Hi, This I guess is a warning to those of you out there dealing with online payment, and also maybe to see if anyone has any suggestions. A couple of months ago I was asked to design a wordpress theme for a gaming news website, the total price of which came to something like $350. The client was based in Florida, USA and myself in Nottingham, UK. The project went very smoothly, I received full payment up front and once finished we both said thank you, wish you all the best etc. About four weeks down the line I get a message from paypal stating that a payment I received had been refunded as it was an unauthorized credit card transaction... So I thought okay.... Let's have a look at the details. Upon closer inspection the payment was from (I won't use real names) Mrs. Foobar. There's me thinking hmm hold on just a minute, I was working with a Mr. Smith? So there's my balance of -$350 in the red and the only real contact details I have for the customer were email address. What's more is that I was not covered by the PayPal seller protection scheme because I was selling an intangible good. The next step to take was to contact the client to find out what he had to say. Sure enough, he didn't reply to any of my emails and wasn't online on messenger. I WhoIs'd his website ( www.g-frag.com ) and got some contact details that way, including a phone number. Upon calling however I was just greeted by an answer machine message saying "You know what to do...[Beep]". So I left a polite message asking him to get back in touch. Nothing happened for a few days and then all of a sudden he pops up on messenger, so I asked him politely what was going on. Firstly I got "I don't know, I'll have to contact PayPal. I'll make sure you get your money". After a few days of this he finally cracked and said "I didn't pay you, I got a friend to. He must of paid using a stolen credit card". I.e. an admission, yet PayPal still weren't having any of it. Anyway, he kept saying he was going to pay me back but it never happened of course. Oh, and he's blocked me on any messenger I add him on. So there's me stuck with a wordpress theme that I don't want to use, minus $350 on my PayPal account and a lack of trust in my clients since. I thought about going down the legal route but it seems a bit difficult given that he is based in the USA and I am based in the UK. Also, the fact that this all happened before I introduced written contracts and fully itemised invoicing, I don't have much in terms of proof. I've also tried recouping my money by selling the theme ( www.tengrand.iamencore.com if you wanted to see it ) although any offers I receive aren't going to match anyway near the amount of money it has cost me (highest offers are still two-figure sums). Anyway, this is just a warning to those of you out there, especially web designers. Use contracts, ensure you have full contact details, and keep in mind that PayPal won't protect you should something go wrong! Although keep in mind that you can sell a website as a tangible good - simply make it procedure to burn it to a disk and post it to the buyers address by recorded mail once you've finished the project, and attach the tracking number to the PayPal payment. Anyway, I hope this has raised your awareness a little bit! Kindly,
Thank you for sharing your story. It is surely a good warning. I thought PayPal was more reliable. I am wondering if you would have had the same problem if you used a credit card payment directly. It is a bad thing for the real owner of the stolen card, but it is too for the vendors. I like your strategy of sending the CD a tangible address. I am sure that it will eliminate many guys.
Thanks for the post, IAmEncore. Isn't there other forms of payments that are more reliable than paypal when it comes to bigger sum?