Premiere Props & “off eBay” Invoicing Restricts PayPal Buyer Protections
This is an update to my article “Premiere Props, Hollywood Roadshow, Auction Outcome Manipulation“, as well as “Update 1“, “Update 2“, “Update 3“.
The one more ordinary disappointment with my Hollywood Roadshow auction wins, apart from the non-delivery of one item, was that one of those received was damaged. This was discovered, upon receipt, but days following the phone conversation with the Lead Customer Service agent, who hung up on me in regards to the non-delivery of the other item. As such, given that direct communication with Premiere Props was no longer an option, I thought it would be most productive to resolve the issue via PayPal, which would force Premiere Props to discuss and resolve the issue with me via the formal dispute process.
I explained the damage, how it was not a result of shipping (a part was broken off inside of the tightly wrapped bubble wrap), and forwarded a photo to Premiere Props via e-mail, requesting a refund for that one item, upon return of the item to Premiere Props.
Interestingly, Premiere Props unilaterally escalated the issue from a “Dispute” to a “Claim”. What’s the difference?
From PayPal:
What is the difference between a dispute and a claim?
Before you can file a claim and ask PayPal to investigate a problem transaction, you must usually open a dispute. During a dispute, you are encouraged to communicate directly with your seller to work out your problem transaction.
If you feel that you are unable to resolve the issue, you or your seller can ask PayPal to investigate by escalating to a claim. When you escalate to a claim, you are asking PayPal to investigate and decide the outcome. A dispute must be escalated to a claim within 20 of the date the dispute was opened.
So why would Premiere Props escalate the dispute to a claim, ending communication with myself, and refusing to issue a refund for an item damaged as a result of poor packaging by Premiere Props?
I, too, was confused, in that, as soon as it was escalated to a claim, PayPal immediately closed the case, with no refund, because it “does not meet filing guidelines”.
This was a puzzle, as I thought the point of buying on eBay and utilizing PayPal for payment was, in part, to take advantage of the buyer protection policies in place.
So I called PayPal to understand what, exactly, had happened.
In short, Premiere Props disables the ability of auction winners in the Hollywood Roadshow events to pay via PayPal directly from the ended listing page on eBay. Premiere Props instead has their customers wait for an invoice via e-mail, with customers then paying via a link from the invoice.
According to PayPal, this Premiere Props invoice converts the eBay auctions to “off eBay” transactions. Because the eBay transactions have become “off eBay” transactions, so long as Premiere Props can furnish a tracking number proving “something” has been shipped and delivered to the customer, PayPal’s involvement, as they’ve explained it to me, and any additional customer protections, end there (i.e. wrong item, item not as described, damaged item, missing item).
The friendly and understanding PayPal representative recommended, if encouraged or directed by a seller to pay for any eBay items via a custom invoice and checkout, to simply disregard that custom invoice and checkout process – like the Premiere Props invoice – and enter the transactions directly into PayPal, linking back to each eBay auction.
This is informative, in that I had thought if the custom invoices had each auction listed and itemized, as the Premiere Props invoice did, I would still have buyer protections. The PayPal representative I spoke with on the phone said this is not the case.
I called back today, a few days later, and spoke with a different PayPal resolution specialist, and she, too, confirmed that the way Premiere Props requires customers to pay via custom invoices, rather than through eBay, negates nearly all buyer protections, and warned against doing business is such a manner, as it restricts PayPal from being able to help customers that have been taken advantage of by sellers. She did note, however, that any such claims are made a permanent part of a seller’s account, and should the number of complaints and/or dollar amount reach a certain level, they could lose their account privileges.
As noted, I did wait a few days, to see if Premiere Props would resolve this second issue with me directly, and they have not responded to my communications attempts.
In any event, at this point, Premiere Props refuses to deliver the one item I won at auction that was purportedly sold to another customer and refuses to take back an item damaged through their own negligent packaging. The customer service tactics employed: offering no resolution, hanging up on the customer, refusing to communicate, posting negative feedback on eBay, and using invoices that circumvent eBay/PayPal buyer protections are unprofessional and disappointing.
Jason De Bord