How can I protect myself against scam oppositions??

[anitag76]

I have an online store (4 yrs), using paypal, never any problems.  I'm a legitimate store with over a thousand happy clients.

I sold 2 engaved zippos last april, thru paypal, by credit card.

Shipped the zippos (telephone, order address and paypal address were the same).  All good.

3 days ago (EXACTLY 3 mnths after the sale), the buyer contested the charge.

Paypal blocked the funds and asked for a tracking link or proof of shipping. Obviously a link is no longer valid after 30 days, but I could forward the invoice, and the notification from the supplier stating it was shipped.

Less than 3 minutes later I received an auto email from paypal stating they didnt receive the required documents.  They refunded the client and charged me €16.  Case closed.  No arbitration, no explaination.

I assume the guy received the zippos, but is contesting ordering them. In which case, shouldn't I get the goods back at least?  I'm down €100 for the refund, €80 cost of goods + shipping, plus €16 fee.  That's more than I've made this month.

Apparently I have no rights or recourse?  I don't know which bank the customer is with, and he won't respond to emails or calls. Can you really just walk in and demand your money back?  I really assummed the client had just forgotten what it was (it was 3 months ago after all...).  There's no way paypal had time to retrun the proof to the client, or arbitrate in any way.  Obviously its much cheaper for paypal to just hand over my hard-hard-hard-earned profit than send an email.

I have just had 2 more sales of around €100 and I'm petrified the same thing will happen. 

So how can I protect myself against this?  Calling each client with some phony excuse to see if they made the order?  They already get 3 emails from me and the one from paypal.

I'm a small business and have to be very careful with balancing my bills.  Paypal have just landed me in debt for the first time.

Any help on how to sell safely with paypal much appreciated.

[kernowlass]

When your sale occured buyers could only file a dispute with paypal within 45 days.

So they must have done a chargeback direct with their credit card issuer instead.

In that scenario paypal can only provide evidence of delivery of the item to the buyer to combat the chargeback.

So if you did not have a tracking number to prove DELIVERY of the item to the buyer then you would have no defence and the chargeback would go through and the c.c. company charge you the cost of that chargeback.

[anitag76]

Hi, thanks for your reply.  

So yes, anyone can simply contest a charge 90 days after the sale (to the day), and with Paypal, no proof, explaination or arbitration are forthcoming.  

I can't dispute with the shipping company as they sent the items, it would be way too late anyway.  Paypal don't care and couldn't give my money away quick enough.  So my dispute is therefore with the bank and this client.  How do I go about contacting the bank?  Which bank?  You can't simply steal over €200 from someone with absolutely NO EXPLAINATION.  If there is fradulent activity on my site I need to know this.

My original question remains - how can I be sure any payments recievd via Paypal are legitimate?  I feel I've made a very poor choice choosing paypal as my payment method. They've treated this dispute with such a careless nature, I'm not sure I wish to be a Paypal client anymore 😞

[kernowlass]

Actually since June 17th buyers now have up to 180 days to file a dispute on paypal instead of the 45 day limit they used to have.

I keep all my tracking receipts for at least a year to be on the safe side. 

Actually in the case of a credit card chargeback paypal have no say in the matter, they can put forward your tracking number etc to try and protect you but the c.c. company makes the decision on behalf of their client.

I'm afraid when you become an ebay or paypal seller then there is no such thing as being 100% safe. All you can do is reduce risks as much as possible.

But you can't avoid the occasional dispute / chargeback if you become a business by selling on ebay.

Just like a shopkeeper can't expect not to have the occasional shoplifter.

But i have to say as a buyer that without paypal buyer protection I would never buy and send money to a stranger on the internet, so as I have over 2000 buying sales on ebay, all those sellers would not have had my money if I could not have used paypal.