I have had my appeal considered and finished by Paypal and they have stated that I do not qualify for a refund as:
"The claim does not fall under Paypal's definition of significantly not-as-described and does not qualify for a refund".
the original thread is here
but the long and short of it is (for those bored by reading long threads) is:
- The seller does not have to accept a return even if they put on the ebay listing that returns are accepted - they can just refuse to give you their address and ebay will NOT give it to you
- The seller can claim in the listing and in the dispute case notes to paypal that the item is an orginal antique and still send you a modern piece and paypal will decide it IS still as described
I have no option now but to send it to Paypal (gulp!) by special delivery and then send the Royal Mail special delivery receipt to my bank along with an explanation and they will do a Visa Chargeback.
According to my bank it will then be up to Paypal to PROVE that the item is antique.
But for the next month I will have no item and no money while I wait for the Bank to resolve it as Paypal have 30 days to prove the item is as described.
So I'm warning you now - your Ebay buys are not covered even when you think you have buyer protection. You don't and I'm telling EVERYONE - my next email will be to Watchdog and then I'm contacting the FSA as a Mumsnetter suggested.