further to what @Rozcraftz said about fee avoidance through folksy,
if someone is running a business but asking customers to mark the payment as a gift to avoid paypal fees, that is actaully fraud.
my personal feels are that grubbing around like that just for a few extra pence is desperate & unprofessional, as well as completely dishonest - and i’d probably make a(n unfavourable) personal judgement on a someone like that. not someone i’d want to deal with.
once a certain amount of money has passed through their paypal account, their account will likely get frozen and they’ll have some explaining to do (:
I sell via a forum as well as here but what I sell via a forum is not listed on Folksy. For those items I always send my customers a proper paypal invoice so they pay that invoice so they have buyer protection and I have Seller protection.
However if you paid by the gift option you might still be able to get your monies returned.
If didn’t use your paypal balance but the monies came off your debit/credit card you can do a ‘Charge back’ via your bank/credit card provider.
I’ve never had any problems buying from fellow Folksy Sellers myself but if you do there are options for getting your money returned also you can contact Folksy admin via email and they are extremely good at answering in normal business hours.
If you have a problem its fine to ask for advice here in the forums as we might be able to advise you otherwise you are always able to email admin for help and assistance.
I had a negative experience with a seller last year. Not a Folksy seller, but an independent yarn company. I won’t bore you with the details but things like: not knowing when my order will be shipped, me paying for telephone calls to reach the company, no reply to my emails, them promising and not delivering…I chased for a partial refund and after they gave me the running around for about 6 weeks, I did get my refund. Well, reaching out to CAB and Trading Standards helped a lot. As soon as I told them I contacted those organisations, I got my refund the same day.
It wasn’t a large amount, it was the principle. You get my money upfront and then not respercting me.
Glenn, I would definitely chase for a refund any way possible.
It’s actually also against Paypal T’s & C’s, to ask for payment via “Friends and Family”, for a business transaction. If they see this happening, they will suspend the seller’s Paypal account and freeze the money in it.
Perhaps, Glenn, you should consider reporting the seller to Paypal. After all, it won’t only be you who is being taken for a ride by this unscrupulous person! Depends if you feel brave…
