Regenerative Self Employment
I recently had my first PayPal dispute from a client. I compiled documents showing the work completed and sent, as well as the relevant emails of requested service. The first communication from PayPal was that the client was awarded the full refund. I phoned and the representative could see that the case had been misfiled. It was labeled as payment for a physical product, not a service, and so the policy would be to refund if there was no proof of receipt. These all had to be put in PDF format. After talking with the representative, that misfiling was corrected, and she suggested showing that the e-mail address by which the client requested this service was the same as the e-mail address to which I delivered the completed documents. I did so. I soon got a notice that an echeck was being sent to my bank account from PayPal, due to a now insufficient amount in my PayPal account. I moved all funds out of that account as a precaution to give me time to resolve the issue, and phoned back to reach customer service. The next representative carefully reviewed the documents, but reported that still their policy would not allow full reversal of the decision. She said it appeared that I had delivered the work as requested, but the best she could do was refund me half.
The only real proof is if the e-mail to which you deliver the non-physical product is the same as the e-mail account that matches the clients PayPal account. The rep warned me that some people know the policy and game the system. One way to avoid this situation in the future is to utilize PayPal paid services, described in the next segment.