This is from the other forum posted by TallBearded. More good reading on that thread pertinent here:
Sorry but PayPal Buyer protection doesn’t cover items damaged in transit.
Why?
Where a person buys something with the intention of it being delivered by carrier, risk passes from the seller to the buyer when the item is handed to the carrier. This is usually referred to as deemed delivery which has the legal effect of – handing the goods to the carrier is the same as if they were handing to the buyer. Therefore, for the purposes of the legislation, if they arrived damaged, they were in fact damaged after they have been received by the buyer.
PayPal Buyer Protection is nothing more than a debt collection process, but before the debt can be collected its existence must be established. This is the meaning of the word “recover” as it appears in the policy. Now deemed delivery provides that the item was damaged after it was received and as such no right of recovery exists.
Furthermore, whenever this issue is raised the usual reasoning used ( as they were damaged before they were received this means they are no longer “significantly as described” the time they were received} again ignores the legislative fact that they were damaged AFTER the had been delivered – refer back to deemed delivery.
Then of course there is the problem that, for purposes of the legislation the words “not as described” has a specific meaning, and that meaning has nothing to do with items damaged in transit. As such, if PayPal’s intention was to expand the meaning of those words for the purposes of the policy to include items broken in transit for the purposes as they have done in the UK agreement, the the policy must expressly say so, and it doesn’t. That is, UK PayPal buyer protection makes specific reference to items damaged in transit as falling with the provision of ‘Significantly Not as Discribed” yet the Australian agreement doesn’t.
The point, it is time to consign this eBay myth to the same waist receptacle as all other long cherished but well past their use by date PayPal myths such as ‘Sellers must prove delivery”, and “PayPal protects the buyer, registered post protects the seller” with this one being next.
So what is a buyer to do? Let’s start by becoming acquainted with their legislative rights.
For instance, when it comes to deemed delivery the Act clearly places the BUYER in charge. That is, where an item is to be delivered by carrier the seller is the agent for the buyer (refer to the subject too provisions of deemed delivery), and as such, the buyer can stipulated not only the carrier to be used, but also the service including HOW THE ITEM IS TO BE PREPARED FOR SHIPMENT – in a sturdy box all sides reinforces with polystyrene sheeting, with all items individually wrapped in bubble wrap and then suspended in peanuts or shredded paper. That is, if you are in any doubt the seller knows what they are doing tell them what you want.
Finally if the buyer takes control and issues the necessary instructions and the seller fails or refuses to comply, then deemed delivery ceases to apply and the goods are at the seller risk until they have ACTUALLY been received.
