when is it appropriate to do paypal buyer complaint?

BigGreek

I've had a couple of recent cases where I needed to return coins.
If a seller is cooperative, do you initiate a BC in order to track the return?
Since BC has a time limit for filing, how do you deal with a situation where
you are close to the limit?

ddink

Under no circumstances should you file a chargeback (that's what a "Buyer Complaint" is) if the person is being cooperative and said they will refund your money. What happens is they refund your money, then PayPal refunds it again. It takes two weeks for a chargeback to complete and there is NO WAY to undo it once it's been started (at least in my experience, I had a guy do this once--refund check was in the mail but he initiated a chargeback and he repeatedly emailed PayPal asking them to stop the chargeback and they didn't). Sure, once PayPal gives you the double refund you can always send the extra money back, but that will be two weeks later and subject to PayPal fees. It's way too much hassle. That is, of course, if the seller said he is refunding your money.

P.S. All buyer complaints flag the person's account. If they have too many complaints their account will be canceled. All in all it's something you want to avoid if at all possible.

BigGreek

In the cases I am thinking about, chargeback is not an issue since the items have
been received. Paypal says BC is only useful for recovery of payment if the item
is never received. BC is used only for tracking status on received items which are
returned.

ddink

Yes, the item has been received, and if you file a buyer complaint, you will still have the item, and the seller will be out the money. It will also leave a black mark on the seller's record.