Paypal Tells Buyer to Destroy $2500 Violin

apsmith21

Operations Director
Staff Member
Aug 6, 2010
29,101
USA
smashed.jpg


A buyer disputed the authenticity of a priceless, one of a kind violin. According to the seller, paypal instructed the buyer to destroy the violin and the buyer could get their $2500 back.

The buyer sent the above picture to the seller and to paypal, which then paypal promptly refunded the $2500 to the buyer.

Source article can be read on another site
 
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What the #%@? Why would PP not investigate the dispute but simply order the item's destruction? Whatever happened to the seller's rights to defend the claim?
 
What the #%@? Why would PP not investigate the dispute but simply order the item's destruction? Whatever happened to the seller's rights to defend the claim?

The seller spoke to her amazement that paypal did not just have the violin returned and then issue the refund.

She indicated she spoke with numerous customer service reps - each one of them defended the position that paypal ordered the item destroyed.

My guess is that paypal stated the item was a "fake" and therefore the seller was not eligible to receive a return - the problem is that a customer service rep is not qualified to determine, over the phone, if an antiquity is real or a fake.
 
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Paypal told me to destroy an Iron Man FutureShop steelbook ; but then Chuck Norris kicked their ass!
 
This reminds me of a Simpsons quote:

Homer Simpson: Okay Mr. Burns Here are your messages: "You have thirty minutes to move your car." "You have ten minutes to move your car." "Your car has been impounded." "Your car has been crushed into a cube." "You have thirty minutes to move your cube."
Homer Simpson: [Phone Rings] Hello?
Mr. Burns: Is it about my cube?


I wonder if the seller gets the shards back
 
I would've gone and bought a used, crappy violin and broken it. I wouldn't destroy a comic because i was told it was fake or even if I doubted it. That's insane
 
I side with PayPal on this
1) The buyer claims he received a fake. So it is up to the buyer to do his due diligence to investigate the authenticity of the product. And if he is satisfied it is not authentic then he should feel no remorse by destroying it as long as he gets 100% of his money back.

2) to prevent future scams regarding this violin, destroy the fake. This does two things: i) the individual can not go off trying to sell it (as a fake, or authentic or just another violin). Because not only is he getting his money back, but then he can make money on top of the sale he makes with the violin.
ii) It will prevent someone else being scammed into buying this violin.