Denied refund

[desirebest]

On the 4th of December 2024, I purchased 50 HP 250 G7 laptops from eBay. These laptops were supposed to be grey in color, with 4/8GB of RAM and 128GB SSD, as advertised by the seller. However, when the shipment arrived, I was shocked to find that I had received 28 damaged laptops of various makes and models instead of the expected items.

In an attempt to resolve this issue, I promptly opened a dispute against the seller with PayPal, providing all necessary documentation and proof of the discrepancy. This included the order confirmation, shipment tracking details, and photographs of the damaged laptops received.

Despite my best efforts and the evidence provided, PayPal ruled in favor of the seller and closed the case with no room for further appeal. This decision left me with no recourse to address the issue through PayPal. Additionally, I was unable to open a dispute on eBay, as that option had also been closed.

This entire situation has been incredibly frustrating and has caused significant inconvenience.

I am reaching out to the community for any advice or suggestions on alternative ways to resolve this issue. If anyone has experienced a similar situation or has any ideas on how to proceed, I would greatly appreciate your help.

[papso22]

You really need to ask on the Paypal community boards.  As you didn't open an ebay case (why not?) we can't help you.

However, it does seem a strange decision by Paypal, perhaps it's because this is clearly a business transaction from one business to another.  Did you buy using a personal Paypal account?  If you did, Paypal would not have liked that.  Have you also read how Paypal buyer protection works and what is excluded?

[tobiasd4]

You are in Zambia, so need to ask on ebay.com

BUT, your 1st error was not opening ebay case to begin with,

if that case fails, then you could have have gone to paypal.

But as you found by going to paypal 1st, stops you opening ebay case now.

I presume ebay.com rules are the same as UK, but worth asking.

[plpmr]

once you open a PayPal case you cannot later open an eBay case.

Why did you not open an eBay case first?

All you can do is to try your payment provider,.

[papso22]

I suspect the answer to the no ebay case question is that the OP used a freight forwarder and so was excluded from the MBG, and may also have been excluded from Paypal buyer protection.

[desirebest]

Initially, I opened a case with eBay. However, after conducting some research on Google and discussing with individuals who had experienced similar situations, I was advised to open a dispute with PayPal, as it was likely to be a faster resolution.

Is there any other way around this? Losing out on a £1802.88 has left my business crippled. 

[*vyolla*]

---

@desirebest wrote:

Initially, I opened a case with eBay. However, after conducting some research on Google and discussing with individuals who had experienced similar situations, I was advised to open a dispute with PayPal, as it was likely to be a faster resolution.

Is there any other way around this? Losing out on a £1802.88 has left my business crippled. 

---

You can't pursue this via eBay or PayPal now, those routes are now closed.

If you funded the payment with a debit or credit card you could run this by your card provider, but I suspect you won't be covered by them in this instance. 

[desirebest]

It is incredibly devastating to see PayPal dismiss my claims despite me providing all the necessary evidence. This includes screenshots of the seller attempting to persuade me into dealing outside of eBay and the seller's confirmation that his supplier might have mistakenly sent parts that were meant to go elsewhere. It is evident that the seller was drop shipping, but PayPal did not take these factors into consideration. I strongly believe that the seller is a scammer.

[papso22]

One of the exclusions from Paypal buyer protection is:

• Items intended for resale, including single item transactions or transaction that include multiple items.

That would appear to apply to you.  No-one buys 50 laptops for their personal use.  So you didn't lose a claim, you were not covered at all, whatever evidence you put up.

That will also be why there was no appeal available to you.

[plpmr]

Indeed you are correct and a PayPal personal account holder [as is the OP?] cannot use their account for commercial type of transactions - they need a PayPal business account.