I’ve commented in the past about my suspicions about eBay buying up payment operator PayPal. I was wary about PayPal in the past but now using them to buy at eBay seemed like it would be a monumental bad move. My suspicions have been proved correct.

Where once you felt protected by the double edged sword, that thing has been dulled into a single edge one, and coverage is spotty at best. At worst, you are left to swing your own sword through the mists of the Internet to get at the scum that is trying to swindle you.

Here is a case to prove the point. I was out researching and came across an article here. Travis is really peeved at PayPal when he should be peeved at eBay as well. As eBay is the parent and the auction was ran on their site, I believe that they owe Travis a full refund if he has proof of all the mess.

Poking around on PayPal’s site, I discover that they talk about partial and full refunds, but in this case, we are specifically talking about fraud so I continued looking.

I found the following clause in 13.1.b of the User Agreement. “Our program to reimburse Users for losses for up to (i) $2,000.00 USD (Top Tier Coverage Amount) for eligible items purchased on eBay and (ii) up to $200.00 USD (Basic Tier Coverage Amount) for all other eligible items purchased on eBay and for eligible items purchased outside of eBay that PayPal processed through the ATM debit network.” This is where they protect themselves and give you the screw. Without a doubt, few customers have looked that deep into the agreement before.

It also mentions 13.9 to see which coverage protections apply. From what I’ve read and the snippet of that section of the User Agreement, I would think that Travis is owed a full refund.

“13.9 eBay Items Eligible for PayPal Buyer Protection. Every item on eBay (except Live Auctions and vehicles) that meets the above requirements is eligible for PayPal Buyer Protection up to $200.00 USD (Basic Tier Coverage Amount), but items are only eligible for PayPal Buyer Protection up to $2,000.00 USD (Top Tier Coverage Amount) and should be identified as eligible items in the eBay listing if:

Seller’s eBay feedback rating is at least 50;
At least 98% of the seller’s eBay feedback is positive;
The seller has a Verified Premier or Verified Business Account in good standing;
The listing was on an eligible eBay site (eBay.com and certain other eBay sites self identified as such)
PayPal is listed as an acceptable payment method; and
The seller is a PayPal User from one of the following countries: