PayPal Denied INR Claim I Opened Despite Seller Never Shipping

[90sbasketballin]

Hey everyone,

I recently purchased a trading card via PayPal G&S for ~$3,500. I explicitly documented the terms of my purchase (via text message) and requested the seller's confirmation, which she provided. I also included the item name in the PayPal G&S note to ensure there were no potential hiccups. Unfortunately, I never received my item & shortly after a week, I opened a dispute, not thinking much of it, as PayPal is typically pretty good about INR claims.

I opened my email today to see that I've lost the dispute, though I never received a refund or the trading card itself. No tracking was uploaded & no updates from the seller. I called PayPal immediately and was told by a support agent that my claim was denied on the basis that my "item was intended for resale."

I spoke to the agent, letting him know that this was an item I purchased as a gift for myself that I had no intention to resell. I collect trading cards. More importantly, the fundamental fact remains that the seller failed to deliver the item and failed to provide proof of shipment or delivery.

While I filed an appeal, the PayPal agent did seem a bit hesitant about getting this resolved. He said there was a low chance of this being overturned, despite the seller not shipping the item. He also said my best bet was to dispute this with my finance company. Today, my Paypal appeal was denied almost immediately after filing.

Q: Will the debit card company still investigate and potentially refund me even though the transaction was processed through a third-party app? I filed a chargeback, but this has never happened to me before. If you have any valuable insight to help, please let me know! This is by far my largest ever sports card transaction, which makes it 10x more nerve-wracking.

[rwperu34]

I just went through this with ChatGPT.

Main question that needs resolved; is this a personal account or a business account? If business, that's why they deemed it for resale. That's still BS, IMO. You paid for an item and didnt' get it. What your intentions are once you have it should have no bearing on buyer protection.

📞 Step 2: Call and Escalate to a Supervisor

Don’t use chat.

Call PayPal and say:

“This was a personal purchase. It was not for resale. I am requesting a manual review and written explanation of how you determined resale intent.”

Ask them:

What evidence shows resale?

What specific Buyer Protection clause they’re invoking?

Where in the transaction does it indicate resale?

Force them to point to something specific.

Then for the chargeback;

💳 Step 3: Chargeback (If You Used a Card)

At $3,500, this is absolutely chargeback territory.

If you paid with:

Credit card → File “Merchandise Not Received”

Debit card → Still file

Tell your bank:

Seller never shipped

No tracking

PayPal denied on “resale” grounds

Item was personal, not commercial

Banks do not care about PayPal’s resale classification. They care about:

Was the item delivered?

If no tracking exists, that’s powerful.

Then the last few tidbits;

Important

When you file a chargeback:

PayPal may lock your account temporarily.

They may send it to collections if you lose (rare in clear INR cases).

But for $3,500, protecting funds is priority.

🧾 Also File a Complaint

If you’re in the U.S., file complaints with:

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Federal Trade Commission

CFPB complaints especially get corporate-level responses.

[longhornjunkie]

Your bank should help you, but once you file there, Paypal won't help you anymore.

Paypal protection is worthless. My account got hacked (basically), I freaked out and contacted both Paypal and my bank. Once I got the bank involved, Paypal wouldn't help me and said the bank was in control of the case. Chase reached out to Paypal and Paypal said the charges were authorized. I finally sent enough angry letters and messages to get one of the charges overturned, but they still kept $100 of my money (two separate charges were initiated).

I would show up to the bank in person if possible with all the documentation and have them help you.

[Snowcat]

May need to take the seller to small claims court

[paparoke]

Did the seller respond to your dispute? Or have they ghosted you? I've never seen paypal deny a claim where the seller had no tracking or proof of delivery. Even if you planned to resell the card or eat it for dinner, should be totally irrelevent.

[90sbasketballin]

Originally Posted by rwperu34

I just went through this with ChatGPT.

Main question that needs resolved; is this a personal account or a business account? If business, that's why they deemed it for resale. That's still BS, IMO. You paid for an item and didnt' get it. What your intentions are once you have it should have no bearing on buyer protection.



Then for the chargeback;



Then the last few tidbits;

Thank you! I unfortunately lost both the initial dispute (INR) & appeal as well. I've opened at least 15+ cases of INR in PayPal in the last decade (and I've won every one of them), but this is the first time this has ever happened. Sucks because it was for such a large sum of money.

This is a personal account - I truly have no idea as to how PayPal arrived at their decision. They confirmed the payment was made through G&S. The order was marked as shipped manually (which anyone could do), but no tracking # was ever uploaded. There was no proof of delivery. The fundamental fact remains that the seller failed to deliver the item and failed to provide proof of shipment or delivery.

I also argued that any item sold in an open marketplace is, by definition, capable of being resold. The mere fact that an item has resale potential does not constitute evidence that it was purchased for resale, nor does it diminish the seller’s obligation to ship and deliver the item as agreed.

I got shut down almost immediately by multiple PayPal representatives, so now trying to dispute with my debit card company. Praying for the best.

[90sbasketballin]

Originally Posted by longhornjunkie

Your bank should help you, but once you file there, Paypal won't help you anymore.

Paypal protection is worthless. My account got hacked (basically), I freaked out and contacted both Paypal and my bank. Once I got the bank involved, Paypal wouldn't help me and said the bank was in control of the case. Chase reached out to Paypal and Paypal said the charges were authorized. I finally sent enough angry letters and messages to get one of the charges overturned, but they still kept $100 of my money (two separate charges were initiated).

I would show up to the bank in person if possible with all the documentation and have them help you.

Thank you for the advice! I may have to show up at the bank - I disputed the charge via the Bank of America app, and no evidence was asked from me, which left me a bit uneasy. I have a TON of supporting evidence to prove that PayPal clearly made the wrong decision, but printing everything out and providing it to the team would be my best chance.

[90sbasketballin]

Originally Posted by Snowcat

May need to take the seller to small claims court

I was considering this - Hopefully the bank can resolve this, so I don't have to go through all that trouble

[boxbuster7]

This sounds very odd to me. If the seller never provided tracking I thought ebay/paypal always side with the buyer...good luck. Everybodys worst nightmare unfortunately.

[90sbasketballin]

Originally Posted by paparoke

Did the seller respond to your dispute? Or have they ghosted you? I've never seen paypal deny a claim where the seller had no tracking or proof of delivery. Even if you planned to resell the card or eat it for dinner, should be totally irrelevant.

No response to my dispute. The seller has also ghosted me. All that appears on PayPal for this package's tracking is:

Package status
Domestic: No Shipment Tracking
January 26, 2026, Sent by MANUAL
Status: Order Processed

On the app, there is no update showing tracking information either (see screenshot below)



No tracking #, no real updates. I provided the PayPal team with a 6-page PDF full of screenshots of the deal terms, and even included the card name and cert # in the PayPal note when I initially paid. I don't know how they could have possibly arrived at their final decision from ANY angle they observed this from.

[base set]

Doesn’t this cut straight to the very core of using PayPal? If they just quit using the shipping service as a confirmation check on transactions….the implications should be obvious in terms of what would happen next.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by boxbuster7

This sounds very odd to me. If the seller never provided tracking I thought ebay/paypal always side with the buyer...good luck. Everybodys worst nightmare unfortunately.

Agree…I can’t make sense out of this, especially why PayPal thinks because it was intended for resale has any bearing on this- thats ludicrous to me. It should just be whether the item they purchased arrived or not for that transaction. Makes zero sense. Wonder if I should be concerned to do PayPal GS transactions at this point based on what I’m seeing here. This would not happen on eBay.

[rwperu34]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

Agree…I can’t make sense out of this, especially why PayPal thinks because it was intended for resale has any bearing on this- thats ludicrous to me. It should just be whether the item they purchased arrived or not for that transaction. Makes zero sense. Wonder if I should be concerned to do PayPal GS transactions at this point based on what I’m seeing here. This would not happen on eBay.

I've quit using Paypal altogether. The only reason I even keep my account open is I need somewhere for my PIP claims to go.