PayPals corruption with "Unauthorized Payment" claims.

[HeavensWaffles]

Hello respected PayPal community and staff,
The title may seem a bit harsh, but that is because I am writing in the heat of the moment, I apologize if anything. I normally don't get involved in Forums, or any other online communities, not even Reddit, but this is something that I feel is important and needs more attention.

PayPal is making it way too easy to be a scammer (buyers end) for payments made for digital goods/services. I am NOT joking when I say the "buyer" has the 100% guarantee of winning a case, if they claim it to be an "Unauthorized Payment". It seems as though PayPal requires no evidence, and there is no accountability to the "buyer" at all. What about being a responsible owner, and securing your account & device? We will just throw that out of the question? Does PayPal at least run a background check to see if they have filed such claims in the past?

These so called "buyers" use your product/service for as long as they need it, then once they are done, all it takes to get a full refund is to claim it wasn't an authorized payment.

Why is the seller left to suffer? Real money, real time, real services will be lost, and the seller will never have any chance of winning the case due to them not having "Sellers Protection". I'm serious, you could literally show PayPal evidence (screenshots) of the "buyer" bragging about their scam, and they will still take their side because of the corrupt ToS.

PayPal has been very good to me with false claims regarding "Item not as Described", "Not Delivered", or "Item is Damaged". I so far won 100% of those cases (10 total), but it's not possible to have any justice with these "Unauthorized" payments. Sellers are losing money, time, and digital products, this is very troubling.

[kernowlass]

@HeavensWaffles 

Paypal states that there is no seller protection for virtual or digital items, you can sell them and accept paypal payments but you do so at your own risk.

[HeavensWaffles]

@kernowlass 

Yes I am very much aware of PayPal's ToS and their take on "Seller's Protection". I mentioned this several times in this forum. My point is that PayPal's ToS has flaws which allow for an easy gateway to fraudulent activity, and punishes the seller... the whole point is that this is a risk.

PayPal is essentially saying: "Hey, if you're a seller of Digital Goods/Services on our platform, we'll make sure to give our users a 100% guarantee of robbing you and getting your stuff for free by offering a "Unauthorized Payment" option. Isn't this just wonderful? Come and join us!"

I don't see how this could be refuted or argued with, but I am open to others opinions on this issue. Also sorry for being salty, but you understand.

[kernowlass]

@HeavensWaffles 

Yes of course paypal are saying that the risk is yours and that buyers can easily open unauthorised disputes and get their money back.

An unauthorised dispute is saying that their paypal account was hacked and used without their consent, all they have to do is use another IP address and paypal can't argue with it.

However if its a 'chargeback' then that is done directly via the buyers card issuer and they make all the decisions and not paypal.

So yes either way you can get ripped off very easily by selling virtual items but you know that in advance so its up to you if you want to take the risk or not.

Blaming paypal is like taking out insurance for your house only and not the contents and then blaming the insurance company that they are not covering you for goods stolen within the house !!!

[HeavensWaffles]

@kernowlass 
Yes, again I understand this and the risks involved. I personally am prepared to take them, but this forum is made in the hopes that PayPal will consider tightening their security.

I'm not understanding your Insurance metaphor, but it would make perfect sense if this involved the buyer.
Example: Buyer has to take responsibility to secure their account and information to avoid getting hacked, all PayPal hacks in 2020 are more of tricks, not much technical work. If the buyer fails to do so, they have to take the losses for "items burnt in the fire", and not blame PayPal for not covering their lost money for "Unauthorized" payments.

This forum thread is simply a complaint and approach to improving on the ToS, to state that sellers cant have a say in the way PayPal operates is ridiculous I think. Wouldn't you agree?

[kernowlass]

@HeavensWaffles 

I see your point, however knowing that paypal would not cover me for virtual items i just wouldn't take the risk in the first place to be honest.

There are loads of other payment processors or can you do bank to bank direct transfers over there?

[HeavensWaffles]

@kernowlass 
I sell multiple products. For my software applications, I don't mind as I don't lose any money on that, but it hurts to know that you were taken advantage of.

However I also sell another service which does cost me production costs. For that service I offer 3 payments: PayPal, Stripe, & BTC.
I want to continue offering PayPal as it brings in 75% of the sales. I believe that have I discontinued providing PayPal, most people would use Stripe, but at the moment I have not suffered devastating losses so I will continue providing PayPal... for now.