Shopee seller calls buyer 'fraudulent' for wanting refund for 'dented' $150 Panadol Extra order

Panadol is for headaches, but it appears ordering Panadol can cause headaches too.

The drug was so in demand recently that some retailers imposed a purchase limit last month.

It is also the centre of a bitter dispute between a Shopee seller and buyer.

Stomper Cao, the buyer, cancelled his $150 Panadol Extra order after finding a better deal elsewhere, but the seller, topelectronics, rejected the cancellation and sent the order anyway.

The package that the buyer received was dented and so he requested to return it for a refund.

In response, the seller said: "I feel sorry for such user who lead no quality in life."

The seller suggested that the "fraudulent" buyer might have "crushed the box to raise a false dispute".

The buyer wrote to Stomp about it and provided this summary: "Local merchant on Shopee sells Panadol at three times market price ($150 for 120 capsules) when there's a shortage in Singapore, ships two days after order cancellation request, rejects refund and goes on a tirade against the buyer, insulting the buyer's personality, character, English language ability, quality of life, accusing buyer of fraud and lying, and even threatening to take action against both the buyer and Shopee."

It all started on Jan 7 when the Stomper made his online purchase as a "seven-day pre-order".

"Panadol has been out of stock at all seven different physical stores and pharmacies my dad went to and I could not find any online shops with available stock either. My mum has very bad migraines at night and could not sleep without Panadol Extra. So even though the price was ridiculous we had no other choice," said the Stomper.

"The next day, I found another shop online that had a restock for Panadol Extra, priced much more reasonably at $10 for 20 capsules, and ships within two to three days. Considering my pre-order would only arrive earliest in another five to six days, I immediately made the purchase from the other seller and submitted a cancellation for the pre-order at 4.33pm.

"Shopee policy states that 'if a buyer cancels their order before the seller arranges for shipment, the order will be cancelled immediately'."

On Jan 10, the seller rejected the cancellation request.

"On Jan 12, the parcel arrived, but due to poor packaging, the boxes were all dented and/or crushed on one side. You'd think that Panadol that's more than three times the market price would get better packaging at least, but apparently not," said the Stomper.

"We were already dissatisfied with the shady behaviour of the seller for forcing this purchase on us, so we did not hesitate to proceed to request a return and refund since it did not arrive in a satisfactory condition."

The Stomper shared screenshots of the seller's chat with Shopee regarding the request, in which the seller said: "Item is ship out in pristine condition, for exterior box doesn't affect the product, this is a false return."

The Stomper also shared screenshots of his argument with the seller, where the seller accused the Stomper of lying.