Seller protection?

[recordpalace]

PayPal is pushing their "buyer protection" programme, but where is the seller protection? It's quite obvious that more and more "buyers" realize that they can take advantage of the buyer protection service. Lots of sellers (private and commercial) outside of eBay accept PayPal. Problem is, of course, that if merchandise is not sent registered (which is very common, especially for not so expensive items), the "buyer" can, after receiving, can claim a "item not received" file, and always!!! get their money back. I run a small business with secondhand records, mostly vinyl, and I ship worldwide from Sweden. Buyers are always offered a registered mail option, but almost all chose not to, as the cost will be too high. More and more often, I now have to face "item not received" disputes, and I always loose the money. The two most obvious cases are:

1. A buyer who has his own used records internet shop, filed an "item not received" dispute, and of course got his money back. Only a few days later, the very same records he "hadn't received", showed up in his own listings.

2. A buyer who placed an order for some records and a music book, placed a new order two weeks later, ordering another copy of the book + some other stuff, telling that a friend also wanted a copy. A few weeks later, he files "item not received" disputes for BOTH orders!

It's quite obvious so, that PayPal are not interested in "solving" any disputes, they just scratch the buyers' backs, and don't give a **bleep** about sellers. I am now going to close my PayPal account, and I have opened a Moneybookers account, which actually also has lower fees.

[Lucky7_Deals]

When it comes to INTERNATIONAL transactions, PayPal definitely needs to change their policy so that Proof of Shipment as opposed to Proof of Delivery, is enough to protect sellers from non-receipt claims. I'm a U.S. seller, but when I ship internationally (generally through USPS First Class Mail, which doesn't have a tracking option or insurance), there is always a concern that these foreign buyers may file a FALSE non-receipt claim to steal a refund, because there is no way that I can prove that delivery has taken place. I could require that my international buyers pay for Priority Mail (which has limited tracking but is quite expensive), or even Express Mail (that has full tracking supposedly, plus insurance too, and is even more expesnsive), but I'll just lose out on potential business from many honest buyers because no one wants to pay these costly shipping rates! The only way foreign buyers will purchase items is if they can get that economical first class shipping rate. I imagine that it's the same scenario for any seller selling internationally from any country. PayPal should recognize this, and instead of placing the burden to prove delivery on sellers, they should have buyers assume the risk for choosing the cut-rate First Class Mail service!

Now if the buyer explicitly paid for the higher rate services that include tracking and/or insurance, but the seller sent it through economy shipping anyway, THEN the seller should be held liable. But if the buyer chooses economy shipping, and the seller can present a postage receipt, or a stub from a customs form that shows the item has been shipped in a timely manner, then PayPal should definitely side with the seller. After all, we sellers can only hand it over to the postal serivce... beyond that we have no control of what happens to these shipments. It's not right for PayPal to hold us responsible for anything that happens beyond the point of shipment, especially if the buyers aren't willing to pay for any extra protection. We should all get together and take some formal actions to get PayPal to change their policy!