Dorothy M.

I used PayPal when I ordered online from a vendor I had not used before. The vendor sent the wrong item. I tried to stop the payment through PayPal. PayPal's method of handling it was to have me and the vendor message each other through their site. The vendor wanted me to return the merchandise at my expense and to free up the payment at PayPal. This did not strike me as a good way to do business. Since I had a print of the screen where I placed the order and could prove my order was not in error, I asked the vendor to send the return postage. She didn't want to do that either. After a couple of weeks back and forth, she agreed to refund the shipment fee. Then I discovered I did not have her address. The package had been sent from the warehouse, a different company. There was no address on her website. The telephone number on her website was disconnected. I got the names of the warehouse and an intermediary vendor from the pick list inside the package and contacted them. The intermediary vendor gave me a different phone number. It did not work. The vendor phone number on PayPal was the same bogus number as that on her website. I talked to PayPal. They said they had the vendor's address but couldn't give it to me. Then they sent me an e-mail that said if I didn't return the item to the vendor, they wouldn't refund my money and if I didn't return it in 30 days, they would close the issue and not refund my money. After several back and forths with PayPal, I finally sent them an e-mail saying that it didn't matter if it were 30 days or 30 nanoseconds, if I didn't have the vendor's address I couldn't return it. Finally, they e-mailed me the vendor's address (with a new and shorter deadline for mailing). I met their deadline. Now I have to wait 30 days for them to confirm that the vendor received the goods.

I was just going to let it all go, Then I tried to order something through ebay (which I have done several times over the past few years) and use my credit card. That's when I found out 2 things: 1) All ebay transactions are handled by PayPal, whether or not you have a PayPal account,. 2) The ebay screen asks you to confirm that you want to purchase and the next screen asks you to place your order. Once you have confirmed that you want to purchase, ebay acts as if you have placed the order. BUYER BEWARE: if you order through ebay you are dealing with PayPal.