PayPal makes eBay customer destroy $2,500 violin, seller left empty handed

By: Chenda Ngak
Topics: Tech Talk

(Credit: Regretsy)

(CBS) - Here's a heartbreaking case of botched communication, thanks to an eBay customer and PayPal policy.

This letter was sent to the blog Regretsy by a reader named Erica, telling of a transaction turned tragedy.

I sold an old French violin to a buyer in Canada, and the buyer disputed the label.
This is not uncommon. In the violin market, labels often mean little and there is often disagreement over them. Some of the most expensive violins in the world have disputed labels, but they are works of art nonetheless.
Rather than have the violin returned to me, PayPal made the buyer DESTROY the violin in order to get his money back. They somehow deemed the violin as "counterfeit" even though there is no such thing in the violin world.
The buyer was proud of himself, so he sent me a photo of the destroyed violin.
I am now out a violin that made it through WWII as well as $2500. This is of course, upsetting. But my main goal in writing to you is to prevent PayPal from ordering the destruction of violins and other antiquities that they know nothing about. It is beyond me why PayPal simply didn't have the violin returned to me.
I spoke on the phone to numerous reps from PayPal who 100% defended their action and gave me the party line.

As TechCrunch points out, Erica could have very well sold a fake. But is it PayPal's duty to step in and have their customers destroy goods without real evidence? I thought PayPal was a payment service. They should facilitated exchanges between their customers, not make judgements on counterfeits.

To be fair, the payment company's terms and conditions state that "PayPal may also require you to destroy the item and to provide evidence of its destruction."

Whatever the reason for their policy, it's just an odd case.

And what about the buyer? If counterfeit is so rare in the violin world, wouldn't the buyer have second thoughts about destroying the item? Unfortunately, we don't know if the seller had a return policy. This might have been the only way for the buyer to get their money back.

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by bobnjersey March 10, 2012 10:01 AM EST

[Rather than have the violin returned to me, PayPal made the buyer DESTROY the violin in order to get his money back. They somehow deemed the violin as "counterfeit" even though there is no such thing in the violin world. ]
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if the seller represented the violin to be of a certain age or period i would think that the burden of proof of these claims would be upon the seller.

if the buyer disputes the age/period of the piece ... there would either have to be a way to validate it via the seller ... an acceptance of it 'as is' by the buyer ... or a third party involved to authenticate any claim of age.

without these things ... the representation of the piece could be considered 'mis-representation' ... and hence pay pal's interpretation of it as a counterfeit.

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by netjunkie1 March 26, 2012 10:32 PM EDT: All I can say about this is that wherever you go, there you are.


by pwgrant February 2, 2012 7:57 PM EST: i will never use either service.; Reply to this comment


by get-over-it January 31, 2012 1:09 PM EST: Something else is going on here. I have had previous (like 3 over 6 years) issues with products purchased from ebay. Issue was ALWAYS resolved with the seller! They would refund item or money 100% of time.; Reply to this comment


by Samlv January 27, 2012 7:08 PM EST: This makes no sense. The seller will get paid. Eventually.; Reply to this comment


by dl98284 January 23, 2012 10:00 PM EST: If I was her, I would sue the heck out of PayPal. They are so very wrong.; Reply to this comment


by AmazingGrce January 16, 2012 11:57 PM EST: To me paypal and ebay are places of last resort.
Even Amazon is about the same. Their guarantees of protection for the buyer are limited and clearly for sellers there is a high risk level.

As others have said - a little competition would work wonders to force these companies to shape up.

I will not use Paypal unless there is no other option and then I will be sure that I really need to use them.; Reply to this comment

by tx_sunset January 16, 2012 3:43 PM EST

Paypal almost always tells you to try and get your money back from the seller yourself first. This story sounds like they left out a lot of vital information, like I am sure the buyer probably tried to get their money back by just asking for a refund and the seller probably did not want to give a refund so the buyer was forced to get Paypal involved. I have had issues before and Paypal has always asked if I had already tried to contact the seller directly. If the seller would not give a rufund once the product was returned, then I applaud the buyer for their actions. The only sellers not willing to offer a refund are scammers.

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by DidHeSayThat January 31, 2012 10:07 AM EST: True.


by BlogZilla January 12, 2012 2:14 PM EST: So don't use Paypal to process your customer's cards or other financial transactions for the goods you sell. Use another company. No, it's not going to be as convenient, but legally Paypal won't have so much reign over you.

The problem with Paypal is that EBAY bought them several years ago. Ever since then, they turned to poop.; Reply to this comment


by williebob11 January 10, 2012 3:29 PM EST: Yes, paypal thinks they are some sort of moral internet god. I have used them for over 12 years and used them for over 3 years to accept payments on my web site www.blackcreekknives.com they sent me an email yesterday stating that one of my knives did not adhere to their standards and my account was no longer usuable until I removed the said knife and showed proof of removal. I of course told them what to do so, my account is now frozen and I can't get my money out for 180 days according to them. They of course have no problem still processing payments for Pornography that is sold in the everything else category of Ebay. Everyone knows pornography trickles on down to pedophilia and human trafficing for the sex trade. They are getting like the Nazis in trying to make everyone march to their drum beat and seem to have accomplished that on ebay especially where every seller is pretty much forced to accept paypal whether they want to or not.; Reply to this comment


by mysteriousjz January 10, 2012 1:26 AM EST: Paypal is one of the worst companies, and is the most arrogant I have dealt with. They simply side with buyers claim no matter what and wants sellers to absorb the loss. In most claims, where authenticity is not in questions like those of historical values as this, PP does require buyers to return the item to seller. Buyer gets full refund and seller is out of shipping cost.

It gets interesting, let's say if a you sell an ipod or any electronic gadget, and the buyers uses it or abuses it, the buyer can actually claim disfunction within 45 to 60 days and get full refund. There is no recourse for sellers to counter-claim the veracity of buyers claim. The sellers [olicies matter nothing when buyer claims refund, he will most likely get it. Poor sellers who are not corporations have to actually fulfill the warranty for 60 days for them for malfunction.; Reply to this comment