I am increasingly concerned about theft of services where a buyer makes a claim that the vendor cannot disprove.
This statement comes from PayPal’s most recent change of Policy Updates page update this month:
“We are revising the User Agreement to indicate the payment a seller receives from a buyer may be invalidated and reversed if the seller fails to respond or provide accurate and complete information to PayPal related to the buyer’s claims or chargebacks for such transaction within the timeframe communicated to the seller by PayPal.”
The policy effectively overrules any dispute resolution procedures that are built into the contract. Why follow dispute resolution procedures if you already have your money back? My experience is that certain industries are highly vulnerable. My experience is with rental businesses and professional services, especially tax and legal representation. We are investigating the options to prevent future losses.
I have the same concerns with other payment processors (Venmo
, CashApp, Zelle) but do not have enough knowledge or experience with these situations to hold any opinion on what corrective actions might be advisable. One payment processor, Relay, offered additional educational support to sellers and I expect to take advantage of that opportunity this coming week.