PayPal made a huge announcement yesterday, without really letting many people know. As probably the leading place to make and accept payments online – operating in 203 markets and with 152 million active accounts (as of 2014 anyway) – PayPal holds a part in alot of transactions for tangible and intangible goods on the interwebs that many of us webmasters call home. Many of us utilize PayPal on an almost daily basis, however in the past PayPal’s Global Buyer Protection applied only to tangible goods. So when you purchased a digital product from a shady place and got nothing – you were screwed.
Well, no more getting screwed. At least not if you bought it with your PayPal account. As of July 1st, 2015 PayPal is expanding their Global Buyer Protection to cover purchases of digital books, digital music, digital games, software, and travel tickets.
Beginning July 1, 2015, if you pay for a service or digital product using PayPal and it is significantly different from how it was described, or you pay for one of these items and it is not delivered, PayPal will ensure that the money is credited back to your account.
Considering that back in 2013 digital content spending hit $57 billion – I can only imagine how many people sent PayPal a suggestion to include these purchases into their Global Buyer Protection policy. This should also eliminate those … less-than-honest services being offered online since PayPal has a history of picking up on things like that and protecting the consumer.
Thaaaank you PayPal!