On the 5th September 2007 I sold a Tilley Meat Cutter ( a bait cutter for the serious fishermen) on ebay to a Elizabeth Osborne. She paid me promptly by Paypal and I posted the cutter to her two days later on the 7th February. Needless to say that I obtained a Certificate of Posting and had it stamped and signed by the receiving office at the Merry Hill Shopping Centre.

On the 11th September the buyer contacted me requesting information if the parcel had been sent and I responded by return giving her the appropriate details and told her that it had been posted on the 7th September.

In addition to that I contacted the Royal Mail who told me that they considered the item to be still in transit and that no claims could be filed with the Royal Mail until 15 days after the posting date which was to be the 22nd September 2007 and I also passed this information to Elizabeth Osborne asking her to contact me on that date to confirm that the cutter had not arrived in which case I would have sent out a replacement to the buyer and filed a claim with the Royal Mail. This is, as far as I am concerned, standard procedure. 

Regretfully, this was not good enough for the buyer who contacted Paypal on the 15th September (8 days after the posting date) and claimed that the cutter had not been received and Paypal accepted this notification as a claim and refunded the buyer the full amount of £29.94 on the 25th September 2007, the same day, the Royal Mail said was the last day when the item was still considered to be in transit. Needless to say that the buyer never got back to me to confirm wether or not the cutter had been received, why should she, she had her money back from Paypal.

Please don't misunderstand me wrong, I am not really bothered about the fact that Paypal have refunded the money to the buyer as I will have no problem of claiming the lost parcel from the Royal Mail, but I do object to the fact that Paypal have helped themselves to the money from my account at a time when the Royal Mail still claimed that the goods may still be in transit. 

What I really object to is the fact the Paypal are refusing to refund me with the commission of £ 1.22 which they deducted from the buyers payment. I never received £ 29.94, the amount they have debited me, and when I questioned this with Paypal I was told bluntly that I could have had this commission back had I refunded the payment immediately to the buyer when they claimed non-delivery, but as I waited for Paypal's decision to refund the buyer I am, apparently, no longer entitled to have that commission refunded.  

So here we are. Paypal against any logic refunds the buyer the full purchase price at a time when the Royal Mail still claimed that the item was in transit, it then helps itself to the full amount from my account despite the fact that they never paid me the full amount, having deducted their commission of £1.22 and refusing to pay it back and, finally, they ignore all e-mails and all attempts to communicate. This is what they call SELLER PROTECTION?

Upon my specific request they did give me a postal address in Dublin and I will now forward my complaint by snail mail to this address and I will inform them that I have no intention to accept their refusal not to refund their commission. It is my firm opinion that Paypal are wrong and have acted totally unfair towards the sellers and I will not hesitate to ask the Small Claims Court to issue a Default Summons for the amount they owe me. The summons will cost me £30.00 in court costs but I consider this clearly worth it as it will give matter the publicity it rightly deserves. 

Update 24th November 2007:
We have just received an email from Paypal as follows: