November 7, 2011 at 12:41PayPal or Pay My Friend
I would like to share with you the story of one interesting dispute in PayPal. For those who are not in the know, a “dispute” is a situation where there is a misunderstanding between the seller and the buyer and PayPal becomes an intermediary, trying to find out which side is true (and if simpler, then “who will use the money”).
I have several e-shops selling icons. It should be noted that icons are one of the types of downloadable “digital goods” that, by definition, the “return option” cannot apply. (I recall an old joke “can I upload a file I don’t need back to the Internet?”) I stipulated that this could cause confusion among individual buyers, and introduced a special clause in the “user agreement”, which every buyer should accept. To avoid a certain type of comment, I will not give links to stores; take my word for it, high quality icons and I have never encountered a “desire to return”.
Last week I received a letter from PayPal informing me that a client expressed a desire to receive money back. According to PayPal, in fact, he “didn’t think of paying”, “everything happened by chance,” and so on (hereinafter, I will give a free translation of the correspondence). A PayPal employee reported an open dispute and asked me to provide evidence that "the goods were delivered to the buyer." (PayPal, obviously, only discovers the existence of virtual goods (yes, it sounds like nonsense; then this nonsense will thicken) and the whole discussion is conducted in terms of the mailing of physical goods).
The amount of the order was small, but I decided not to let the brakes go, noting for myself that this could be an unhealthy precedent. In addition, the buyer's explanations (according to PayPal) sounded more than strange (“did not know”, “did not think”). I provided the necessary information about the time of payment, as well as the fact of downloading the file (the person “didn’t want to buy”, but the file was downloaded properly). To the documents confirming the above, I added a detailed description of the nature of the goods and mentioned the “user agreement”.
A few days later the dispute was resolved. To my sincere surprise, the money was returned to the buyer, completely ignoring my evidence and arguments. I did not receive any explanation of what happened. Only a verdict and the ability to respond by letter. It didn’t solve anything, but it was something like a “matter of honor”.
I wrote in support of PayPal. Once again he outlined the situation and expressed his frustration with the fact that this approach to business legitimizes file theft. One can imagine that any dishonest person can thus “buy goods” and get his money back. Given that PayPal frankly spits on the rights of the seller, licenses and user agreements this can become (if not already) a widespread practice.
In parallel, I wrote to my "suspicious buyer." He told me that it’s humanly offensive for someone to do such tricks. And that I am glad for him and his dexterity, but I do not consider this acceptable.
In response, I received two very amazing letters. The buyer (and the buyer is a fairly well-known American designer) apologized, said that he was surprised that PayPal decided to return money to him for the icons that he bought, and he was happy to use it. Moreover: within an hour, he sent me the amount of the purchase directly. No comments.
PayPal responded in the usual way for Western elephanthounds “we understand that you are upset, but ...” They attached a number of tips to the answer, which in their opinion will help me “not to encounter similar situations from now on”. (On their part, it would be honest to write: “Do not want such situations, do not trade digital goods with our help,” but they wrote, of course, something else.)
So, fun tips from PayPal:
1. The best solution would be to write the file to physical media (CD / DVD).
2. Send a disk with a file within seven days from the date of payment.
3. Ensure that the sending method includes a tracking number and confirmation of delivery to the recipient.
After reading this, I did not know whether to laugh or cry. Even if I imagine that I took their “advice” seriously ... It will kill my business. I myself often buy downloadable products on the Internet. And if I happened to read: “pay now (adding at least $ 30 for delivery) and get your three megabytes in just ... seven days. On the disk ”, I would twist my finger at the temple and left such a site. Forever and ever.
For those who have already moved away from the state of "facepalm". In the West, where PayPal operates, its honest Skolkovo has long been built. Spaceships plow Silicon Valley. Innovation and climb out of all the holes. But the files (it turns out) still need to be sent on donkeys. To be more reliable.
I have several e-shops selling icons. It should be noted that icons are one of the types of downloadable “digital goods” that, by definition, the “return option” cannot apply. (I recall an old joke “can I upload a file I don’t need back to the Internet?”) I stipulated that this could cause confusion among individual buyers, and introduced a special clause in the “user agreement”, which every buyer should accept. To avoid a certain type of comment, I will not give links to stores; take my word for it, high quality icons and I have never encountered a “desire to return”.
Last week I received a letter from PayPal informing me that a client expressed a desire to receive money back. According to PayPal, in fact, he “didn’t think of paying”, “everything happened by chance,” and so on (hereinafter, I will give a free translation of the correspondence). A PayPal employee reported an open dispute and asked me to provide evidence that "the goods were delivered to the buyer." (PayPal, obviously, only discovers the existence of virtual goods (yes, it sounds like nonsense; then this nonsense will thicken) and the whole discussion is conducted in terms of the mailing of physical goods).
The amount of the order was small, but I decided not to let the brakes go, noting for myself that this could be an unhealthy precedent. In addition, the buyer's explanations (according to PayPal) sounded more than strange (“did not know”, “did not think”). I provided the necessary information about the time of payment, as well as the fact of downloading the file (the person “didn’t want to buy”, but the file was downloaded properly). To the documents confirming the above, I added a detailed description of the nature of the goods and mentioned the “user agreement”.
A few days later the dispute was resolved. To my sincere surprise, the money was returned to the buyer, completely ignoring my evidence and arguments. I did not receive any explanation of what happened. Only a verdict and the ability to respond by letter. It didn’t solve anything, but it was something like a “matter of honor”.
I wrote in support of PayPal. Once again he outlined the situation and expressed his frustration with the fact that this approach to business legitimizes file theft. One can imagine that any dishonest person can thus “buy goods” and get his money back. Given that PayPal frankly spits on the rights of the seller, licenses and user agreements this can become (if not already) a widespread practice.
In parallel, I wrote to my "suspicious buyer." He told me that it’s humanly offensive for someone to do such tricks. And that I am glad for him and his dexterity, but I do not consider this acceptable.
In response, I received two very amazing letters. The buyer (and the buyer is a fairly well-known American designer) apologized, said that he was surprised that PayPal decided to return money to him for the icons that he bought, and he was happy to use it. Moreover: within an hour, he sent me the amount of the purchase directly. No comments.
PayPal responded in the usual way for Western elephanthounds “we understand that you are upset, but ...” They attached a number of tips to the answer, which in their opinion will help me “not to encounter similar situations from now on”. (On their part, it would be honest to write: “Do not want such situations, do not trade digital goods with our help,” but they wrote, of course, something else.)
So, fun tips from PayPal:
1. The best solution would be to write the file to physical media (CD / DVD).
2. Send a disk with a file within seven days from the date of payment.
3. Ensure that the sending method includes a tracking number and confirmation of delivery to the recipient.
After reading this, I did not know whether to laugh or cry. Even if I imagine that I took their “advice” seriously ... It will kill my business. I myself often buy downloadable products on the Internet. And if I happened to read: “pay now (adding at least $ 30 for delivery) and get your three megabytes in just ... seven days. On the disk ”, I would twist my finger at the temple and left such a site. Forever and ever.
For those who have already moved away from the state of "facepalm". In the West, where PayPal operates, its honest Skolkovo has long been built. Spaceships plow Silicon Valley. Innovation and climb out of all the holes. But the files (it turns out) still need to be sent on donkeys. To be more reliable.