PayPal decides buyer claims under its published Purchase Protection terms, which are company rules attached to your account, not a standalone federal refund statute written for wallet apps. That's the first split to keep straight.

Sellers sit under a different program. Seller Protection can cover some unauthorized transactions and item-not-received claims if the shipment tests are met.

If a package never shows up, or the goods look nothing like the listing, where do you actually start? You'll start in PayPal's Resolution Center, then treat any linked credit card as a separate rail with a separate clock.

How to open a PayPal dispute

Use the account that sent or received the payment. Open Activity or the Resolution Center, find the transaction, and report a problem.

1. Choose the reason that matches the facts: item not received, significantly not as described, or unauthorized use.
2. Write a short account of the order date, what the listing promised, and what arrived or failed to arrive.
3. Upload the listing, messages, tracking, and photos you already have. Don't hunt for extra theatrics.
4. Submit so PayPal can notify the other party and keep the conversation in the case.
5. If you cannot resolve it with the seller, move to a claim in the same flow, or call and ask an agent to file the claim, which PayPal's protection page also allows.

Same case. Different stage.

PayPal says it will make a final decision in its sole discretion, including automatically closing a dispute or claim, based on eligibility and the information in the file. That language is in the policy.

What Purchase Protection covers

Eligible problems are mostly goods that never arrived or goods that differ in a serious way from the description. Unauthorized account use is its own report, not a shipping argument.

Coverage still depends on item type and the live policy for your account. PayPal's text is also specific on fakes: if a seller loses a significantly-not-as-described claim because the item was counterfeit, the seller has to refund in full and the buyer does not return the item.

Deadlines on the legal pages

PayPal's U.S. protection page lists more than one outer window. One rule says you must open a dispute within 30 days of delivery or fulfillment, or within 180 days of the payment, whichever is sooner. Another line still says to open the dispute within 180 days of the date you sent the payment.

Claim type changes which line applies. Read the timeframe next to your reason.

Waiting for a friendlier seller reply won't stop that clock. If tracking already says delivered, and the photos on your counter don't match the listing color, and the seller keeps pasting the same number with no new scan, open the dispute rather than waiting for a warmer reply that may never come.

Thing is, the case screen can show extra internal due dates after you file. Those are PayPal's process dates. They are not a substitute for the published opening window.

If a buyer files against you

Seller Protection is not a mood shield. PayPal limits it to unauthorized transactions and item-not-received claims, and you still have to meet the shipping tests.

Ship to the address on the PayPal transaction details. Keep proof that matches at least the city and state, the city and country, or the zip or postal code. Send the documents PayPal requests inside the time the case gives you.

The same help page excludes a pile of categories people still try to force through: vehicles, boats, aircraft, buying a business, and some prepaid or gift-card sales. Read the exclusions before you ship. Intangible items, if they qualify at all, need proof they were delivered or provided as described.

Respond in the Resolution Center. A tracking number that goes to a different city than the PayPal address is how a lot of otherwise honest sellers lose.

What to upload

Buyers need the listing, the chat, and proof of the defect or the empty tracking history. Sellers need carrier scans to the confirmed address.

Clear photos beat a paragraph of anger. A signature confirmation beats a selfie of a packed box, though the box photo can still support a not-as-described fight if the buyer claims damage you didn't cause.

Turns out mismatched addresses and silent message threads sink more files than a missing "legal" phrase.

PayPal's process is not a card billing dispute

A linked credit card does not merge the two systems.

FTC guidance on disputing credit card charges says you should write the issuer so the letter arrives within 60 days after the first bill that showed the error. Keep a copy of that letter. Unless the problem is already fixed, the issuer must acknowledge the complaint in writing within 30 days of getting it, and must resolve it within 90 days.

Put the PayPal case ID in that letter. Duplicate recovery on the same charge is how people get a second collection headache.

Unauthorized card use follows the issuer's fraud steps first. Many issuers run zero-liability policies on top of federal billing-error rules. That still is not Seller Protection.

After PayPal closes the case

A closed claim is PayPal's decision under its rules. It's not a court order.

If you still need a documented response on a money-transfer or wallet problem, you can submit a complaint through the CFPB complaint portal. The bureau currently takes complaints about money transfers, virtual currency, and money services, among other products.

It forwards the issue, companies generally respond in 15 days, you can review that response, and you have 60 days to leave feedback. Email updates follow, and you can check status. None of that forces PayPal to reverse a protection ruling.

To be honest, that filing is most useful when you want the company's answer on the record after the Resolution Center already said no.

Open the payment today if you're still inside PayPal's published window, save PDFs of the listing and tracking, and calendar the card letter if a credit statement already shows the charge.