Remove Shipping for Digital products

[GArtist]

I am a freelance digital artist using the Invoice system as it has been recomended both for its convience for record keeping and to help avoid being scammed by buyers by providing a more sound document on a purchase.

An ongoing issue with this is the inability to make my products a 'Service' as they are digital. The main problem being the shipping address being sent no matter the option set as if I am sending a physical 'Good'.

I've changed my shipping prefrences under profile as recomended by clicking off the check boxes under 'Display ship button' to no effect.

I've changed my setting on the invoice page under the 'Add/remove details' as recomended after calling paypal to no effect.

I have spent hours tweaking invoice settings, searching help areas, reading feed back, and testing the system to no result. So while I have found people saying it can be done and paypal says it can be done, it doesn't seem to be working?

I know other artist in the same bind as me. Either not wanting their address shared due to safety reasons or not wanting addresses to pile up because shipping info is required. We have found you can make it a service after the fact, but that only semi fixes the issue and can create others.

So! Is there actually a way to turn off shipping on invoices? And if so what are the steps to do so?

[DPCreations]

I don't think it's possible, but I do think it's a good idea to have the buyer's physical/mailing address for your records; it's just good business.

From what I've read you would just mark the transaction as shipped or service provided after the payment.  Look for that option on the transaction line or page.  That is supposed to release the funds.

The invoice is a good for your records, but it will not protect you against a claim of non-delivery.  Since you will not have tracking to show delivery the buyer will automatically win a case of non-delivery as it was never officially delivery to meet PayPal requirements.  What you can do is mail a tracked letter with each service, perhaps with a copy of the paid invoice.  This way there will be tracking to show delivery.  It also might be good for customer relations to received the paid thank-you invoice.

[kamidoodles]

What I've wound up doing is in terms and conditions / sellers notes, I leave a message on the invoice itself:

"As a reminder, you are purchasing DIGITAL goods and no physical items will be shipped."

I figure this way, if they pay the invoice then try to claim they never received their product, you can simply point to the fact that they paid an invoice that stated that it was digital to begin with & provide paypal with documentation that you sent that email with their finished piece.

[Whac-A-Mole]

refer to Paypal seller protection of what is not protected,-digital and virtual goods have no seller protection,

so if you claim on your physical invoice that it is a digital/virtual goods,then tracking would not save you from item not received.

[Whac-A-Mole]

what you can try is take a deposit via Paypal,when the work is ready,ask them to send a check or money order for the full amount and then refund the Paypal deposit,then you dont have to worry about them filing dispute or chargeback.