Refund: Paypal claim...

Two problems with echecks....
1. NO pattern on numbers, so you only know they are right if they work.
2. Complex decentralized system means they can take a long tie to work, and cause things like overdrafts.

Did you know that NOW, even the routing number is important EVEN if it routes to the right physical place? INCREDIBLE! Your account number is no longer very meaningful to the bank!

c'est la vie.

Steve

It is because of this reason that I choose not to use paypal as my payment processor.

People are able to scam sellers too easily. I suggest you look into another payment processor

I'm starting to use:

Paygear and find that they have decent fees and great seller/vendor protection.

Echeck means he paid a few days ago and it finally cleared. You're always going to have a refund rate.

My advice? Refund the money, send him the link anyway and move on with your life.

Why? Spend ages worrying about it, he'll take a refund anyway and you lose time, energy and morale. And the guy will have bad feeling. Give him the link anyway, and you lose nothing -- but you'll have a positive interaction not a negative one -- and the guy might be a repeat customer or might say nice things, not bad.

Edit: If you really want money out of this sale, you can always say "if you think it was worth it, send whatver you think it was worth. Sorry again for your inconvenience." and you might even get the full sale amount. Certainly more likely than in fighting it.

I know how you feel - why didn't the person just ask you instead of blasting into paypal?

I get the same thing a lot. I don't know if it is just people trying to get free stuff or if they missed the download and think I am a scammer. They don't even try to contact me even though my contact info is all over my website, the downloads and my sales pages.

The thing is that most of the time, i can see that they downloaded the product so what I do is respond to the paypal claim and paste in the info from my records that shows what they purchased, when they purchased it and how many times the downloaded it. I also make their link active again, send them another email and put a link into the paypal dispute with a direct url where they can download it again.

I figure, people probably get ripped off online a lot so they might just go straight to paypal if they miss the download link thinking they are just getting ripped off again.

So, I provide the link via paypal and they can download it. If they really want a refund, then they can simply ask me and I would be happy to oblige. But when I provide the info above to paypal, they always return the money to my account.

It's frustrating but I guess just part of doing business with digital downloads.

Lee

I just received my first eCheck through PayPal earlier this week, and it's still pending until tomorrow. I'm a little worried that something like this will happen to me...hopefully that's not the case...

A lot of spammers use e-Checks, so an easy way to get rid of the problem is to simply stop accepting e-Checks. I've always found that they're more hassle than they're worth, since they take so long to clear. I hate having to calm down an antsy buyer who's been waiting 10 days for the download just because the payment hasn't cleared yet

But cashcow has a good point - try to think of it from the buyer's side too. It might not be a scammer - just someone who's genuinely frustrated with having to wait for a purchase he or she was really interested in. I think sometimes we all approach IM purchases with a healthy dose of suspicion, as most of us have been scam victims at one point or another!