Reader Homerjay’s story bolsters our big prediction for 2007: Paypal is going down.

After selling a Tivo on eBay, Homerjay took several turns around the chargeback merry-go-round because the buyer couldn’t get the equipment to work.

At this point, the buyer is claiming the merchandise was sold, “not as described.” No matter how clearly Homerjay believes his Tivo was described, Paypal is unmovable.

Paypal refunded the money to the buyer. Paypal says that if Homerjay wants his money back, he has to sue the purchaser.

“Does this make ANY sense at all? I feel like I’m being scammed by the seller and Paypal doesn’t give a shit,” writes Homerjay.

They takes your money, and they takes your chances…but hey, Homer, why don’t you go sue him?

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Homerjay writes:

“A few months ago I sold an old Tivo on Ebay. 5 weeks after buying it he filed a paypal dispute because he says he couldn’t get it to work, therefore its broken. Before this I hadn’t heard a thing from this guy for 5 weeks.

Fast forward a couple weeks and a few responses to his paypal dispute and Paypal decides in favor of me! Yay! They then put the money back into my account. I’ll spare you the details but I was SO in the right, here.

A week later I get another note from Paypal. The guy filed a CC chargeback claiming the same thing. Within days Paypal decides that they can not fight this because “The buyer attempted to return the merchandise and I refused” which never happened- therefore I lose. And not only do I lose my money, I don’t get my product back either.

A little digging reveals the Paypal Seller Protection, AKA: My saving grace. The User Agreement has all the details and it looks like its all in my favor so I make the call to Paypal.

After MUCH digging they find the reason that I am not eligible to get my money back through seller protection:

“Claims for

not as described

: Reversals arising from Buyer Claims for eBay items, or credit card chargebacks for any item, claiming that goods are “not as described.” To reduce your risk of “not-as-described” claims, PayPal recommends describing your item in a clear, detailed manner and including pictures of it in your listing.”

Apparently, according to Paypal, This means that if someone files a claim as “not as described” that all bets are off concerning the seller protection policy. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose. If someone files the claim that way then you lose even if you win.

I argued till I was blue in the face about the fact that the claim was denied and therefore found to be invalid which negates the claim. I argued how the policy is written to allow too much interpretation by their legal team to allow them to do whatever the hell they want. They didn’t give a crap.

The answer to me was TS. Go sue the buyer. It ain’t our problem.

Does this make ANY sense at all? I feel like I’m being scammed by the seller and Paypal doesn’t give a shit.

Thanks for listening

-Homerjay”

— BEN POPKEN