PayPal Dispute Ends Up with an Antique Violin Destroyed

PayPal is hardly the most beloved company on the web, but there aren't any real alternatives to it and it gets the job done, most of the time. But the web doesn't reserve any good faith for the company and it certainly hasn't now that an allegedly antique violin got destroyed, seemingly at the instructions of PayPal.

Regretsy revealed the story of a woman, Erica, who sold an old French violin over eBay to someone in Canada. The problem arose when the buyer disputed the label on the violin, something quite common it seems, and wanted his money back.

PayPal's terms of service say that the goods which are deemed counterfeit have to be destroyed before the buyer can get refunded, which led to the violin getting destroyed.

In the end, the seller ended up without the violin, which she says was antique even if the label wasn't legitimate, and without the money, $2,500,  €1,922.

There is a legitimate reason for PayPal to ask for counterfeit goods to be destroyed for a refund, many countries make it illegal to even send the goods back to the seller.

The problem is that PayPal was in no position to judge that the violin was 'fake.' What's more, the two sides in the transaction had come to an agreement, as Erica was willing to refund the buyer.

But PayPal demanded that the violin be destroyed. However, its own rules say that the goods have to be determined to be counterfeit by an appropriate agent, which was certainly not the case this time.

PayPal has said that it will investigate the matter, but has not made any further comments. It's hard to get a clear picture of the situation with just one account of it, but it does look like PayPal's customer service needs some improvements.