I’ve recently sold a valuable 24 year old comic book to a fraudulent buyer via my web site. The comic was in near mint+ condition yet this buyer upon receipt of the item informed me that one staple was detached from the cover of the book. He insisted that a give him a significant partial refund which I refused knowing that his claim was nonsense.
I had photographed every page of that comic right before sending it to him to have a record of it’s condition and not one of these photos showed any type of problem with any of the staples. He filed a Paypal claim against me saying the item was significantly not as advertised. I explained the situation to Paypal and uploaded three photos to them which showed that the staple problem he mentioned did not exist.
Paypal got back to me with the verdict that the buyer must return the item to me in the same condition as he received it and upon my receipt of this item I must refund him 100% of his payment. After furnishing Paypal with visual evidence of the true condition of this item how do they determine that the buyer is correct and should get a full refund? I believe the buyer has another copy of this comic that indeed has a detached staple. He will keep my high grade copy that I sent to him and return his lower grade copy to me and get all of his money back. I voiced my theory of what was happening here to Paypal and all they told me was that if I didn’t get back the same exact comic book I must go to the police and file a report. They gave me no guidance on how to do this.
I’m an American living in Brazil with only limited Portuguese speaking competency. The police here don’t speak English and probably have no experience with Paypal problems involving an international transaction (from Brazil to the USA). What can I do? Where’s my seller protection?
Source: http://www.paypalwarning.com/paypals-seller-protection-advice-file-police-report/