What happens if neither party escalates a dispute within 20 days?

[ComputerWhiz]

I work with a business that sells a service on PayPal (not this account). They have a customer that has falsely filed a dispute for a refund of their subscription, claiming that they have not received the service. It's easy to prove that they actually have received and accessed the service (we have logs), but they refuse to withdraw their dispute.

My main question is, I looked at the documentation and it says that there is 20 days to escalate a claim to PayPal for review. The company has responded to the customer. What happens if neither party escalates the claim within the 20 day period? I know the documentation says that the case closes, but what happens with the money? Does the seller keep it or does the buyer get it automatically refunded to them?

We'd obviously like to get the buyer a fair chance to close the dispute on their own, but we also don't want to miss the deadline to escalate the claim manually, if the money automatically gets returned after the 20 days.

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@ComputerWhiz

Actually logs are pretty meaningless as you have no seller protection for virtual / digital content.

HOWEVER if the buyer does not escalate to a claim within 20 days it 'times out' and thats the end of it UNLESS they paid via a credit card and go to their c.c. company for a chargeback.

[ComputerWhiz]

That's interesting. So the money would remain with the seller?

[kernowlass]

@ComputerWhiz

If the dispute is not escalated then yes.