Preventing Chargebacks on Digital Delivery?

quinda · 03-23-2007

Please forgive me if this is a really stupid question, but Paypals T&Cs are a maze to me, and I can't figure this one out.

From what I can see, buyer protection means if they say they didn't recieve an item, they can initiate a chargeback. The only defence the seller has, is if they used a traceable signed for delivery method to ship the item to the buyers registered credit card address.

So, the seller has to prove the item arrived.

If you are selling a digital item, using email as the delivery method, then from what I can see, you've got no fallback, and the buyer can just get their money back even if they recieved the item?

Am I missing something, or is the only defence to this to post the item out on floppy or CD as well as emailing it?

KHyuga · 03-23-2007

Well, there are bound to be logs of conversations between the seller and buyer prior to the deal.
This is something all sellers should keep just in case somebody decides to create trouble.

qaswer · 03-25-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by quinda

Please forgive me if this is a really stupid question, but Paypals T&Cs are a maze to me, and I can't figure this one out.

From what I can see, buyer protection means if they say they didn't recieve an item, they can initiate a chargeback. The only defence the seller has, is if they used a traceable signed for delivery method to ship the item to the buyers registered credit card address.

So, the seller has to prove the item arrived.

If you are selling a digital item, using email as the delivery method, then from what I can see, you've got no fallback, and the buyer can just get their money back even if they recieved the item?

Am I missing something, or is the only defence to this to post the item out on floppy or CD as well as emailing it?

Best way is to sell things to a verified buyer because Verified buyers processed through a very tight scrutiny so there are less chances of frauds .

Sakuragi · 03-26-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by qaswer

Best way is to sell things to a verified buyer because Verified buyers processed through a very tight scrutiny so there are less chances of frauds .

Even with verified buyers, you cannot be entirely sure that the deal will go through smoothly, as illustrated by many of the negative experiences around here.
Therefore, it's always important to cover your own back at all times.

**louj** · 03-26-2007

I think keeping your conversation would be the best solution to your problem. Make sure that your client understands and agrees to all the description regarding your product. You should also make sure that you describe your product honestly and do not expand the truth.

saubryn · 03-27-2007

Is keeping a log sufficient proof for Paypal? I have heard stories on general webmaster forums of Paypal just taking a buyers word for it, and refusing to communicate with the seller after the chargeback is initiated?

Are those cases just the exception?

Scouser · 03-27-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by saubryn

Is keeping a log sufficient proof for Paypal? I have heard stories on general webmaster forums of Paypal just taking a buyers word for it, and refusing to communicate with the seller after the chargeback is initiated?

Are those cases just the exception?

Well, paypal actually threatened to close one of my friends' account due to an unreasonable complaint by a buyer.
What paypal did was they contacted my friend, asking him to justify the dealing, which he was able to by providing various evidence to support his explanation, one of which was a log of the conversation between the buyer and him.
In the end, no chargeback was made and my friend's account got reinstated.

garycdunn · 03-27-2007

So, the seller has to prove the item arrived. --> I have been arguing with PayPal about this for years and getting no where with PayPal! We sell an Online subscription publication. So people can use PayPal and order a subscription from us, go Online at our website immediately to read their first publication, and then they can tell PayPal they never got anything from us.

How can we stop this?

threegee · 03-27-2007

So the log really did matter. I thought that would be the case so i have always kept the history of conversations PM's or emails with my buyers .

garycdunn · 03-27-2007

threegee - we have no log! A person goes to our website and orders. There is no log. There are no emails! They create a password themselves, use PayPal to pay for their subscription and then log into our site to get their publication.