Hazards of using Paypal for photos?

Would like to sell digital photos

[cyberfyber]

Hello all,

I'm curious about the hazards anyone might fathom in regards to selling something like digital photos online.

What protection if any would someone have in guarding against selling then sending off a digital piece of work then having the buyer change his/her mind afterwards and nulling the transaction? (excuse my ignorance, but my experience with paypal has been quite limited.)

I'd think there's little protection at all, but thought to ask anyhow.

[div01]

You should check with Paypal but I believe that Paypal's buyer protection does not cover digital or other intangible products. So, the customer would not be able to get a refund from Paypal. You could also make it clear in your terms of sale that there are no refunds.

[cyberfyber]

Thanks Div01, that's encouraging to hear. I'll definitely give them a call this week.

Today I'd checked out Ebay's offerings as far as Digital is concerned and found it lackluster. 'guess it's still too new?

Anyhow, thanks again.

[PayPalPB]

If you mail the photographs by a trackable shipping service than you may qualify for "Seller Protection".

If you are providing digital photos for download, you would not qualify for protection so it's possible for a buyer to dispute the charge and in most situations the payment would be reversed. This is typical of "card not present" credit card processing.

This is usually less of a concern for digital good sellers since the marginal cost of their products is zero.

[cyberfyber]

Yah, I'd thought of that too.

What gets me is the possibility of disputes occurring after they've already downloaded said digital product.

Once that's done, there's no turning back.
A true hazard I might imagine when getting into such a business. (the same reasons that tangible software sellers require the disc container not be broken.)

I've got big (hopeful) plans for the months ahead....but was just thinking about the 'meantime'.

thanks btw for your input. Greatly appreciated.

[elgumbo]

I wouldn't have thouogh that this was only applicable to PayPal though, any customer can dispute a charge made by any method and you will be left out of pocket.