Advice Please Claim Opened With PayPal 5 Months After Purchase

[in2designerfashion]

I sold a pair of Louis Vuitton thongs on February 27th this year and woke up to find the buyer in the USA has opened a “not as described case”. I wish l could say l can’t believe it but with PayPal nothing surprises me anymore. I have tried to contact PayPal and have not heard anything back the money is on hold and there is no link to reply to the case within PayPal and as the transaction is so old it is no longer available on eBay l can’t even search for the item in my selling as it doesn’t go back that far.

The thongs were in mint condition when sold l still have the pictures l used when l listed the thongs for sale they were listed as pre-owned so l have no idea how a buyer was even able to put in a claim for a pair of thongs she have obviously used when it was 5 months ago. A assessment of a item delivered would be done within 2 weeks of delivery it is not a electrical item that may stop working and the thongs were not sold with a warranty. Even a department store has time limits on returns and l think eBay has a 45 day limit on purchases to open a case.

The worst thing about this is l have only sold 3 things to the USA in the last 18 months (never again) and 2 out of the 3 buyers tried to scam me for the money back. Any ideas on how l should proceed.

Thanks

[padi*0409]

You're wasting your time emailing Paypal, phone them or ask for a call back from them, if you can't get a reasonable resonse ask to speak to a supervisor.

[lyndal1838]

What does the buyer say is wrong with the thongs?

Unfortunately paypal now has a 6 month window to open a dispute.....BUT the dispute is supposed to be on the condition of the item when it was delivered.

All I can suggest is to ring paypal and point out to them that 5 months is an unreasonable time to be claiming for not as described.

[justkidzbiz]

I get the 180' days returns/claims if the items are electrical or products that should last for a reasonable amount of time but when it comes to clothing etc, particularly preowned, 180 days to make a claim is just ridiculous. It leaves sellers open to buyers using the item, damaging the item etc and then falsely making claims 6 months later. Even retail stores don't offer 6 months returns on clothing. PayPal really needs to change their return/claim policy.

[digital*ghost]

I suspect extending the time to make a claim was primarily done in an effort to reduce chargebacks, rather than because they felt there was a genuine need to provide protection for that amount of time (hence keeping the condition that protection is for goods in their received state, i.e. an electrical item that fails after a few months isn't actually eligible - chargebacks can be initiated up to 12 months after a purchase, occasionally even longer, and each one costs PayPal a fair bit, so they would have done it do reduce costs in that area, I think). 

I would call them, ask how to provide evidence of the condition when they were sent (if it's not giving you that option on the site, you can usually send it through via email), stress that it was a pair of shoes that were received 4 or so months ago, with no complaints made by the buyer during that time, and so on.