Long story short. Byzantine coin I won from a European auction never arrived and is considered lost, and seller agreed to refund me. I paid with PayPal, so I assumed I’d get the refund through PayPal as well, but they informed me that they use PayPal to receive money not send, and for me to send them my IBAN number. This sounds weird to me because I figure if you are using a PayPal account to accept payments then surely you’d be allowed to refund them (IIRC there is an option to do this when you look at a payment in your account). Also, a quick Google search informed me that banks here in the US do not have IBAN numbers for accounts. Is this correct (I’m still relatively new to non-eBay auctions)? So if the seller won’t refund through PayPal and I have no IBAN number what other option(s) are there? And if I feel like I have to take this up with PayPal, would they be able to help me out? And to keep things legal, feel free to share any Byzantine coins you want. Justinian I, Byzantine Empire AE follis Obv: D N IVSTINI-ANVS P P AVG, diademed, helmeted, cuirassed bust facing, holding globus cruciger and shield, cross to right Rev. Large M, cross above, officina letter Δ below, ANNO to left, XX to right, mintmark QHЧΠ in ex Mint: Theopolis (Antioch) Date: 546/7 (year 20) Ref: SB 220 Size: 19.9 gr., 39 mm
IBAN and BIC numbers are a European thing. Basically the IBAN is all one needs to make a money transfer to anywhere in Europe - usually at low costs. However, that does not mean that a European auction house can't make a money transfer to them. Just provide them with your bank details (account number, clearing number, Swift code).
Refunds in Paypal are as easy as it gets. They just dont know how or are hoping you'll find it a hassle and give up. File the claim directly through Paypal yourself.
An alternative approach would be to register an account on Wise (transferwise). It's a company that specializes in international funds transactions. They'll create an IBAN for them to transfer to and then convert it to dollars to give to you. I've only ever used Wise to send money (many, many times) but never to receive, so I can't be sure if there's a fee associated with it. Edit: that said, you should be able to report the problem in paypal and request refund.
Thanks everyone. I sent an email letting them know PayPal gives them the option to refund a payment, that I don’t have an IBAN, and that I don’t feel comfortable sending them my bank account information. I’ll choose to escalate to PayPal themselves if their next response is not satisfactory. For the record, according to tracking they did send the coin off but unfortunately was randomly chosen to be a sacrifice to the postal gods. Would anyone have any other recommendations/suggestions on how to further handle this? I don’t think it’s necessarily against forum rules but to err on the safe side I don’t think I will reveal publicly. If anyone’s curious they can PM me. I can say they are a newer auction company.
Let PayPal handle it if the response is unsatisfactory. You'll get your refund through them no sweat!
If the coin was sent through registered mail there should be a tracking number through which you can follow up with the postal service either on the European or US side to see where the coin may have ended up. The postal service sometimes also refunds a certain sum if they lose a registered letter (these are supposed to be trackable but I guess with COVID they've skirted the usual step of getting signatures etc.). Maybe another avenue to pursue.
