Selling Virtual Goods

[sheedy]

Good Afternoon everyone,

I am currently selling a virtual item.

I have done allot of research in regards to this and have several concerns...

My first concern is when trading with someone...once they have paid and I have traded them the item. Is there anything that can prevent them from a charging back the money?!

My second concern is, once the trade is complete the buyer will say that the payment was unauthorised will they win the dispute?

I know there are several scams around virtual goods and that these are the most popular. This is my first time selling a virtual item hence why I am teribbly concerned.

What can prevent me from getting scammed? eg. Them getting their money back from me once the trade is complete.

[kernowlass]

@sheedy

There is NO paypal seller protection if you are selling virtual items.

You can sell them but at your own risk.

[PayPal_Carlos]

Hey sheedy!

Thank you for your post and welcome to the PayPal UK community.

Unfortunately, we cannot promise that a buyer will be fully satisfy after a purchase. Unhappy customers, disputes and claims are normal and part of selling both online and in a traditional shop. When you sell a virtual item, it is important that you explain the content of the sale in a short and clearly manner to the buyer. By doing this, you can avoid that the buyer misunderstand the sale and end opening a dispute.

You can read more about the PayPal Seller Protection in here http://ow.ly/WPJ8X

Hope this helps,

Carlos

[kermitxing]

I have clicked the link you have posted, but the article is not available now.

[kernowlass]

@kermitxing

Legal agreements bottom of any paypal page > user agreement > seller protection.

[kermitxing]

Thank you very much.

[Serverium]

So in other words, if a client opens a dispute on virtual products, the seller will lose it no matter what?

Like the Guardian revealed, sellers are in bad position - even when getting stones instead of actual items back (the weight should only match). In that story, even the photographs taken by the seller wasn't enough (pictures before sending and after receiving).

I've received 20% claims in the last month that are virtual products. Thank god that I live Finland and my clients are also Finnish, so even when PayPal fails to protect us in any way, I can proceed using collecting agency.

[Serverium]

Also I would like to point out, that Buyer protection doesn't neither protect against virtual or electronical products.

[kernowlass]

@Serverium

Buyer protection does now cover buyers for virtual items but only for ''non receipt of item'' and not ''item received but not as described''.

Secondly a buyer can do a chargeback via their card issuer (if they funded their paypal payment with a card). If they did this you would more than likely lose and paypal would not compensate you as you would have no seller protection.

[Serverium]

Well, let's see how many abuses I'll receive using PayPal by the end of the year. I will collect the rest using collecting agency as mentioned before.