Published on August 30, 2010 Paypal moving to fix inequities in their disputes process?
Paypal’s disputes process is good for consumers, and in some cases so good it has been abused with many sellers sending out goods then having consumers exploit Paypal’s policies to get their money back and keep the goods they bought. This has led to some erosion of Paypal’s market share as businesses have sought to use different payment providers.
In emails sent to selected businesses, Paypal have indicated that they may intend to do something about this inequity by giving merchants who are already proven to be in good standing more rights when dealing with consumer disputes.
The policy gives businesses the right to challenge Paypal after the fact in disputed transactions where the business feels Paypal was too quick to rule in the customer’s favour. The system is still in trial and there will be issues to iron out for sure, but its certainly a step in the right direction.
We think that Paypal should go further than this and rethink the way the whole disputes process works. The disputes process is a good idea and gives customers a lot of confidence, but it should really give equal rights to consumers and businesses and extend to downloadable products as well.
We have even been ripped off ourselves in the past when buying from suppliers via Paypal that have promised much and delivered little – only to find that Paypal does not provide assistance for downloadable products. This creates an inequity in that they will rule quickly on the consumer’s side for disputes about physical goods and allow any one to be ripped off when buying downloadable products or software. The system should be fair and equitable for everyone.
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