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Sep 2015

Earlier today I was on the phone with paypal dispute and resolution center because I lost my first (out of 38 in 4 years) false claims disputes for digital merchandise. Paypal recently changed their policy which makes me as the seller a victim to people who buy ebooks, videos and other efiles from my website, download the files, file a "non receipt" claim against my company, and win. Until today I have won all non receipt claims filed against my company (including claims filed directly through the buyer's credit card company) by showing screen shots of the IP address, electronic signature to terms of service agreement, and email address were the link was sent. Thanks to paypal's new policy that's not enough anymore.



So I asked them what evidence do I need to prove that the buyer dowloaded my files? I was sent an email from paypal with the following bullet points.





Examples of the documentation that you can provide as compelling evidence include, but are not limited to:



* Purchaser's e-mail address to which the goods were delivered

* Date and time goods were downloaded/received

* Description of the goods downloaded/received

* Proof that your website was accessed for services after the Transaction Date

* Purchaser's IP address

* Screenshot showing receipt by the purchaser

* Correspondence with the purchaser acknowledging receipt of the item or service as described

* Any other compelling evidence you may have showing the item or service was received and is as described





Thanks to ejunkie all the above can be provided except "Date and time goods were downloaded/received". How do I either get access to information showing the date and time the efile was actually downloaded, or it's location?



I called paypal to get specific information and the rep stated that if I can get either an email or screen shot showing the IP address activating the link for the efile in addition to the date and time, I would be covered.



So my question to ejunkie is...............can such a platform be provided? If not, can such a platform be created?



BTW - I'M WILLING TO PAY EXTRA FOR THIS!



I need to protect my business before word gets out that paypal has a new policy that will help buyers steal electronic files from companies without paying a dime.



Please help!

  • created

    Sep '15
  • last reply

    Sep '15
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The big problem in situations like this is that it's not technically possible to show a file was completely downloaded, because even though we may send out all of the data for a particular file that does not guarantee that all of the data reached its destination, and we can't hack into the other end of the download to monitor what has been received.



BUT we do have specific records about the buyer's IP address and when they last activated their download link, so if PayPal wants that information we've got you covered.



This can be found in your logs at Seller Admin > Transactions Log, in the Download Info column. There we display how many times a download link was activated and the IP address, date and time of the most recent attempt. You'll be able to compare that against the time the order was placed and processed, and against the IP address that started the order.



If you find that a buyer has used all of the available download attempts allowed (five by default) in a short amount of time, that usually does imply that they had trouble with their download link, which could be because of a connection issue or even the use of a mobile device that doesn't support web-based downloads (a file management app can generally fix that). In that kind of situation I'd recommend getting in touch with the buyer to supply them with a new link or even see about refunding them manually to avoid the dispute process.



On the other hand, if a buyer accessed their download link just once and never tried it again that implies that they completed their download the first time, and if such a buyer were to dispute their purchase later you can make a good case that they aren't acting in good faith because they never even tried to use all the download opportunities you provided.

YES, YES, YES!!!!!!!



I just viewed the transaction log and that's the information I needed. OMG! Had I presented this earlier, I would have won that dispute case by a landslide. I just checked the log and the buyer was given four attempts and only downloaded it once. The same exact time he brought the files, he downloaded the files just once.



Ugh! I hate that I didn't know this information before but I'm going to charge the price of losing that dispute to learning how to protect myself in the future. Lesson LEARNED!!!!!



I chose to post my situation in the forum instead of sending you guys a private email because I want others to learn from my mistake. My business is my baby and I get angry when evildoers try to still from my child.



I love you guys so much for this. You rock ten times over. Thank you sooooooooooooo much!