PayPal increases buyer protection, West African scammers rejoice

Last June, when PayPal last revised its terms & conditions, we reported that the changes appeared to have reduced buyer protection for purchases made over classified listing websites such as Gumtree. The company told us at the time that the then new terms were increasing buyer protection for such purchases.

We also argued at the time that, perhaps, PayPal was closing a gap in its terms that allowed scammers to game the buyer protection program. These scams involve the buyers purchasing goods over classified websites and asking for them to be posted to an overseas address different from the buyers PayPals registered address and offering some extra money to cover postage. When the goods are on route, the buyer then proceeds to recall the payment and the seller is left hanging dry because sellers are only protected if they ship the item to the registered address of the buyer.

Fast forward three months and PayPal is once again updating its terms. Again, they are arguing an increased buyer protection, but at least this time, it is actually happening. Paypal even went to the pain of expressly mentioning it on the summary of changes:

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