Yes, that is a bold statement... after all, PayPal boasts:
100% protection against unauthorized payments sent from your account.
Buyer protection for eBay buyers.
Dispute resolution on PayPal purchases.
That all sounds really great until you read the fine print taken directly from the PayPal Website:
"Dispute resolution on PayPal purchases.
When you pay with PayPal, you gain access to a forum for dispute resolution called the Resolution Center. Through it, you can file a claim against:
A physical good that you paid for but never received.
A physical good you purchased on eBay that is significantly different than what was described in the listing.
Dispute Resolution specialists gather information about your transaction and help you resolve the issue. Throughout the process, you’ll be advised of your claim’s status via email and on your Account Overview page. For specific terms and conditions, please review the Buyer Complaint Policy in our User Agreement."
In other words... You're completely on your own if you use PayPal to purchase an ebook, software delivered online, or any service... including webmaster services, logo creation, article writing, shopping carts, consulting, or anything else that isn't a physically delivered product.
Considering how many products and services are delivered online and purchased through PayPal... the PayPal Buyer Protection is absolutely worthless to most of us.
I'd be willing to bet that most people who purchase any of these non-physical products using PayPal are totally oblivious to the fact that PayPal won't protect their purchase and won't try to resolve problems they have with a bad digital merchant.
In fact, PayPal washes their hands of any disputes that don't involve physical products... they don't even contact the seller to try to make the digital merchant make good on their promises.
Great News for a Dishonest Merchant!
From a merchant's point of view, this is GREAT NEWS! That means that they can:
Sell digital products and services without worrying about actually delivering them.
Make wild claims about their products without worrying if they are true or not.
Deliver products that are sub-standard or significantly different than advertised.
All without worrying about reprisal or losing their money!
Hmmm... Let's think about this for a minute. Who wins in all this?
This is a win/win for PayPal... they maintain their reputation because they have that small disclaimer in their dispute resolution information and they still get to keep their fees.
It's certainly a win/win for the digital merchant. They get to keep the money they get from unsuspecting customers... and the customer has nowhere to go for satisifaction or to make a formal complaint.
The big loser here is the consumer. He's out of his money, didn't get the product promised, and his blood pressure had skyrocketted out of frustration.
