Earnings on foreign sites for needleworkers: there are cunning customers there too
It is believed that foreign buyers are more law-abiding and fulfill their obligations when buying. In most cases this is true, but there are exceptions. And then I offer several such stories.
I met the first such story on the Internet when I was just starting to develop my store on the Etsy site.
One girl related such an incident.
A rather expensive ($ 300-400) handmade product was ordered from her. She made, received payment, sent and the customer received her order. And soon after that it was discovered: the PayPal service through which payments are made suddenly withholds the entire amount of this order and sends a letter stating that this customer wrote a complaint, and that she allegedly never received order.
Our needlewoman wrote to the customer, saying what was the matter, what was she unhappy with and why she wrote such a statement. It turned out that the customer wanted to get this money from the bank for insurance or something else, but did not expect that the money would be withdrawn from the master. She apologized and withdrew her claim.
Thought it wouldn't touch me
When I read this, I thought it would not affect me, because I sell drawings, a person immediately downloads the product and what complaints there might be.
The first bell was from Germany. The client bought a drawing and downloaded it, and two weeks later he writes to me why you are not sending the finished product according to this drawing.
In a response letter, I tried to explain to him that the product is digital, it is clearly indicated in the name and description of this product, and that he has already received what he paid for.
I sent a letter, and after a couple of days PayPal informs me that this client sent a claim, in which he indicated that he did not receive anything on the paid order and that I did not reply to his letters.
It was quite unexpected for me, but because of one drawing, I did not argue and confirmed the refund of the payment to the client. PayPal accomplished this quickly, remembering to collect the commission for both the receipt of this payment and the return.
Another incident happened this summer. A US customer bought drawings for $ 54. I wrote him a message via Etsy and duplicated it with an email, where I offered him another drawing of my choice as a gift. He did not answer both messages. Okay, I think - no, no.
And a week later, messages from PayPal come that they withheld the amount of payment for this order because it seemed suspicious to them.
I sent them a skin shot from the Etsy site, where you can see what kind of order was made and that it was downloaded by the buyer. PayPal thanked for the information and said that they will understand.
After another 1.5 months, I was finally informed that this client wrote an application to his bank, in which he said that he had not made this purchase. The good news is that I am eligible for a merchant protection program and PayPal is returning the withheld amount to my account.
And a month later, I received a new message from PayPal: the customer made sure that the bank returned the money to him, but they would not be charged me because I showed myself to be a good client for PayPal.
I do not know what else to expect and what other cunning clients may appear, but mentally I am preparing myself. Anything can happen.
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Alexander.
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