I was recently forced to send this letter to Paypal because there is NO FAIR PROTECTION for the Seller and the system doesn't make sense. Has anyone else had this problem as a small-business owner / seller ??
Greetings
I need some guidance and advice because we are considering discontinuing our use of the Paypal shopping cart, as there seems to be NO protection for the seller. It seems that there is an ABUNDANCE of protection from the buyer, but none for the seller.
We own a small, custom-clothing business. The items are custom-made by order and it is WELL-INDICATED on the website AND on the shopping cart to "please allow 4-8 weeks for completion and delivery of all orders." It is also indicated that "smaller items are kept on-stock for quick shipment, however, if they are out of stock and being re-made, the order will fall under the standard 4-8 weeks for completion and delivery unless other arrangements have been made."
When creating my Paypal shopping cart tags, the options allow me to select the TIME-FRAME for completion and delivery of the order. Paypal ALLOWS me to select that option, which would lead the seller to assume there is SOME level of protection provided when an impatient or unreasonable buyer complains.
When an eBay buyer files a dispute or claim for a sale, the seller has several options:
* Refund the item
* Provide Proof item was refunded
* Refund the item upon its Return
* DISAGREE WITH DISPUTE AND EXPLAIN WHY
I have discovered that shopping cart customers are NOT allowed that 4th option when buyers file a complaint. INSTEAD, the money is immediately withdrawn from our account - NO QUESTIONS ASKED - and we are given only 3 options to select in response to the dispute:
* Provide Proof that the item was Shipped
* Provide Proof of a Refund
* Refund the purchase
There are NO OPTIONS allowed for the buyer to provide response or explanation to the customer.
Case-in-point:
A customer may not pay attention to the well-indicated policies on the website AND on the Paypal shopping cart and files a complaint of "non-receipt" 15 days after buying a custom-made garment. The money is immediately withdrawn from my account, which might put me in the red, depending on our current sales levels - I am allowed NO options to respond politely to the customer's dispute on Paypal without agreeing to one of the 3 options listed above (NONE of which apply to the particular circumstance) - so I am left with the option to email or call the customer directly to politely remind them of the policies to which they agreed when placing their order and that the order is still well-within the time-frame indicated.
In these cases, the customer is usually beligerant and refuses to respond to my email or direct contact because they know they have a safe-haven at PAYPAL and that I am FORCED to respond via that communication network. I have been forced to contact Paypal directly several times because none of the response options apply to my circumstances.
If I DON'T respond, the customer gets to keep the money withdrawn from our account, and I have also already paid my contractors to MAKE the product(s), so I take a DOUBLE-LOSS on the entire purchase simply because I am allowed NO protection from Paypal to respond fairly.
When I process a customer's CREDIT CARD payment manually through a completely separate processing service and the same scenario happens - the customer complains to their credit card company and the credit card company does NOT withdraw funds from our account and fairly sends out a notice by mail giving the seller the option to respond to the complaint within the indicated number of days. This gives us time to respond FAIRLY to both the credit card company and the customer and then the credit card company makes a fair and final decision.
If Paypal gives the seller the option on the shopping cart to select the time-frame for completion and delivery of the order, then they MUST allow the seller the options to respond to buyers' complaints in all fairness and BEFORE immediately providing full refunds back to the customer "JUST BECAUSE THEY COMPLAINED." This is completely un-fair to honest and hard-working small businesses like ourselves. Because we have lost money SEVERAL times because of impatient customers who refuse to follow policies or communicate with us, we are preparing to cancel our Paypal shopping cart and go back to using a different merchant service which provides a great deal more protection for the BUYER than simply protecting the CUSTOMER with no questions asked or no fair opportunity to respond before withdrawing money from the seller's account unfairly. You provide this service on EBAY, so why do you not also provide it for shopping cart sellers?
Thank you for your time and consideration.
