Is there no way to avoid chargeback scams as a seller ?

The Terms of Service were clearly explaining how the service is being handled and what are the customer's rights since day one. Steve, the truth is that justice doesn't exist. There is a 'justice' which is valid until you have money to prove someone wrong. Nobody cares who's the winner in this case. Lawless countries and institutions. I'm slowly starting to think that if you won't rob then you won't be a millionaire. Funny thing is that this says a person that was all his life extremely fair-playing towards everyone...

 

Just don't use PayPal. I only accept bank wires and that is accompanied with an invoice from my company. Also if someone is attempting to "scam" you just ddos their home internet, phone lines, mobile with spam, mess with their emails, get pizzas sent there every night. If they don't stop messing you around then start doing it to their work, calling the police on them etc. I've always been paid straight away if someone thinks of "scamming" me after some persuasion.

 

Yes, there is almost no way to avoid/win chareback on Paypal especially if you sell digital goods.

Use Escrow for larger amount of payments is the only way to avoid it, I think. (Or any payment processors that don't take shit with charge backs)

 

I was going to say exactly what @steve1040 has already said. Get a good solid contract in place, have the client sign off the contract at each step. Alternatively consider a service like escrow for transactions of a high value to you. Or even direct bank transfers. Unfortunately unless you have shipped a physical item and have confirmation it was received then Paypal will almost always side with the buyer.

I too have lost lots of money from chargebacks, and there is very little you can do if the goods you supply are 100% digital.

This may or may not help you, but I found it was a slight indicator of a potential charge back;

Raise your prices by 15%, then advertise on your site a 15% discount code to be used at checkout. I found that a high number of people who didnt use the discount code issued a chargeback. My thinking was its not their money, what do they care if its discounted or not.

 

First of all stay out of paypal. As a product owner I know how frustrating it can be and you need to be aware of huge chance of getting chargeback and most likely losing it.
Second thing invest in a lawyer and ask him to write up a contract for you where you will get verification from a user that he's really a person he tells you he is.
You need this to prevent chargeback due to unauthorized transaction.
Second thing when you are done with your job ask your customer to sign a statement that he's satisfied with your job and he accepts it.
This way you are securing yourself from a chargeback due to a not delivered product.


Thanks,
Johnny

 

This has been happening to me a lot... I got sick of it so I just started a chargeback petition on CHANGE.ORG. Please sign it if you can....

http://www.change.org/petitions/paypal-force-paypal-to-provide-actual-seller-protection-against-chargeback-fraud-and-more-options-for-control-of-payments