Paypal Seller Protection Policy – Everything You Need to Know

Being a merchant using PayPal’s platform has some perks to enjoy. In fact, you get some form of protection, especially when dealing with fraudulent transactions, transaction disputes, and scams, or any other illegal type of transaction. So in this article, we will discuss PayPal Seller Protection and how you can benefit from it and your business. But before we do that, make sure to check out more on Brighter Guide.

What is PayPal Seller Protection?

The PayPal Seller Protection program is a service provided by PayPal for all its members. It is included right away the moment you sign up for an account inside the platform. And yes, it comes free along with your account.

This program gives you protected purchases–protects you from scamming buyers or clientele that take your products or services through unauthorized purchases, for instance. Those that claim unauthorized transactions or items not received will not instantly get approval from PayPal. As long as you provide all the required information and proofs, PayPal will ensure that you and your business are safe using the platform.

Without this PayPal service, all sellers would lose all their products and their whole business in the process. That is why PayPal Seller Protection is one of the best programs that exist online.

The PayPal Seller Protection also includes policies that protect all your eligible transactions from chargebacks, reversals, and other associated standard transaction fees. This means that anytime a buyer decides to dispute or reverse the transaction, you will still have a chance to present your side to help PayPal justify which has the right claim.

Do you know that you can do a lot with your PayPal account? Check out our guides for PayPal ship now, secret shipping, and goods and services.

How to be eligible for to PayPal Seller Protection program

While the PayPal Seller Protection is free for all PayPal users, you still need to meet all the requirements before fully benefiting from it. These are the following criteria.

• The primary address of your business and your PayPal account are confirmed and verified.
• The product or item must be tangible and has a physical form that can be shipped.
• The shipping address and the recipient’s address must be properly indicated within the shipping documents. If the item was recorded to ship to one address but then redirected to another, your PayPal Seller Protection will not work. Therefore, you should never agree to let the buyer arrange the shipment of the item or product.
• You should respond to PayPal’s information request promptly. This includes some documentation and business verification. Fail to comply with these requests will deem you ineligible for PayPal Seller Protection.
• Pre-ordered and made-to-order goods need to follow the agreed timeframe. Otherwise, you must deliver the finished product within seven days after you received the payment. Failure to comply could favor the buyer and cost you the product and a good amount of money and effort.

Learn the basics of using PayPal with our guides! Make sure to check out how to activate the card, issue an invoice, receive money, and withdraw money.

PayPal Seller Protection Covers

Apart from fraudulent transactions, there are basically only two scenarios where a merchant or seller gets into trouble. When a buyer claims an unauthorized purchase or when the buyer claims that the item failed on delivery within the agreed time period, that’s only two:

• Unauthorized Online Transactions – this happens when the customer claims that someone used their account and made a purchase using the funds inside the account.
• Items Not Received – this happens when the buyer claims that the item did not reach him or her. Therefore, this gives them the reason to file a dispute or cancel the transaction along the way.

These two scenarios are the most common claims within the platform. But since you are entitled to PayPal Seller Protection as a PayPal account holder, the funds or payment will just be placed on hold.

This will give you, the seller, to present your case. This means you can provide your evidence, such as related documentation from the shipping company to some form of agreement.

PayPal Seller Protection Doesn’t Cover

Before you get too excited, know that PayPal made policies that are both beneficial and balanced on both sides. If merchants have a seller protection policy, expect that there is also a buyer protection policy.

That means there are transaction details that you should not do. You cannot take advantage of things just because you feel protected or PayPal got your back.

• PayPal doesn’t cover transactions on items that are SNAD or “Significantly Not As Described.” In short, the item that the seller shipped and sent is not anything as described or far from the description provided upon order.
• The platform does not cover intangible items such as digital goods or services.
• It also does not cover items that are manually picked up and did not go through proper shipping processes and documentation.
• PayPal does not cover transactions related to counterfeit goods, drug paraphernalia, prohibited drugs, or firearms and ammunition.

For example, the buyer received a yellow jacket when in fact, you described it as blue. This is grounds for the PayPal Seller Protection policy to back off and give credit to the buyer. There is a way to prevent this kind of issue from happening. Here’s what you should do to secure transactions:

1. Always provide accurate and detailed information regarding the product or item that you are selling. It doesn’t help your business if you mislead your customers with false advertisements and descriptions that do not actually exist.
2. Establish good communication with your entire customers. It keeps a mutual understanding and helps boost the buyer’s confidence and trust in you and your product.
3. Be easy and articulate when handling issues to avoid raising the situation to a formal complaint.

Should you encounter any issues, you can contact PayPal customer service.

How to prevent unwanted issues

The PayPal Seller Protection program and its policies are a good way to keep your business sane and operating as you would expect. Although the program is not perfect, at least we can always count on PayPal. They are only one of the few platforms that give us the chance to explain ourselves when we deem it necessary.

If you want to learn about avoiding complaints and reversals, there is no such strategy. There will always be customers that are hard to please or have some issues of their own. Therefore, there is no business that is free of these problems.

But there is something that you could do to stay protected and be always on the right side of any transactions. It is by providing truthful details and other information about your product. As we have mentioned earlier, avoid using false advertisements and outrageous non-existent features of a product.

Also, keep all relevant documents regarding the established transactions. And make sure that you can back up your claims with proof. Documents such as proof of delivery or any delivery confirmation, proof of shipping, or shipping receipt are only a few important points you need to keep safe. This will help win your case when things got out of hand and the buyer file for a dispute when you already shipped a complete item as described.

Conclusion

The PayPal Seller Protection programme and its policies can help you keep your business on track and running smoothly. Despite the fact that the programme isn’t perfect, we can always rely on PayPal.

Have you had experiences with customer complaints and returns regarding shipping company or shipping address issues for instance? How did PayPal Seller Program or Seller Protection Program fare to you when the issue was under investigation?

Seller Protection Program includes several security features for processing payments / online payments so that your business is compliant with all security standards and from chargeback fraud. 

Tell us your stories about paypal or Seller Protection Program as it might help out other sellers as well that are operating within PayPal’s payment platform. 

If you think you have useful questions about Sellers Protection, PayPal Seller Protection PayPal, chargeback process, chargeback claim, chargeback time limits, regular chargeback or about  Unauthorized Transaction that can generate helpful answers, please leave your queries down below. We will try to get back to you as soon as we can, or perhaps another individual in this community can give the right answer for you.