hhmoore
tired & cranky shadow
As for the paypal thing, I have not yet pulled the money out of my paypal account. Everytime I have transfered from paypal back to my bank account in the past they have kept a percentage. If that is not the case in this situation, I apologize for that part of the statement as I have never actually gotten a refund from paypal before.
That statement flies against any experience I have had with PayPal. PayPal removes their fee when the funds go into the seller's account. The email they receive shows the full amount sent (because the buyer sent full payment), but checking the account shows the actual amount deposited. I have NEVER had a percentage removed when transferring funds from PayPal to my bank account.
As Theresa stated, when a refund is properly submitted - properly meaning that the Refund button was used, as opposed to sending a new payment - then the originally removed fees are returned to the buyer.
I don't know the seller, aside from brief interaction in my role as moderator; but I will agree with two points. 1) I have only a basic understanding of the legal system, and I would have assumed that a Executive Order was a means of immediately putting something in place until formal processes can be completed. As such, I would have considered the animal illegal at that point. I do know that there has been a fair amount of back and forth on that particular order, and I have no idea what the status was at the time the seller issued the refund. 2) If I believe that an animal is illegal, I would not necessarily take the word of a prospective buyer. It would be great if people could be trusted to know their laws, and to operate in accordance with them; but the simple truth is that I know that isn't always the case. Living in NYS, I have been aware of NYCs Health Code for many years, and I am familiar with the State legislation which prohibited many reptiles...and I can't tell you how many people I have had deny the law, state that it had been changed, etc, etc, in their attempts to purchase animals which are simply not legal for them to own.
If the seller was not comfortable sending his snake to a person, OR an area, then (IMO) he is within his rights to refund the buyer's money and make the animal available for sale. Personally, I would have immediately sent the buyer an emailed explanation; but that doesn't mean I would consider the matter up for negotiation if the buyer tried change my mind.