PayPal makes eBay customer destroy $2,500 violin, seller left empty handed

[When Dumb Wins]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-57352136-501465/paypal-
makes-ebay-customer-destroy-$2500-violin-seller-left-empty-
handed/?tag=re1.channel

(CBS) - Here's a heartbreaking case of botched communication,
thanks to an eBay customer and PayPal policy.

This letter was sent to the blog Regretsy by a reader named
Erica, telling of a transaction turned tragedy.

I sold an old French violin to a buyer in Canada, and the buyer
disputed the label.

This is not uncommon. In the violin market, labels often mean
little and there is often disagreement over them. Some of the
most expensive violins in the world have disputed labels, but
they are works of art nonetheless.

Rather than have the violin returned to me, PayPal made the
buyer DESTROY the violin in order to get his money back. They
somehow deemed the violin as "counterfeit" even though there is
no such thing in the violin world.

The buyer was proud of himself, so he sent me a photo of the
destroyed violin.

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2012/01/04/regretsy-violin-
paypal-post_620x350.jpg

I am now out a violin that made it through WWII as well as
$2500. This is of course, upsetting. But my main goal in writing
to you is to prevent PayPal from ordering the destruction of
violins and other antiquities that they know nothing about. It
is beyond me why PayPal simply didn't have the violin returned
to me.

I spoke on the phone to numerous reps from PayPal who 100%
defended their action and gave me the party line.

As TechCrunch points out, Erica could have very well sold a
fake. But is it PayPal's duty to step in and have their
customers destroy goods without real evidence? I thought PayPal
was a payment service. They should facilitated exchanges between
their customers, not make judgements on counterfeits.

To be fair, the payment company's terms and conditions state
that "PayPal may also require you to destroy the item and to
provide evidence of its destruction."

Whatever the reason for their policy, it's just an odd case.

And what about the buyer? If counterfeit is so rare in the
violin world, wouldn't the buyer have second thoughts about
destroying the item? Unfortunately, we don't know if the seller
had a return policy. This might have been the only way for the
buyer to get their money back.