I completed a contract with a buyer and this was done before the November 1st Returns Policy came into effect and became mandatory.
The buyer bought a bracelet for $430 with buy it now days before Nov 1st. On Nov 1st they contacted me telling a heap of lies about the item and asked for a refund. I refused because my description was above board and accurate. They then opened a dispute against me with pay pal. after going to the pay pal resolution centre to look at the case I was asked to responfd to the buyer.
On the resolution or dispute page ... there were three options I could use to settle the dispute. I chose the one to do with a partial refund. I thought at the time that me offering the buyer a partial refund would mean that if they accepted my offer , they would return the bracelet and I would then pay them the partial refund. However because of the obscurity of this option I made the wrong choice and pay pal refunded the buyer $350 putting my pay pal account in the red ... plus the buyer got to keep the bracelet. I was reimbursed $80.. so the way I see it I have given the buyer $350 and the bracelet, so am I out of pocket by a considerable amount or what? my head is still spinning from this... has the buyer got the bracelet for $80 instead of the original $430 which was paid to me by the buyer. I contacted the buyer through ebay email asking that should they accept my offer of a partial refund they send the bracelet back using registered post with tracking. they did not respond. instead I find they have been paid by pay pal and I then receive two emails from pay pal later on .. one saying case such and such has been completed and pay pal have decided in favour of the buyer and they have been refunded and your balance is negative, please resolve your negative balance by logging in to your pay pal account ... and the email before that saying the buyer has escalated this dispute to a claim. were reviewing all messages related to the case in the resolution center and need some additional information from you. .. It was after this email that I visited the resolution centre and made one of the biggest mistakes of my life. pay pal and I had a row because they didnt give a damn about me and my loss. eBay were no help either after I explained to them that the contract was done before Nov 1st which should have gone in my favour and not that of the buyer. I have had an exausting day speaking to eBay and pay pal with no resolve.
Am I within my legal rights to refuse a refund to the buyer seeing as the contract was made before the Return Policy came into effect on Nov 1st? eBay refuse to acknowledge that fact. I have been terribly wronged.
Hoping to hear from you
Regards
Ann
