Paypal Chargeback advice

I don't feel you can do much in this situation. Most credit card companies have full control and will always provide the card holder with a chargeback whenever requested.

Yes it was a info product. So i replied with all the info i had etc. I bet they still rule on the behalf of the buyer.

Presume, the loophole is you could get someone surf the net, by lots of stuff, and then deny purchasing it.

Unfortunately you are at the mercy of paypal and according to many they dont have any at all.
Its aproblem when selling on line and I think the only protection you can have is to build in a percentage to your pricing to allow for this sort of thing.
Down here in Australia there is strong anti paypal movement because in fact Paypal do not have adequate systems in place to stop this kind of fraud.
Of course It may be that the card was used fraudelently in the first place in which case there is nothing at all anyone can do
I use an Australian company called Paymate as much as I can and they seem to do a better job of Identifying problem transactions within first 24 hours.
If you build in an allowance for this it wont hurt as much when it happens

Thanks true, credit card company's have a stronger hold over paypal. Thats why when it comes down to digital good you have a low chance of winning the dispute.

From the days of it being owned by X.com, PayPal has had the philosophy that customer service was more of a liability than a means to higher profits and thus more so concentrated on functionality.

The "problem" with PayPal is that they don't do a very good job with "publicizing" their vast functionality, to the general public (they make you hunt it down -- but its there). This has always been the case.

Since being acquired by eBay, however, their focus on customer service has gotten a lot better. For instance, when I first opened my account (over 8yrs ago), you would be hard pressed to find a phone number to call... now its posted right on the welcome screen when you log in.

All this being understood, you are equipped with your PayPal account to take full control over the types of transactions you wish to accept. You can deny (or raise a flag) transactions where the purchaser doesn't supply a verified address. People who dont supply a verified address when using a credit card will be the ones (not all) that are the most risky to do business with. You can choose to accept or deny eChecks; or choose how to handle those transactions. A whole sleuth of risk management options are built into your PayPal account under the Profile section of your account.

In your particular case, (and anyone who receives a chargeback), what you need to do is stay on top of the dispute. PayPal will still prefer and try to "stay out of it" and let YOU and your Customer work it out; however, it is still the Customer's burden of proof. Also, keep in mind that it may not be that the Customer is claiming non-receipt; they might just be claiming they didn't find your product/service adequate to their satisfaction.

If the case is the latter, then the liability falls on you and in such a case it is more prudent of the merchant/vendor to have a clear and decisive refund policy readily visible on your site. This way, you can refer PayPal to this and they will then be glad to arbitrate on your behalf to the CC processor. For instance; "all eBooks sold are non-refundable" (to show a very simplistic example -- although I don't recommend this strategy).

I can't stress it more that having all of your t's crossed and i's dotted is essential when doing business online.

Another mechanism might be to spend the extra money to employ a programmer to enable all of your digital good with some type of licensing system; where you're able to "cut off access remotely" should you suspect foul play on the part of the purchaser. Any knowledgable programmer will be able to provide you this service fairly economically.

Hope all this helps...
PLP,
tecHead

I just wanted to share my experience. My company had a chargeback in October 08 for a programme we sold. Paypal was more of the pay processor for our clients to make the payment for the programme they're attending.
We SUCCESSFULLY win it and get the $ back just recently end January 2009. It is about Sing Dollars $200. We had communicated with the buyer who then called his credit card company about it back in October 08.
We are happy with the outcome though a small fees was forefited due to the chargeback.