PayPal Dispute Resolution

Even when you do your best, sometimes things can go wrong with a transaction. When you use PayPal you can take advantage of our dispute resolution tools to help resolve such problems.

Step 1 - Notification of dispute

You will be notified by email that your buyer has opened a dispute. Most disputes are the result of a misunderstanding and by communicating with your buyer, you have a chance to offer customer service and gain repeat business.

Step 2 - Negotiate to resolve issue

Review your buyer's dispute by logging in to PayPal's Resolution Centre and post your reply message.

  Tip: Make it clear that you see the situation as solvable and include some suggestions to help resolve the dispute. The funds associated with a disputed transaction may be held until the situation is resolved, so it's in your best interest to communicate with the buyer as quickly as possible.

Step 3 - Buyer closes dispute or escalates to a claim

To help ensure that disputes are resolved within a reasonable period of time, a buyer must escalate a dispute to a PayPal claim within 20 days. After this the dispute will automatically close.

Once a dispute is closed, if the dispute is resolved in your favour, the undisputed funds will be available to you. A closed dispute cannot be re-opened or escalated to a PayPal claim.

Although a buyer can escalate a dispute to a claim at any time, they are less likely to do so if they feel that you are working with them to resolve the issue.

Step 4 - PayPal investigates and resolves claim

If a dispute is escalated to a claim the emails you and the buyer exchanged during the dispute along with other information will be used to decide the outcome of the case. You can respond to requests for information from PayPal and track the progress of a claim in the Resolution Centre.