[CR]PayPal & Credit Card Chargebacks

(Example: Racing)

Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2007 04:16:41 -0800
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: Mitchell Gass <mitchell@gassworks.com>
Subject: [CR]PayPal & Credit Card Chargebacks

When dealing with a pricey eBay item that was not as described, the item was paid for by credit card, and the seller resists giving a refund, is it best to

1. write the credit card company to dispute the charge? 2. file a PayPal claim? 3. both of the above?

From this information on credit-card chargebacks for items purchased with PayPal

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/seller/ChargebackRisk-outside

it sounds like the credit card company will the be the most likely to help, but I'm assuming there's no downside to also filing a PayPal claim. I'd be interested to hear first-hand experiences with situations like this.

I'm particularly interested to know what needs to happen with the item: do either the credit-card company or PayPal expect a buyer to return the item - even without agreement from the seller about the problem or agreement to issue a refund - before the buyer can receive a refund? I'd obviously like to avoid a situation where I have neither the item nor the refund!

Thanks!

Mitchell Gass
Berkeley, CA, USA