The client asks to refund the money for digital services.

[smogl7]

Hi, recently I did digital artwork for one client online.

The work was approved, completed and paid according with company policy.

And suddenly, weeks later, I've received an e-mail where the client asks to refund the money.

It never happened before. How can I handle this situation and protect my interests?

The concern is that PayPal don't have any consideration for sellers of “Intangible purchases like services, digital goods, etc.”.

Thanks in advance.

[Whac-A-Mole]

what reason did your client give?

It must be a dispute,so what is the reason,not received or not as described?

there is no seller protection for digital,virtual goods and service since you cannot prove delivery with a tracking number.

Next time,either ask for cash or mail him some thing like a copyof work you completed with tracking,cost is $2.62 (online with tracking). 

[smogl7]

 As he says, after a test print he found the mistakes in my work he hasnt noticed in digital versions.

[DPCreations]

As a business you should attempt to resolve the issue and come toa mutually acceptable resolution; that's what a business should do.  Don't rely on PayPal to resolve your own customer relations issues.

If you don't resolve in a business-like manner, then the buyer is likely to be angry and resort to a solution by filing a dispute on PayPal.  This could have a costly outcome for your business.

[smogl7]

Yes, I’m, with no upfront money from the customers,

charges apply only after work approved by them.So there is agreement

when a client satisfied with a result and paid money, the work considered

to be the match to the query and completed. This time wasn’t different,

except it was a big order, divided into a few subparts. Between first and

last batches of the finals images passed at least two weeks, when he could

find all the flaws in both digital and printed versions and tell me to fix them.

Please agree that there is a huge difference between “great” and “unusable” even

for digital and printed versions. When I received his email a few days ago, I’ve asked

him to send me the detailed descriptions of what’s wrong with each image to fix the flaws

and offer to print the finals in our lab, no answer yet…

As for PayPal, I don’t rely on it to resolve my relation’s issues with the customers,

I would prefer if it stay aside. Unfortunately I don’t have alternatives for some payments,

so I use PayPal services on my own risk knowing the ease at which buyers can "reverse"

a payment without much questions is ridiculous.

[DPCreations]

I'm really confused.

Were you paid or not?

What is the real issue about payment?

[smogl7]

Yes, I was paid for all work on the entire project. The problem is that after

a print test the images look “unusable” to him and he would like to have a refund. 

[DPCreations]

So how do you plan to resolve the issue with the buyer? 

[smogl7]

That’s why I’m here; to find out maybe someone has dealt with something like this.

[DPCreations]

If you don't quickly make a deal with the buyer the buyer may get angry and become resourceful to get a refund.  All the buyer has to do is file a dispute for item not received and get a full refund.  You have no online tracking to show delivery of goods.

I don't think a forced refund would be a solution you want for your business.

And then there could even be a more costly result of the buyer paid by credit card and files a claim with the credit card.  In that case you would be forced to refund and be charged a $20 chargeback fee.

So, think about your options without delay.  Assume there will be a cost to your business and make a deal with the buyer so you are in control of the solution rather than have PayPal intervene.

I assume you did not have a written and signed contract for this work, so there isn't a lot of defense.  I assum you did not have an agreed workability status in place for the full payment and development.

You will need to come up with your own solution and make a presentation to the buyer for that solution.