Lemme tell you about paypal!!!
Paypal, is buyer swayed... meaning if a controversy comes up, they lean towards the buyer... which is why they NOW provide "seller protection." I've had two friends get bit by this policy, after a long distance transaction on $1000 items (saddles actually)... You know the scam goes something like this... I post something on the web. Someone looks at the pictures online, contacts me... says I want it... I spend a fortune shipping a 30+lb item... They pay for paypal for it. It gets shipped. 3 days later it arrives, they say it doesn't look like the picture and lodge a paypal dispute. Paypal always sides with the buyer... seller is screwed gets no money (and they already had to wait 8-20 days to get their money)... buyer keeps the item!!! you know cause it's so expensive to ship back! Yeah I know Paypal has the seller protection but one must be aware of that service.
I use paypal and like it, but one must understand the limitations.
Funny story.... when I bought my boat, it was from a online posting. It was 500+ miles from my home. I told the seller that I was traveling 500+ miles and I was bringing CASH! The seller was concerned! I could not figure out why. She was worried that I was doing something illegal I think. NO, the problem was I have bought and sold several trailerable boats, and I would not myself accept a check, and even cashiers checks now are getting copied and causing havoc. I told her this, and that I was trying to make sure she didn't have to worry about this. But yeah, she was more leery of cash than a check?
The almighty dollar is a sure way to pay for something... no BS, no questions. She was quite worried that my under $10k transaction was in her hands as greenbacks. NOT that I had just printed them! heheheh. But yes, we as buyers AND sellers have a duty to do our best to make this pain free. By the way I went with her to the bank to ease her fears of walking around with thousands of dollars of cash... and allowed them to test the bills to make sure they were legit.
Sorry this happened to you, I hope sailnet can help you get it sorted.
14,000+ transactions with PayPal as both a seller and buyer and not a single bad transaction. I've had a few disputes, maybe 2 or 3 but all were settled fairly and involved shipping issues not issues myself or the buyer caused.
PayPal has been so good I actually dropped my credit card processor and now let PayPal do everything. Customers seem to like that they can pay with either their PayPal account or their credit card.
The biggest issues I have with PayPal is they are very careful and often put a 24+ hour hold on a buyers purchase to make sure it is legit. If a customer is in a hurry it can be a bit of a PITA but I appreciate their diligence. Often times it is folks who have had a PayPal account for a long while but rarely use it that causes the investigation hold...
With PayPal you should always be careful with any overseas transactions and be sure you are shipping to a seller protected "Eligible" buyer with a confirmed PayPal address. The buyer also always pays for shipping insurance on the item if it is going international. No insurance, no ship...
The same thing you describe above, buyer dispute, can also happen with any credit card transaction. I had it happen with an eBay sale where PayPal was not even involved.
Beyond that there are just certain countries I refuse to ship to. I simply refund the payment and move on. I don't need to deal with shipping to a country with a high fraud rate and a high non-delivery rate. The best method for sketchy international countries is to tell the buyer to use a freight forwarding facility in the US and you ship the product there. I then have documentation it was delivered there and that is all I guarantee. If the buyer has a shipping issue they take it up with the freight forwarding outfit.
Bottom line is if you did right and can show and prove that, which is pretty easy, then there should be very few issues..
For situations like forum sales I simply create a PayPal invoice and don't ship until it is paid...
Really sucks that a forum member would stiff you.....