I have been designing websites for small businesses since 1999 and in that time Paypal has never offered any type of protection in case of dispute because the product is digital. They do not cover intangible products in their Seller Protection Policy yet they do suggest in their marketing materials that buyers pay for their digital products and services via Paypal. Fortunately in all of these years I have only had a small handful of bad clients who accepted and approved my work and went ahead to file disputes and get their money back.
I finally found a solution that does help you to have some recourse. When you write your agreement, indicate that a CD with the complete website files will be mailed and serve as proof of services rendered. Mail it and keep the tracking number. Now the client is paying for the CD with his files on it instead of an intangible website. You might even go so far as to indicate that the website has no cost but the CD is $XXX dollars. They have a tangible item that will help you to win a dispute .
I ran this by the Paypal rep who handled my last dispute and he thought it was a great idea. I hope this helps someone.
I finally found a solution that does help you to have some recourse. When you write your agreement, indicate that a CD with the complete website files will be mailed and serve as proof of services rendered. Mail it and keep the tracking number. Now the client is paying for the CD with his files on it instead of an intangible website. You might even go so far as to indicate that the website has no cost but the CD is $XXX dollars. They have a tangible item that will help you to win a dispute .
I ran this by the Paypal rep who handled my last dispute and he thought it was a great idea. I hope this helps someone.
