@dallas_grant,
You've been patient in waiting for the seller's response, but in cases like this, where you have purchased a damaged fake item from a Chinese eBay seller falsely claiming that the item is in "Australia, Australia", you need to be aware that the seller will use every method to drag this out in an an attempt to avoid having to refund you.
Since the item arrived broken AND is a fake, you're entitled to a full refund, including postage. Don't hesitate to make that clear in the PayPal dispute.
Your seller is registered in China (as you can see if you click onto the seller's feedback percentage - it links to the seller's feedback page where it says Member since: 21-Feb-17 in China) and has appalling feedback for a high volume seller (98.3% is awful for a seller selling that sort of volume). Feedback comments include such gems as:
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Nothing like description ! Cheap and nasty fabric ! Useless
4 Sizes Cotton Fadeless Replacement Ironing Board Table Cover Foam Padding Back
Doesn't work. Got blind and blew 0.00
Alcohol Breath Test Breathalyser Tester Detector LCD Digital Analyzer Brand New
does not work, makes signal worse.
SMA 2.4GHz 9DBI Wireless WLAN 5 X Range WiFi Booster Aerial Antenna Extender AU
Item came completely smashed. Wasn’t even bubble wrapped.
Self Watering Plant Bulb Fake Glass Water Globe Indoor Outdoor Automatic Holiday
product broken not working.told they would send new one-not arrived. no refund
3 in 1 PH Tester Soil Moisture Light Tester Meter for Garden Plant Flower Growth
Courier company didn't contact me, had to chase my product, then product damaged
Vintage Industrial Retro Pendant Lamp Shade Home Hanging Ceiling Lights Loft
Windscreen dashboard holder faulty ,tried many time but still no solution
Universal 360° in Car Windscreen Dashboard Holder Mount For GPS Mobile Phone AU
The item was not as described and the seller refused full refund. Don't buy!
H9R HD 4K WiFi Waterproof Action Sports Camera Underwater Video Recording Cam
Desc/pics dangerously misleading. Med-sized fridge - loops tore while lifting!!
2 Lifting Shoulder Straps Safe Moving Harness Belts Moving Furniture Removal Kit
does not stick on the wall,buyer won’t to refund the amount or send replacement.
Wall Sticker Hot Cartoon My Little Pony Decals Kids Nursery Decor Removable AU
They are NOT intel heatsink fan.
INTEL Copper Core i3 i5 i7 CPU Heatsink Fan E97379-001 Cooler LGA 1155 1156
AN AB,SOLUTE JOKE DEALING WITH THIS MOB. STEAR CLEAR
Nexus Cutting Clipper Cutter Easy Grip Long Toe Nail Toenail Scissor Manicure
Absolute rubbish!
Leather Boxing Mitt Focus Punch Strike Pad Training Kick Target MMA Karate Muay
It was such bad experience bought two watchesfor specialoccasion but both broken
Kids Car Style Digital Cartoon Sport watch LED Display watchs Jewelry Wristwatch
The item you purchased (the Intel CPU Fan) has several red flags about it, including the following:
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- Conflicting information in the listing
The item specifics list it as unbranded/generic, while the heading and description and photos say it's an Intel item. Intel is highly respected, so if the item is indeed unbranded/generic, the fact that the photo includes the Intel logo indicates that the item is a fake and the seller is trusting to the buyers not paying any attention to the item specifics. - Item specifics are a lie
Because the item is so clearly a fake, you can bet your first child's milkteeth that the specifications in the item's description are as true as anything which begins with "Once upon a time" and ends with "And they lived happily ever after". I.E., the compatibility, speed, function, acoustical noise, voltage and current information and component materials are very probably not as stated. If this is a Chinese knock-off (and all indications are that it is), the cheapest possible materials were used to make the components, irrespective of whether these materials met the product spec guidelines because inappropriate raw materials are routinely substituted in these sorts of fakes. See this post and this post and this reply.) - Item location misrepresentation
The item location states "Australia, Australia." That should make you wonder about whether the item location has been misrepresented. (It has, by the way. It's being sent from China.) - Negative feedback about the seller
The seller's previous feedback even specifically mentions the very item you purchased as being a fake. (❝They are NOT intel heatsink fan.❞) - Other negative feedback about the seller's packaging
The seller's previous feedback indicates poor packaging. ❝Item came completely smashed. Wasn’t even bubble wrapped❞ and ❝product damaged❞ - The seller won't resolve issues
The seller's feedback indicates that they won't refund or replace if an item arrives damaged, or if the item is faulty. - Seller's location is China.
By the way... the Shop with Confidence on the item page tells you that there's an eBay Money Back Guarantee on the item. Why didn't you go through eBay's MBG to make a claim instead of PayPal?
The reason I mention this is that if you close this dispute, you will have no further recourse either through PayPal (you can't re-open a closed dispute) or through eBay (eBay's Money Back Guarantee can only be used if you have not already opened a PayPal dispute; if you close the PayPal dispute OR lose the PayPal dispute after opening it, that's it - no eBay MBG is applicable any longer, which is why opening an eBay claim for items that are not as described should be your first option rather than opening a PayPal dispute.)
However, since you've opened the dispute in PayPal, don't - under any circumstances! - close it until the refund is actioned by the seller. The seller both can and MUST refund you in full (including the postage amount even though that was only 79¢), and only after the refund is actioned and confirmed (by you opening a new browser window and logging in to your PayPal account to check - not by clicking on to any link that you receive by email, even if the email looks as though it's from PayPal) can you be sure that the refund has been completed.
Chinese eBay sellers - tactics to avoid giving refunds
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The seller's tactics will involve sob stories, appeals to your generosity, tales about being unable to pay for so much as a crust of bread, plaintive and repeated promises, and so on. Ignore these; they are standard cut-and-paste responses from Chinese eBay sellers. You shouldn't have to get involved in a soap opera when you buy something on eBay, and your only concern should be to open a dispute as soon as possible, and to escalate the dispute as soon as possible if the seller doesn't swiftly resolve, to ensure that you get your refund. No long back-and-forth of elaborate explanations and appeals and dramas with the seller is required.
Other tactics may include requests for photographs of the damage, delayed responses, offers of a partial refund, requests for you to change your negative feedback, claims that they can't refund until the dispute is closed, etc. While a good seller may frequently request photographs where a buyer claims that the item has arrived damaged, Chinese eBay sellers actually have no interest in receiving such photographs, and simply make the request to delay, delay, delay! It's not unknown for another request for photographs to be made further down the line if the buyer appears to be losing patience, under the guise of the previous images not having received, etc., etc.
Feedback for Chinese eBay sellers
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Don't worry too much if your feedback is removed. Evidence shows that the great majority of Australian buyers simply don't bother to read the relevant feedback, and will happily purchase from obviously bad sellers. The poor behaviour and poor quality of items of so many Chinese eBay sellers stems from their knowledge that Australian buyers behave in this way - not bothering to do due diligence before purchasing. Just as you ignored (or didn't check) the seller's bad feedback, other buyers will do the same - so whether or not your negative feedback (including the comment) remain is neither here nor there.
I would suggest that you contact PayPal by phone NOW. You say "They are dragging the whole thing out, it's been a week already and i'm no where", but the control of this situation is entirely in your hands. Had you gone through eBay's MBG, by now you could have asked eBay to step in and eBay would have forced the refund.
Since you are making the dispute through PayPal, are you aware of the timeframe? Your seller is sure to be trying to delay you so that you won't escalate within 20 days of opening the dispute.
If you open a claim in PayPal using PayPal Buyer Protection (you have up to 180 days to open a dispute), once you've opened the dispute, you must escalate the dispute to a claim NO LATER than 20 days after opening the dispute.
Also... ensure that you've already activated PayPal's Refunded Returns, "Get your money back on return shipping [...] Pay with your PayPal account and we can refund your return shipping costs if you need to send anything back – up to $45 per return and 8 returns each year." That's just in case the PayPal dispute requires you to send back the item. However... see below where I address the issue of having to return.
Don't allow the seller to dictate the terms. You are protected as long as you follow the guidelines/timeframes. I suggested that you contact PayPal by phone asap, and point out that the item was listed on eBay with item location "Australia, Australia", and that because of that misrepresentation you are not prepared (nor should you be required) to post the damaged item back to the seller to a Chinese address. Be ultra-polite while you mention this.
To contact PayPal, you can call PayPal Customer Service. (Don't bother trying to email; PayPal isn't quite as bad as eBay in terms of bot-created automatic replies to email communications, but phoning is the way to go.)
1800 073 263 (toll free)
+61 2 8223 9500
Go to this page (https://www.paypal.com/au/smarthelp/contact-us) for your one-off passcode.
[You'll be asked to enter this unique code on the phone.)
Customer Service hours
6am to 10pm AEST Monday to Friday
8am to 7pm AEST Saturday and Sunday
Mention the following:
- The item arrived damaged. You opened the dispute on that basis.
- You subsequently realised that the item was a fake anyway. You can point to the fact that the item heading and description led you to believe it was an Intel item, but as you now realise, the item specifics say "unbranded/generic". Explain apologetically that you do not have a letter from Intel affirming that this is a fake (unless you do have that), but that the fact that the item arrived completely broken should be sufficient for your claim.
- Explain that you believe that you should not be required to return the item for your refund, on the following basis:
- The item location was misrepresented in the listing;
- The cost of returning the item is non-commensurate with the cost of the actual item;
- The item is a fake, and you would be prepared to have an Australian official reseller of Intel CPU fans provide a letter to that effect; however, given that the seller has admitted that the item is a fake (by virtue of stating in the listing that it's unbranded/generic while having a photo clearly showing the Intel logo on the product), you don't feel it's necessary for you to have to do so. The seller has really condemned themselves within the listing itself.
Ask the rep to escalate the dispute and resolve on the spot with your refund.
Be exceptionally courteous and repeat the main facts bulleted above as often as necessary, without becoming impatient.
