I am starting a legitimate gemstone business, but I am really wary of using Paypal. Despite the fact they claim the customer must return the goods, it seems to me they just believe anything the customer says and either freeze or refund the money with few questions asked. By the very nature of things, a gemstone is to some extent open to differences of opinion about its attributes, qualities etc. They will have a date stamped picyture of the actual stone online and can request an online demo if they wish. A stone with a deep hue, strong lustre etc as assessed by me, a certified gemmologist in accordance with the GIA, a customer may neveretheless dispute as he basically just no longer wants the goods and they were really viewing the goods on approval and do not really want it. On the assumption I delivered the correct goods to the correct place and it is signed for, I intend charging a % as a restocking fee AFTER RECEIPT of the returned goods, plus any duties or charges back to me if it is from an overseas customer. It will need to be insured for return as I insure the outward shipment. This is of no comfort however if Paypal ignore my policy and just dip into my funds for goods I have not even received back, and may not even be the same goods returned, a common consumer scam, and there are plenty of consumers scamming and not just sellers. Does anyone here have any experience of disputes on the subjective quality of items and Paypal's responses to claims and in turn to the terms and conditions I set? I presume there are Paypal moderators reading posts so can you offer me any comfort and assurance or do I just write Paypal off as too much trouble to be worth it? I just hear too many horror stories from other vendors.
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