Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Paypal Orders Buyer of Violin To Destroy It For a Refund

Posted by samzenpus on from the we-had-to-destroy-the-village-in-order-to-save-it dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Erica was once the owner of an old violin that had survived through WWII, and decided to sell it on Ebay for $2500. The person who bought it decided it was a counterfeit and wanted his money back. Paypal decided to honor the request for a refund on the condition that the buyer destroy the violin and provided photographic evidence of the destruction. Couldn't he have just returned it?" Sounds like a hoax to me, but I guess it's possible.

3 of 362 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds Like a Hoax Right Up Until You Read the ToS by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Informative
    Read Paypal's Buyer Protection which contains this little gem under Dispute Resolution:

    Comply with PayPal's shipping requests in a timely manner.

    For SNAD Claims, PayPal may require you to ship the item back to the seller - or to PayPal - or to a third party at your expense, and to provide proof of delivery. Please take reasonable precautions in re-packing the item to reduce the risk of damage to the item during transit. PayPal may also require you to destroy the item and to provide evidence of its destruction.

    For transactions that total less than USD $250 (or local currency equivalent), proof of delivery is confirmation that can be viewed online and includes: recipient's (seller's) address, showing at least city, postal code, state, or country (or equivalent), delivery date, and the URL to the shipping company's web site if you've selected "Other" in the shipping drop down menu. For transactions that total USD $250 or more, you must get signature confirmation of the delivery.

    Emphasis mine. Note, I found this at the original article over at Regretsy along with a picture for those of you who are lazy.

    Well, at least everyone involved has a crazy story to tell: "Gather 'round children and let me tell you about the time I had to destroy a hundred year old violin in a timely manner. FuhrerMarks had instructed me -- back then they were known as 'PayPal' -- to destroy the violin after a dispute about its label ..."

    --
    My work here is dung.
  2. Very similar thing happened to me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I sold a 24-port Fax board on eBay via PayPal when I decommissioned our internal fax server and went to an outsourced model about 3 years ago. The purchaser filed a claim with PayPal and said they could not get it to work. I asked for the item to be returned and I would refund. Instead PayPal reversed the money without them returning the product. I am not sure if they required them to destroy it but I lost the money and the fax board and it was a working device when it shipped. I have not sold on eBay or used PayPal as a seller since.

  3. Could be a hoax, but... by Jaegs · · Score: 5, Informative

    Were this just an isolated incident, I would be screaming hoax with the best of you; however, given PayPal's handling of a recent charity case, where a group had their account suspended after trying to raise money to buy presents for poor children, I'm not so sure. Quote PayPal's support: "You can use the donate button to raise money for a sick cat, but not poor people."

    http://www.regretsy.com/2011/12/05/cats-1-kids-0/