I would like to share with you the story of one interesting dispute in PayPal. For those who don’t know, a “dispute” is a situation where there is a misunderstanding between a seller and a buyer and PayPal becomes a mediator, trying to figure out whose side is right (or, in simpler terms, “to whom the money will go”).
I have several electronic stores that sell icons. It should be noted that icons are one of the types of downloadable “digital goods” that, by definition, cannot be subject to the “possibility of return.” (I remember the old joke “can I upload a file I don’t need back to the Internet?”) I foresaw that this might cause misunderstanding among some buyers, and I added a special clause to the “user agreement” that every buyer must accept. To avoid certain types of comments, I will not provide links to stores; Take my word for it, the icons are of high quality and I have never encountered a “desire to return” them.
Last week I received an email from PayPal saying that a customer wanted a refund. According to PayPal, in fact, he “didn’t think to pay”, “everything happened by accident” and so on (hereinafter I will give a free translation of the correspondence). A PayPal employee reported an open dispute and asked me to provide proof that "the item was delivered to the buyer." (PayPal is obviously just discovering the existence of virtual goods (yes, it sounds like nonsense; later this nonsense will thicken) and the entire discussion is conducted in terms of mailing physical goods).
The amount of the order was small, but I decided not to let things go, noting to myself that this could become an unhealthy precedent. In addition, the buyer’s explanations (according to PayPal) sounded more than strange (“I didn’t know”, “I didn’t think”). I provided the necessary information about the time of payment, as well as about the fact of downloading the file (the person “didn’t want to buy,” but downloaded the file properly). To the documents confirming the above, I added a detailed description of the nature of the product and mentioned the “user agreement.”
A few days later, the dispute was resolved. To my sincere surprise, the money was returned to the buyer, completely ignoring my evidence and arguments. I received no explanation for what happened. Only a verdict and the opportunity to react by letter. This didn’t solve anything, but it was something of a “matter of honor.”
I wrote to PayPal support. Once again he outlined the situation and expressed his frustration by saying that this approach to the matter legitimizes the theft of files. One can imagine that any dishonest person can “buy goods” in this way and get his money back. Considering that PayPal frankly doesn’t care about seller’s rights, licenses and user agreements, this may become (if it has not already become) a widespread practice.
At the same time, I wrote to my “suspicious buyer”. He said that I was personally offended that someone could do such tricks. And that I'm happy for him and his agility, but I don't think it's acceptable.
In response, I received two very surprising letters. The buyer (and this buyer is a fairly well-known American designer) apologized, said that he was surprised that PayPal decided to return his money for the icons he bought, and was happy to use it. Moreover: within an hour he sent me the purchase amount directly. No comments.
PayPal responded in the usual way for a Western elephant company: “we understand that you are upset, but...” They attached a number of tips to the answer that, in their opinion, will help me “not to encounter similar situations in the future.” (It would have been honest for them to write: “If you don’t want such situations, don’t trade digital goods with our help,” but they wrote, of course, something else.)
So, fun tips from PayPal:
1. The best solution would be to burn the file to physical media (CD/DVD).
2. Send the disk with the file within seven days from the date of payment.
3. Make sure that the sending method includes a tracking number and confirmation of delivery to the recipient.
After reading this I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Even if you imagine that I took their “advice” seriously... It would kill my business. I myself often buy downloadable products on the Internet. And if I happened to read: “pay now (add a minimum of $30 for shipping) and get your three megabytes in just... seven days. On disk,” I would twirl my finger at my temple and leave such a site. Forever.
For those who have already moved away from the “facepalm” state. In the West, where PayPal operates, its own honest Skolkovo was built long ago. Spaceships roam Silicon Valley. Innovations are always coming out of every hole. But the files (it turns out) still need to be sent on donkeys. To make it more reliable.
I have several electronic stores that sell icons. It should be noted that icons are one of the types of downloadable “digital goods” that, by definition, cannot be subject to the “possibility of return.” (I remember the old joke “can I upload a file I don’t need back to the Internet?”) I foresaw that this might cause misunderstanding among some buyers, and I added a special clause to the “user agreement” that every buyer must accept. To avoid certain types of comments, I will not provide links to stores; Take my word for it, the icons are of high quality and I have never encountered a “desire to return” them.
Last week I received an email from PayPal saying that a customer wanted a refund. According to PayPal, in fact, he “didn’t think to pay”, “everything happened by accident” and so on (hereinafter I will give a free translation of the correspondence). A PayPal employee reported an open dispute and asked me to provide proof that "the item was delivered to the buyer." (PayPal is obviously just discovering the existence of virtual goods (yes, it sounds like nonsense; later this nonsense will thicken) and the entire discussion is conducted in terms of mailing physical goods).
The amount of the order was small, but I decided not to let things go, noting to myself that this could become an unhealthy precedent. In addition, the buyer’s explanations (according to PayPal) sounded more than strange (“I didn’t know”, “I didn’t think”). I provided the necessary information about the time of payment, as well as about the fact of downloading the file (the person “didn’t want to buy,” but downloaded the file properly). To the documents confirming the above, I added a detailed description of the nature of the product and mentioned the “user agreement.”
A few days later, the dispute was resolved. To my sincere surprise, the money was returned to the buyer, completely ignoring my evidence and arguments. I received no explanation for what happened. Only a verdict and the opportunity to react by letter. This didn’t solve anything, but it was something of a “matter of honor.”
I wrote to PayPal support. Once again he outlined the situation and expressed his frustration by saying that this approach to the matter legitimizes the theft of files. One can imagine that any dishonest person can “buy goods” in this way and get his money back. Considering that PayPal frankly doesn’t care about seller’s rights, licenses and user agreements, this may become (if it has not already become) a widespread practice.
At the same time, I wrote to my “suspicious buyer”. He said that I was personally offended that someone could do such tricks. And that I'm happy for him and his agility, but I don't think it's acceptable.
In response, I received two very surprising letters. The buyer (and this buyer is a fairly well-known American designer) apologized, said that he was surprised that PayPal decided to return his money for the icons he bought, and was happy to use it. Moreover: within an hour he sent me the purchase amount directly. No comments.
PayPal responded in the usual way for a Western elephant company: “we understand that you are upset, but...” They attached a number of tips to the answer that, in their opinion, will help me “not to encounter similar situations in the future.” (It would have been honest for them to write: “If you don’t want such situations, don’t trade digital goods with our help,” but they wrote, of course, something else.)
So, fun tips from PayPal:
1. The best solution would be to burn the file to physical media (CD/DVD).
2. Send the disk with the file within seven days from the date of payment.
3. Make sure that the sending method includes a tracking number and confirmation of delivery to the recipient.
After reading this I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Even if you imagine that I took their “advice” seriously... It would kill my business. I myself often buy downloadable products on the Internet. And if I happened to read: “pay now (add a minimum of $30 for shipping) and get your three megabytes in just... seven days. On disk,” I would twirl my finger at my temple and leave such a site. Forever.
For those who have already moved away from the “facepalm” state. In the West, where PayPal operates, its own honest Skolkovo was built long ago. Spaceships roam Silicon Valley. Innovations are always coming out of every hole. But the files (it turns out) still need to be sent on donkeys. To make it more reliable.