Fighting a PayPal dispute as a seller

I hope this is in the correct forum.

Please help. A buyer just filed a dispute against me for web dev work I did which was over $800 in 2 invoices. I did this work in August and now he is complaining he is not happy and he filed the dispute. I have tried to make him happy but he is always changing his mind with what he wants and his instructions are not clear..

At any rate I sent out invoices and he paid them after the work was complete. He paid me on August 16.

I replied to the dispute where it said to "Provide other info" and I included the invoices and my explanation.

BTW - I have tried to satisfy this client and have offered to keep working until he is happy but I believe his intention all along was to get this service free. He still has the website up that I built.

Do I have any recourse here or is he about to steal my money? Should I call PayPal and what should I say?

I seriously need help guys. I have a 3 month old baby now and I cannot afford an $800 loss.. I am really desperate. No client has ever done this to me and I have been doing this work since the 90's..

Thanks!

Respond to the dispute with proof that you have completed what your client requested (you don't even need proof, but do to be safe). Paypal will always side with the seller when it comes to virtual items/services.

If he decides to file a chargeback with his credit card provider after (that is if he even paid via cc), you might see a reversal for that amount.

You should be alright though. In the future, try to work with contracts as it makes handling these types of situations a lot easier.

You really need a contract, Terms and Condition the client must agree to and which outlines your payment agreements in details including refund and dispute!

Your customer need either to sign this agreement by print, scan return or make a digital signature and your TOS should bound the client automatically to your payment terms when the customer pay's for your stuff.

Thanks guys,

I do my invoicing through Zoho so I will have to see how to set up a contract.

##PayPal buyer protection covers services now.. This buyer said I never delivered an item.. he did not receive an item even though this was a service. I was thinking in the future I could send out payment receipts and get a tracking number..

RuthSam, do you have one I can check out?

Almost 4 am here and this has gotten me stressed out to the max.. What ticks me off is the guy still has all my work up for free and during the work he commented a couple times on how happy he was..

sorry no... but you may send these e-mails or skype conversations as an PDF to PayPal also keep them if this guy will do any chargeback so you can show it to the card company!

When I went into PayPal to reply to his dispute it said his dispute was
"Item not received"

My choices were to enter a tracking number to prove I shipped the product, offer a refund or "Send other information". I opted for other information. I enclosed the invoice and the payment receipt and my explanation. Now that it is submitted I cannot enter any other information.

I am not sure if he did a cc chargeback or if this was just directly through PayPal..

Just call them up and talk to them directly. The customer executive will end the dispute in your favour right away if you explain the things well.

Been there, and have done it.

Repulsor said:

Just call them up and talk to them directly. The customer executive will end the dispute in your favour right away if you explain the things well.

Been there, and have done it.

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This sounds to be the only correct way to sort this out if you can deal with them in your language!

Repulsor said:

Just call them up and talk to them directly. The customer executive will end the dispute in your favour right away if you explain the things well.

Been there, and have done it.

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When did you do it though because PayPal changed the policy in 2015 I believe. They now protect buyers when buying a service..

What should I say?

May I know your good name

So I am reading in other places that I am basically screwed as a service seller and that we are not protected at all. I have been doing this work since the 90's and this has never happened to me. I always do the work first and the client does not pay me until satisfied. If they have an issue I fix it any time. I fixed so many things for this guy that did not even have anything to do with my work just to be nice. He is very hard to work with though, changes his mind on things every day and his instructions were difficult to understand. Still I believe I accomplished everything he asked for and he knows that if he needs anything fixed or changed I am always happy to do it.

From the very start I asked him what his budget was and I accepted his price. He just kept changing what he wanted but I still delivered. I do not mean to be hash but I believe he is mentally unstable due to health conditions. He probably regretted having the work done once he realized a forum does not just populate and that his site will not earn any money because he has no traffic. I explained to him these things in a nice way and I gave him free advice on how he should go about populating his forum.. all this for $0 if he wins this case and I am out many, many hours work not to mention the stress involved with losing over $800 that I did not plan on.

Ok, just venting..

My name is Richie.. and yours?

Hi, I just thought you are the same guy who cheated me. By the way my name is Aditya. I am also in same situation. the seller took more than $800 and what he did is just customize a shopify store. he promised me to make me learn how to sell on shopify. & the joke is his training has finished in just 10 min text conversations on skype. I also opened disputes on paypal to refund me back, let see what will happen. any way in your case. you can use your seller protection by simply mailing paypal or you can talk over phone. You need not to worry if you did your job. Provide them everything what you did if you don't have proof write texts in reply. when paypal review your conversation. they will take right decision. it does not happen every time that they took decision in buyer favor.

Note: Must reply in dispute conversation. write everything in replies.

Hey man,

Just ring PayPal and be sure to be sitting at your computer when you do so. Make sure you have all proof such as invoices ready to send to an email address provided by the agent, even if you have already sent them to PayPal. State your case to them in detail and they will make a decision on the phone. It will save you all the hassle of waiting for replies online and then the possibility of having to go through disputes and things like that. Call them up, keep a calm tone, show them your evidence. Save yourself the headache of wading through forums and seeing one thread that says you will definitely get your money back and then the next thread saying you haven't got a chance in hell. Just go for it. Best of luck.

That dude is simply trying to have the cake he has already eaten. Report him to paypal ASAP.

odin said:

Hi, I just thought you are the same guy who cheated me. By the way my name is Aditya. I am also in same situation. the seller took more than $800 and what he did is just customize a shopify store. he promised me to make me learn how to sell on shopify. & the joke is his training has finished in just 10 min text conversations on skype. I also opened disputes on paypal to refund me back, let see what will happen. any way in your case. you can use your seller protection by simply mailing paypal or you can talk over phone. You need not to worry if you did your job. Provide them everything what you did if you don't have proof write texts in reply. when paypal review your conversation. they will take right decision. it does not happen every time that they took decision in buyer favor.

Note: Must reply in dispute conversation. write everything in replies.

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Wow, that is awful! Nope, I would never do that. I am an honest guy and do my best to please my clients. I spent over 25 hours on the work for that $800 plus countless emails back and forth. I also did my best to teach him some basic seo, and fix some other issues for him on his site. I have emails from him telling me I am amazing and a godsend..

I have all the emails and everything, invoices, etc but I hope it is not too late to submit it.

VanDam said:

Hey man,

Just ring PayPal and be sure to be sitting at your computer when you do so. Make sure you have all proof such as invoices ready to send to an email address provided by the agent, even if you have already sent them to PayPal. State your case to them in detail and they will make a decision on the phone. It will save you all the hassle of waiting for replies online and then the possibility of having to go through disputes and things like that. Call them up, keep a calm tone, show them your evidence. Save yourself the headache of wading through forums and seeing one thread that says you will definitely get your money back and then the next thread saying you haven't got a chance in hell. Just go for it. Best of luck.

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You are right about that! I get contradicting answers every where I look..lol

I think I will call them later and see what happens.. if my money is lost at least I will not have to go through the waiting and wondering for a few days.. I wonder if PayPal will actually consider my positive history with them for a very long time. It should be obvious I am no scam artist.

What do you guys think about mailing the invoice receipt out once jobs are done and getting a tracking number as defense against this kind of thing?

tokstesla said:

That dude is simply trying to have the cake he has already eaten. Report him to paypal ASAP.

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It's true.

My policy is always that I do the work first and if the client is satisfied they pay me. He was satisfied enough to pay me and now after 6 weeks he takes all his money back?

let's say he wins the dispute and steals this money. How would I go about "reporting him to PayPal"? I would do it even if just to save another web developer from being ripped off.

Hello,

actually i really can't give you advice to that. Like everyone else said, just call paypal and tell them the whole situation.
Usually i experienced that Paypal has a very nice support over the phone. Wish you good luck, and i hope you win the dispute.

Heiko said:

Hello,

actually i really can't give you advice to that. Like everyone else said, just call paypal and tell them the whole situation.
Usually i experienced that Paypal has a very nice support over the phone. Wish you good luck, and i hope you win the dispute.

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Yeah, I will have to give them a call in a few hours when they open.

I appreciate the kind words.

i've come to hate paypal over the years...for selling digital goods, at least. they pretty much side with the buyer automatically which is just a big fu to us sellers...rarely is a seller the scammer so i dont understand their logic

RuthSam said:

You really need a contract, Terms and Condition the client must agree to and which outlines your payment agreements in details including refund and dispute!

Your customer need either to sign this agreement by print, scan return or make a digital signature and your TOS should bound the client automatically to your payment terms when the customer pay's for your stuff.

Click to expand...

This is best way to win any dispute. When a customer accepted your TOS at the time of registration/payment, and in the TOS you mentioned that "No Refund in any case". Then they have no legal right to ask for refund in ANY case, and PayPal will have to take this seriously.