PayPal refund?

[xarduinx]

So I recently bought something on ebay and it came with minor damages. Which usually wouldn't be a big issue but I paid a large amount of money for said item so I wanted some minor compensation. I paid with a visa and the seller offered a refund through PayPal. Is this safe? Are they trying to get something out of this? I might just be paranoid but I just want to be safe before accepting this. Thanks!

[kathiec · Accepted solution]

Paypal is the only way the seller can refund you without going through the eBay return process. If you and the seller have both agreed to the refund amount there's no reason to not go through Paypal.

[xarduinx]

Okay thank you! I've just never had a refund on ebay so I wasn't sure how it's usually done. 

[powell-memorabilia]

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@kathiec wrote:

Paypal is the only way the seller can refund you without going through the eBay return process. If you and the seller have both agreed to the refund amount there's no reason to not go through Paypal.

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Not true - it is very simple to issue a partial or full refund through eBay.  Seller just goes to sold items and hits the refund order option, then chooses how much to refund.

[campanaelia]

Don't let the seller refund you through PP directly or you will be paying fees for receiving the money. Have the seller do the partial refund through the original transaction on ebay only. You also won't receive the addt'l sales tax portion that will be added if you do it outside of ebay.

[mtgraves7984]

I've just never had a refund on ebay so I wasn't sure how it's usually done. 

@xarduinx 

Don't feel bad... this isn't how a refund is done "on eBay", or else it'd stay on eBay. PayPal is a workaround, though.

[mudshark61369]

@xarduinx,

Your seller is probably trying to issue the refund through Paypal because this was their first sale, and because you opened a dispute their payment is still marked as Pending, because of ebay's 21 day hold on new seller's first few payments, and they do not know how to issue refund through ebay thinking they have no payment yet.  Try messaging them and tell them to do a google search for "Can you refund on ebay with funds on hold".  If they do that search they will find out how to issue the refund from the held payment. 

[xarduinx]

I didn't open a dispute against them with ebay because I didn't want to cause trouble if it could be resolved easily. So I don't think his funds are on hold? I'm not sure. Anyway. I wanted to see if I could work something out with them before resorting to ebay. 

[soh.maryl]

All you would have needed to do was to open an item not as described case and you had 30 days to do so with eBay.  This does not "cause trouble" -- it helps solve your problem.

May I respectfully suggest that you take the time to read eBay's Money Back Guarantee for buyers? 

[powell-memorabilia]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

All you would have needed to do was to open an item not as described case and you had 30 days to do so with eBay.  This does not "cause trouble" -- it helps solve your problem.

May I respectfully suggest that you take the time to read eBay's Money Back Guarantee for buyers? 

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I’m convinced that you don’t read messages before telling everyone to open a return request.  OP clearly stated that she wanted minor compensation for an issue.  OP does not want to return the item, rather wants a few dollars off to compensate for the issue. Returning the item is not what the poster wanted to do. Poster understands that he can get eBay involved, but wanted to work out something with the seller before going that route.

[lacemaker3]

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@xarduinx wrote:

I didn't open a dispute against them with ebay because I didn't want to cause trouble if it could be resolved easily. So I don't think his funds are on hold? I'm not sure. Anyway. I wanted to see if I could work something out with them before resorting to ebay. 

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If this was the item where you mentioned a slice in the top of the box in your feedback, that seller hasn't sold very much. So the payment may be on hold because they're new. Even if you haven't opened a case with eBay.

If the funds are on hold, then the seller may be required to provide another payment method to fund the refund as a backup, even if there is enough money being held to cover the refund. The seller may not understand what is happening or how to get around that. We see a lot of new sellers asking about this.

So the seller may be trying to do what you want, and is having trouble figuring out how. PayPal is an acceptable way to do that, if you have a PayPal account.

The seller can issue a refund through eBay, even if you haven't opened a case. But, if you do open a case, then you may be required to return the item for a full refund. You may not be able to get a partial refund that way, if the seller doesn't figure out how to do that. If eBay gets involved, you will have to return the item for a full refund. Sellers can do partial refunds, but if eBay does it, it's all or nothing.

[xarduinx]

Yeah, like I said in another comment I've just never received a refund before on ebay so I wasn't sure if PayPal was a normal method of refunding.

[sorrow_sc]

Sorry to bother you with this, but may I ask for a bit more details as to how this ended up working out? I am in the same boat, this is my first return and first time shipping internationally, I paid with a VISA, but they're asking for PayPal information and I don't know what to give them. Is it just the e-Mail address for my PayPal account or do I need to include my physical address? Is there a PayPal account number I'm not seeing that's used for these things?

Also, the package came from France but they asked that I send it to a friend of theirs with a Florida address. I opened a case with eBay, but the messages that ask for this information and with the request to send to a Florida address are not shown in the cases history because the seller accepted the return before sending these messages. I mentioned it in my case but the eBay agent did not acknowledge this or tell me how to proceed. Any information would be greatly appreciated.