consistent to what they are saying about "no return and no refund".

        There seems to be many holes in the OP's story, and complaining on OZB won't really fix it.

        Also you have to read on the eBay Listing, as there is usually a "Returns" section which clearly states by default, buyer pays return postage. Is this the case with this auction?

        • +6

          The seller can probably take you to small claims court to get you to give back the item, as technically speaking the item you have at hand is no longer yours as you got a refund.

          You make it sound like OP is refusing to give back the item, when OP has said nothing of the sort. A small claims court would probably say, "OP, is there any reason Seller can't have his item back? No? Good, Seller go get your item."

        • +1

          Exactly! Pay for return postage and IMO… all's fair. If the seller refuses to even pay for return, then there is really nothing to talk about!

          Seller can travel interstate to pick it up then. LoL.

  • Had a bit to do with Ebay, just return it and be happy that you got a refund

  • The only way I would be sending it back, is if the person paid you $50+ UPFRONT for going to the effort of posting it back.

    1. They have no recourse.
    2. You said it was clearly a scam.
  • +4

    OP/Buyer has not mentioned if he even asked the seller to shoulder the return postage. He is invoking paypal rep advice that he can keep the item, which is ridiculous advise. OP is aking if ACL applies, which means he really has no intention of returning the item. Looks like the scammed is turning into a scammer.

  • +1

    My goodness, what a bunch of sillies! Don't return the item unless instructed by PayPal - you just give this fraudster the possibility of selling the item incorrectly again. OP, ignore the tripe in here. Unless you're forced to, throw the thing out!

  • +4

    While I agree with your sentiments, it seems as though you are still hiding information as others have pointed out.

    What item was it? Link? What are the details of the claim?

    For something to cost $500, I wouldn't describe it as insignificant or so.

  • A bit off topic, but I'm curious to know.

    I was working at a store and a lady came in to buy a product, said product was past it's best before date by a couple of months. She came back, we refunded her the money, whilst sorting out the receipt for her, and having other customers ask us questions, we were a little preoccupied and didn't notice that she left with the product, even though we had refunded her.

    She then filed a case against us saying that the product was not fit for consumption even though we apologised, and refunded her. We put the jar aside to make sure we check the product to make sure we take them off the shelves.

    Health department came down and had a word with us and said that there would be a fine if we tried to sell products past its BBF date.

    In this case, is it stealing if she took the product with her even though we had already taken it back?

    • +2

      it's stealing no matter how you look at it, instead of wasting the time of the police though, id ask her nicely to leave the next time she came in and tell her you know she left with the item and used it to inform the health department.

      • We didn't call the cops, we let it slide. She came back and told us she'd sue us because she ate it, but she chose to take it from us even though we had taken it back. Thanks though

        • She came back and told us she'd sue us because she ate it, but she chose to take it from us even though we had taken it back.

          What the hell lol. She sounds like a bit of a nutter.

          So, what was in the jar, pyro? lol

        • +2

          Peanut butter, that's why she went nuts.

        • She needed the jar as evidence I suppose. IDid she get sick from eating it?

        • +2

          Curry paste…

          Her own fault for eating it really, if she got sick, it's her own fault.

          EDIT: That said, I don't know if she ate it straight out of the jar or used it in cooking.

          We once had a woman who threatened to sue because she microwaved a whole frozen fish for 2 mins and ate it and said it smelt fishy. Don't even know how she got it in the microwave.

        • But she ate the evidence..

        • We once had a woman who threatened to sue because she microwaved a whole frozen fish for 2 mins and ate it and said it smelt fishy. Don't even know how she got it in the microwave.

          LOL. Where do you work??

        • +2

          A small oriental store We get some weird ass customers

        • +1

          Sue for what? She should sue her parents for dropping her when she was a baby!

        • Selling her product that was past its bbf date? her eating it and getting ill? and threats of putting her "story" on aca or 60 mins T_T

        • Sorry, I meant the microwaved fish.

    • Nothing illegal about selling a product after it's best before date. Used by date is a different story.

  • +3

    As the refund is already given, it is best to return the item not as described back to the seller (unless the postage itself costs more than the item). However, ask the seller to pay for the return postage (e.g. send a return label with postage paid to you or pay you the required postage first).

    Generally, when you seek a refund for item not as described, you are meant to return the item back to the seller. For a low value item, the seller might not bother with it. For a large value item, the seller would like the item back (because the item probably still has some value).

    For me, as a buyer, for any item I want to get a refund over $50, I would return the item back to the buyer and I am willing to pay for the postage.

    Based on the PayPal rules, seller is allowed to ask for the buyer to send the item back before offering a full refund for item not as described. Most eBay sellers don't do that because they know this would lead to a negative feedback down the track. This seller is inexperience and dodgy and now he/she is disadvantaged. Sellers could make the item not as described process quite lengthy and painful to buyers.

    The e-mail(s) the OP received from PayPal are normal. PayPal cannot force you to return it, but PayPal knows you should. The seller is really inexperience. If he/she really wanted the item back, he/she should offer to pay for return postage.

    You might feel that why a buyer needs to fork out money to return a item not as described. However, if you bought it from a physical store (even OfficeWorks or Apple - both have great refund/return policies), you still need to return it. I do feel the seller should just pay for the return postage to make it easier for OP to return the item as OP now has the upper hand.

  • +1

    Just throw it out or donate it to a charity.

    The seller was clearly trying to scam.
    Seller declines a refund when asked for it then as soon as paypal forces a refund that is when the seller wants the item back.

    I have no tolerance for these people in life and i wouldnt even give them the time of day

    • +2

      Agreed, so long as the buyer is very confident that it was an intended scam :)

  • +3

    Orgasmo, something is wrong with your ethics. The seller has kindly asked for the item back. You want to keep the item because the seller has not offered to pay postage. Yet you have not asked for them to pay postage (since they lost the paypal dispute). Sometimes it's just easier to do what's right - even when inconvenienced. Regardless of the law.

    • +3

      That's an assumption.

      The seller should arrange pick up.

      The item sent might as well of been to a wrong person.

      The receive shouldn't be obligated to waste their time/money on the sellers stuff up.

      • The OP should respond to the seller that he is willing to return if reimbursed/compensated. But the op has chosen not to do that.

        Rephrased, the OP has asked "can the seller sue me or otherwise enforce if I don't return the $500 goods because he kindly asks for their return but hasn't suggested reimbursement of my own costs, and I havnt asked him to reimburse them".

  • +5

    Poor form for not telling us the item.

  • +2

    OP hasn't responded for a while. Must not like what he reads here

  • -8

    From the start I was going to return the item (likely at my cost) and even if the seller was going to assist, I was likely to still follow paypals return process to ensure a controlled return takes place. Meaning I tell paypal I'm returning the item with tracking and once delivered, the refund is completed. That way there's no room for error.

    I gave them ample opportunity to work this out before going to paypal but their response was basically "too bad, so sad". Prior to making the purchase I asked a lot of questions of the seller. I know now the answers they gave were lies. I would never have completed the transaction had I have known otherwise.

    I'm still amazed the pp claim went the way it did. The seller is either extremely arrogant, ignorant or inexperienced (or all of the above). Like I said, either way I was ready to follow pp process and return the item.

    I am still happy to return the item but I feel it's likely they will try and scam someone else to get some reimbursement of the debt with paypal. They are also not willing to cover return costs. They never cared about me returning the item until they lost the dispute and evidently are unable to appeal.

    However, I have since received legal advice that I would still be in my best interest to return the item in anycase.

    I will give this matter some more time and hopefully we can work something out.

    PS: I'm not here to expose the seller, therefore I have intentionally left out some specifics. I am merely seeking opinions on the situation.

    • +5

      Telling us what the item is is hardly exposing the seller.

      Whilst I agree with your position on this, your time and hassle its caused for you is worth you keeping the item, I agree it is poor form not telling us what the item is.

    • +9

      Seller didn't want to pay return before. You haven't said if you have asked to pay the postage now.

      You want to keep the item to avoid scamming other people. Give me a break.

    • +6

      I gave them ample opportunity to work this out before going to paypal but their response was basically "too bad, so sad".

      You've mentioned this a few times now, was that honestly the seller's response, verbatim?

Login or Join to leave a comment