wade1mil
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Some things I learned the hard way with PayPal that hopefully you don't have to - ALL FOR FREE!
I placed a sample order of 12 units of a product from a manufacturer in China a month ago. The product turned out great, so I proceeded to place my first big order of 2,000 units. I convinced the manufacturer to accept PayPal as payment because I heard that PayPal sides with the buyers most of the time. Fast forward two weeks...
I received the order of 2,000 units, and 1,800 of them were completely garbage! There is no way I would accept the product as a consumer, and there is no way I would sell this product as a business. First thing I did was contact the seller...
They would not issue a refund and would not offer replacements. So, I started a dispute with PayPal to get my money back. Here are a few things that happened that may benefit you from a business perspective as well as a consumer's perspective.
1) I explained in two paragraphs what happened and PayPal decided in my favor within three days. They didn't even require me to show them proof that the product was indeed poor. Lesson learned: PayPal sometimes sides with the buyer without question.
2) I contacted PayPal and asked how to proceed. They said all I needed to do was ship it back to China with a signature confirmation and tracking number. The problem is that would cost me $300, and that is my responsibility. Lesson learned: The buyer is responsible for paying return shipping UNLESS the product is a fake, like an imitation Rolex or Coach purse. If you buy something fake, you are not required to send it back.
3) I asked to speak to a supervisor because I don't think it should be my responsibility to ship defective product back to the manufacturer at my expense. I told the supervisor that the product would be thrown away if it was shipped back to them because it's my brand and they can't sell my branded products to anyone else. If they are going to throw it away, then why should I have to send it back. I can throw it away for free. Lesson learned: ANYTHING that is custom made is not covered by a PayPal dispute. If YOU sell custom products, PayPal will decide in your favor.
4) The supervisor closed the case in favor of the seller. Shit. He told me I should dispute the charge with the credit card I used from within my PayPal account. I try to use credit cards instead of my bank account in case of things like this - the dispute process seems to be more buyer friendly with credit cards than debit cards. I just opened the dispute with the credit card company this morning and they said it should take 30-40 days. Lesson learned: Use a credit card from within PayPal to get another level of security.
Lesson learned: With language barriers, any time you feel SOMETHING is off, however small it is, make sure you are 100% confident before proceeding. This whole situation probably could have been avoided if I would have questioned when the seller said producing the product would be "hard to make," when what she should have said is "so hard to make it would be of poor quality."
Live and learn.
I placed a sample order of 12 units of a product from a manufacturer in China a month ago. The product turned out great, so I proceeded to place my first big order of 2,000 units. I convinced the manufacturer to accept PayPal as payment because I heard that PayPal sides with the buyers most of the time. Fast forward two weeks...
I received the order of 2,000 units, and 1,800 of them were completely garbage! There is no way I would accept the product as a consumer, and there is no way I would sell this product as a business. First thing I did was contact the seller...
They would not issue a refund and would not offer replacements. So, I started a dispute with PayPal to get my money back. Here are a few things that happened that may benefit you from a business perspective as well as a consumer's perspective.
1) I explained in two paragraphs what happened and PayPal decided in my favor within three days. They didn't even require me to show them proof that the product was indeed poor. Lesson learned: PayPal sometimes sides with the buyer without question.
2) I contacted PayPal and asked how to proceed. They said all I needed to do was ship it back to China with a signature confirmation and tracking number. The problem is that would cost me $300, and that is my responsibility. Lesson learned: The buyer is responsible for paying return shipping UNLESS the product is a fake, like an imitation Rolex or Coach purse. If you buy something fake, you are not required to send it back.
3) I asked to speak to a supervisor because I don't think it should be my responsibility to ship defective product back to the manufacturer at my expense. I told the supervisor that the product would be thrown away if it was shipped back to them because it's my brand and they can't sell my branded products to anyone else. If they are going to throw it away, then why should I have to send it back. I can throw it away for free. Lesson learned: ANYTHING that is custom made is not covered by a PayPal dispute. If YOU sell custom products, PayPal will decide in your favor.
4) The supervisor closed the case in favor of the seller. Shit. He told me I should dispute the charge with the credit card I used from within my PayPal account. I try to use credit cards instead of my bank account in case of things like this - the dispute process seems to be more buyer friendly with credit cards than debit cards. I just opened the dispute with the credit card company this morning and they said it should take 30-40 days. Lesson learned: Use a credit card from within PayPal to get another level of security.
Lesson learned: With language barriers, any time you feel SOMETHING is off, however small it is, make sure you are 100% confident before proceeding. This whole situation probably could have been avoided if I would have questioned when the seller said producing the product would be "hard to make," when what she should have said is "so hard to make it would be of poor quality."
Live and learn.
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