Here’s how to get whatever you want to purchase on line for free: use PayPal. All you have to do is dispute your charge, and you WIN! Your purchase will be FREE! Your credit card will return your money, you can keep your purchase, and you’ll have no liability!

Of course, if you’re a vendor, you lose. PayPal will, basically, do nothing on your behalf, as per (according to their reps) ‘the way the credit card companies are set up.’ Whatever that means. You will lose just about anytime anyone disputes a charge!

So just sit back and lose your money and your costs – and pay them an extra $20 so they can send one email (with the defending text that you wrote) to the credit card company on your behalf. Before the credit card company find in your purchasers favor. No matter what the reality.

SAD BUT TRUE

Recently Carl Lee purchased a bundle of books from me. After we sent them out, he called us howling, screaming, name-calling, and finally threatening us saying, “I’m gonna get you. I’m gonna make sure I take care a YOU” claiming he didn’t receive his purchase. And then he did the same to my assistant who called him to make sure we had the address right (he gave us the same address but asked that the package be put on hold for him at the PO).

We then sent him an electronic copy of the book, and a duplicate bundle by express mail with a return receipt. A copy of his signature was returned, telling us that he’d picked up the book. Phew. We were relieved. Until we got a note from PayPal that he was disputing the charge, saying that he never got the bundle.

Excuse me? We had the proof, right in our hands.

We contacted PayPal – to whom I give many thousands of dollars a year – and filled out all the  forms, sent copies of the signature, etc. No problem, right? We had the hard proof, right in our hot little hands. Right? Carl Lee got his books. Not.

A month later, we were told that we lost. That’s right: I was going to have to refund his $49.95 plus the $20 to Paypal for their, um, effort. Here is what their email to me said:

“Despite our best efforts, the buyer’s credit card company decided in favor of the buyer.

Unfortunately, we do not control the outcome of the charge back decision reached by the buyer’s issuing bank in a credit card transaction. By accepting the terms of the PayPal User Agreement, you agreed to accept the decision of the issuing bank as final and legally binding for this type of dispute.”

THE CREDIT CARD COMPANY ALWAYS WINS

What does this mean? It means PayPal provides an email with data to the credit card company, and then the credit card company says ‘no’. Then you pay back the person who received your product so they can have it for free and give PayPal $20 for sending the email on your behalf.

There is nothing that PayPal will do (they say they ‘cannot’ and that according to my agreement with them, there is nothing more they have to do but to send an email and ‘try’ but, according to the rep I spoke with (Briatta): “There’s not a whole lot of room to maneuver because of the way the Credit Card accounts are set up.” Neither of 2 reps would hand me over to a supervisor: ‘Unfortunately, we’ve had this happen so many times that we know that the supervisor can’t say anything.”

That means, anyone can buy whatever they want, then dispute it, and not pay.

Or, if you’re a vendor, anyone can stiff you, regardless of the situation. And the Carl Lee’s of this world can yell and threaten and get products and walk away scott free.

Bummer. Unfortunately I don’t have options to using PayPal at the moment. But I’m certainly going to have my tech folks look into them. Anyone else have any ideas?

sd