I hope this guide can help someone with or else prepare them for a Paypal Policy that I feel is extemely unfair to buyers. I had an unfortunate experience with an uncooperative seller where I had to escalate a Dispute to a Paypal claim. I will try to keep it brief and get to the true point of this guide but I want the reader to know I did everything possible to avoid a dispute in the situation that brought this to my attention.

I had purchased a set of jewelery (288 piece bangle set) from a seller and received the WRONG SIZE, a smaller size that was absolutely no use to me. I sent photographs and measurements to support my claim. The seller admitted they were the wrong size and had suggested I keep the smaller size, no offer of exchange or reund (purchase of $71 and half of that was the shipping cost) and try to recoup my money by selling them myself on ebay. These were for a gift and I did not want to hassle with trying to resell them~I just wanted what I paid for. Next the seller offers me a larger set for $40 (minus shipping of $31), if I kept the wrong set and tried to sell them to get my money back. Again I only wanted what I paid for. I offered to return the jewelery to him in India at HIS EXPENSE. I emailed him with this offer since the mix up was on his end I did not feel I should be responsible for the cost of shipping back to him. That was when communication ended from his side .  I believed I had been more than patient with the situation and trying to be fair to the seller without leaving negative feedback. At this point I decided to enter a Dispute with the Resolution Center, time was running out for me to file a Paypal claim. With no response from the seller I decided to escalate to a Paypal Claim.

This is where I was COMPLETELY ASTONISHED!. I was asked by Paypal by email to return the items back to him (ok...no problem) at MY expense~WHAT? I would be out approximately $31 to return his mistake back to him and still have nothing to show for it.  At that I called Paypal and was informed by an agent and a supervisor that once I escalated my Dispute to a Paypal Claim I would be responsible for return shipping the wrong item back to the seller in order for the escalation to continue. I will update this story and let you know if I was able to receive the refund.

THIS IS A PAYPAL POLICY I LEARNED THE HARD WAY. THE MORAL OF THIS STORY IS:

ONCE YOU ESCALTE A DISPUTE WITH A SELLER TO A PAYPAL CLAIM ON AN ITEM YOU RECEIVED THAT WAS NOT THE ITEM YOU ORDERED, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE  COST OF SHIPPING THAT WRONG ITEM BACK TO THE SELLER.

ALTHOUGH YOU, THE BUYER, WAS IN NO WAY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SELLER'S ERROR, YOU STILL MUST PAY TO RETURN WRONG ITEM BACK TO THE HIM.

IF THIS HAPPENS TO YOU, MAKE SURE WHEN RETURNING WRONG ITEM TO PURCHASE DELIVERY CONFIRMATION.  PAYPAL RECOMMENDS PURCHASING DELIVERY CONFIRMATION. IF THERE IS NO DELIVERY CONFIRMATION THE SELLER CAN DENY EVER RECEIVING ITEM BACK AND THERE GOES YOUR CHANCE FOR A REFUND THROUGH PAYPAL. CHANCES ARE IF THE SELLER DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH INTEGRITY TO PAY RETURN SHIPPING OR HIS OR HER  MISTAKE, HE WON'T HAVE ENOUGH INTEGRITY TO BE HONEST ABOUT RECEIVING ITEM BACK. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PROOF OF POSTING!!!

Keep this in mind when ordering items that are considerably heavy. Make sure you are dealing with an honest and reputable seller or you could be stuck with a HUGE mailing cost (depending on the item) if the seller sends the wrong item. 

 Thanks for reading this guide and I hope it will help somone else from getting...ahhh......an unfair shipping bill.

Toolhaus.org is a great site to check negative feedback on any ebay seller~check it out.

 If this guide has helped you please take the time to vote for it. :)