Change MA to better protect sellers.

[Stormbits]

After reading the following Transaction Dispute I don't know how to feel anymore.

https://builtbybit.com/threads/kkaleb-v-itsenderrr-transaction-dispute.720047/page-3

I believe the Merchant Agreement needs to be adjusted in accordance with loopholes like this to better protect both buyers AND sellers.
In short for people who don't want to read:
Seller completed a plugin for the buyer, price was agreed on before hand and after the plugin had been completed and ready to be delivered the seller was allowed to withdraw from the deal as per the merchant agreement.

In my opinion this is absolutely outrageous obviously, I could go ahead and commission someone for 3,000$ worth of work and have it done and withdraw from the deal right before the project is delivered and I would only receive a warning for this.

I believe it would be in the best interest to better protect BuiltByBit's sellers in these types of situations.

 

[Matty]

Most respectfully, there are so many issues with this suggestion. I'll keep them short and in bullet points.

1) Point of clarity. What is proper compensation?
2) At what point does the deadline/timeframe make it okay to back out? A developer working on a commission for 12 months with no exit clause sounds like trouble.
3) Does this even follow consumer laws? CMA Guidance, CRA 2015, CPUTR 2008.
4) Whilst I know this isn't your main concern, if you're accepting commissions of $3,000 - you should have a contract in place, and not rely on a general MA that doesn't protect you from liability on either side of the spectrum and is unbias for the most part.
5) A very easy turnaround for this is to deliver the content in small parts.. since you would've delivered the work at that time.
6) "If payment for the product or service was provided prior to reception, then payment for the portion which was not received must be returned. " - Ask for payment or at least a small retainer fee for protection at first.

 

[TooLongIdling]

What I've started doing is require the customer to agree that they are not allowed to back out unless they're willing to pay 25% of the originally agreed upon price to back out. If they agree to this term and should they refuse to then pay that 25% fee upon backing out, I can open a transaction dispute.

 

[Tofaa]

Yapatron