What can we do to protect ourselves from unfair chargebacks

Hi.

Sometime last month, I sold 1 item on eBay to a US buyer. I'm located in Australia and I posted the item a couple of days after the buyer made the payment. The buyer paid the item via PayPal. I posted the item via regular post, so, there wasn't any tracking number.

2 weeks ago, there was a dispute on my PayPal account and it stated that I did make an unauthorized payment against the item that I have just sold. I told PayPal that the transaction was via eBay and provided them with the transaction ID.

Yesterday, I received an email from PayPal that said that they are going to do a 'chargeback' against that dispute and charge me $15 for the processing fee. And it was also stated that it will take 75 days for them to further investigate the problem.

I gave them a call and asked what's going on with the dispute. The lady said that I did make an unauthorized charge on my PayPal account. I told her the same thing, that it was an eBay transaction. After arguing for minutes, she apologized for what happened but said that they can't do anything about it. And the reason for that is because I can't prove I posted the item as I don't have a tracking number. She blamed me because I used regular post which does not ordinarily have a tracking number.

I can't really see why posting the item without a tracking number would matter so much so that it would cause a lot of trouble for me. Any suggestions? Did I do something wrong here?

And the worst thing is that PayPal charges a processing fee that is more expensive than the item that I sold. Not only did I lose the item but I'm being asked to pay PayPal. It's not about the money, but is that how they usually operate?

I am just a newbie. Is this common issue with PayPal? Any suggestions?

Thanks!

pnm

G.day pnm.
the only thing i can suggest is to send all items paid thru paypal by registerd post.Use this method if item is worth $100 or less.state this in your item discription.for regular post state that item be sent at buyers risk.For this method bank deposit to your account is the best option.Hope this helps.
cheers.
Dave.

Hi Dave...

Thanks for the suggestion. It's really a good idea to state that regular post will be at buyer risk.

Appreciate your help. Thanks.

Cheers

pnm

Sounds like a good idea to ad that disclaimer, but it won't hold water in the instance of a charge-back being filed. Charge-backs really are apart of business when you accept credit card for online sales, some are genuine, but a percentage are fraudulent.

Been a while since I saw any numbers, but charge-backs used to run at around 6 or 7%, so they do need to be factored into your overall costings to cover yourself.

The only way you can protect yourself against them completely is to not accept credit card payments or to only offer shipping with some sort of signature or tracking information that is traceable, and you can then provide the credit card company with proof of delivery.