PayPal - Am I liable?

Need some clarification

[Jeigh]

Hello,

The website I'm currently developing gives users the ability to upload and sell graphical items (Templates, Logo's, etc.). The website then supplies potential buyers with details on how to purchase the product, including the PayPal address of the seller and the price it costs.

After this point I have nothing to do with the transaction and make no profit, the buyer can then send the money to the seller and expect to get the item they payed for. However, if the item they payed for is not sent or there are any other problems with the transaction I'd like to know if I could be held liable for this.

Also, on the purchase information page I have:

DISCLAIMER: example.com will not be held responsible for any transactions between yourself and any other third party. If there are any issues during the transaction, action must be taken against the person in question through PayPalŪ

I've contacted PayPal about this and got the following response:

"I am afraid that you will be liable for that but you can
negotiate with your buyer if your buyer is not satisfied our resolution
team will handle the claim and both seller and buyer will be contacted for
the outcome of the investigation."

I'm not sure if I explained my situation well enough as I would not have thought I could be held liable, I'd just like some further clarification on this. Seeing a solicitor as of now would be a little out of my budget, but before I open this I want to know exactly what I can be held liable for.

Thanks,
Jeigh.

[vincevincevince]

Something I would investigate would be not showing the paypal address immediately, but requiring your user to agree to certain terms in order to see it, including that they understand it is a private transaction between them and the seller, E&OE, etc.

[Jeigh]

Thanks for the reply,

Seeing the details requires a registered account, I will have terms and conditions such as those upon sign up. Would that suffice, or would it be better to use your suggestion? (I'm all for covering my behind here, so anything I can add to help that I'm up for ;) )

[vincevincevince]

Would that suffice(?)

You know I can't answer that question. And even if I could, I'd have to qualify it based on geographical location and status.

[LifeinAsia]

The answer from PayPal (which shouldn't be quoted here) sounds like the person didn't quite understand what you were asking. Since the money is not going through your PayPal account, I don't see any liability issue.

Sure, a sue-happy person/lawyer is going to go after every single component of the food chain. But that would be akin to suing the New York Times because of a buyer-seller dispute that arose from a classifieds listing in the paper.

Of course, I'm not a lawyer, so my opinion means nothing. :)

[gpilling]

In my non-binding and poorly qualified opinion, if you touch the money you are liable. If you don't touch the money you aren't. Unless you profit somehow from a deceitful transaction, then you are again....

Or look at it this way - if someone clicks on a Google ad, and then buys a product through the vendor using the vendor's paypal account, does paypal hold Google liable? No.

[Jeigh]

Thanks, both very good points so I think I have my answer.

Thanks again,
Jeigh.