First of all, allow me to express my condolences for this. This is a member-to-member board so we can offer only advice.
In my own experience with purchases gone wrong as a buyer, I have found that if you need to lobby paypal about something, an email is almost always pointless. In all but the rarest of instances, you are going to receive a form-letter type reply. With a problem like this, you're going to have to call them and state (no, plead) your case.
This is unfortunately the risk one takes when making a purchase from someone far, far away. What seems like a great deal at the time can all-too-easily become the opposite if something goes wrong. A damaged item is one problem, there is also the possibility of it being the wrong item entirely, a counterfeit or, very, very rarely, an empty box.
I think the last thing I bought directly from China was an iPad case, what looked to be a lovely one. Leather. Fine Italian leather. In Canada, it retailed for like $150 CAD and I was, like, 'No way, Jose' so I found one on ebay in China and it came quickly and I was thrilled with it until I tried to put it on and discovered it was assembled upside down. So now I have a beautiful leather iPad case that opens to the wrong side and in all the wrong places. For me, however, it was not worth the cost of a return. I added it to the Never Again pile.
If you have a clean account without a lot of suspicious activity as a buyer, and are polite but firm on the phone, you might find paypal can help you with alternative arrangements. I don't want to raise your hopes but it is possible. Maybe they could compel the seller to pay for return shipping since this isn't a case of wanting to do a return due to buyer's remorse. It's hardly your fault the item was not functioning when it arrived.
Good luck as you carry forward.
If you think of it, let us know how it turns out.
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