A PayPal payment was reported as unauthorised. Does Seller Protection cover me?

1. PayPal's Seller Protection pages say it may apply when a buyer says they did not authorise a payment and the unauthorised transaction occurred in an environment hosted by PayPal, and when an Item Not Received claim is made.
2. For an unauthorised transaction claim the payment must be marked 'eligible' or 'partially eligible' for Seller Protection on its Transaction Details page.
3. You must give valid proof of shipment or delivery showing the item shipped or was provided no later than two days after PayPal notified you of the dispute or reversal. PayPal's example: notified on 1 September, shipped by 3 September.
4. The basic conditions include a physical, shippable item, shipping to the address on Transaction Details, a timely response to PayPal's requests, and an account address in the right country: the United States on the US page, a country the user agreement covers on the UK page.
5. PayPal decides eligibility at its sole discretion. Check the Transaction Details page of the actual payment.

Source: PayPal's Seller Protection program; PayPal's Seller Protection Program (UK page); PayPal User Agreement (UK), read 4 October 2026.

1. Open the payment in your PayPal account and read its Transaction Details page. PayPal says this is where it shows whether the payment may be protected.
2. If PayPal notifies you of an unauthorised transaction claim, note the date and time of the notice. Your proof of shipment must show a ship date no later than two days after it.
3. Ship to the address shown on the Transaction Details page, with a carrier that gives an online, verifiable tracking number, and do not use a shipping service the buyer arranged.
4. Respond to PayPal's email or Resolution Center requests for documents in the time asked.
5. Keep the carrier record and the Transaction Details page screenshot together.

PayPal's Seller Protection pages define these. Proof of shipment and proof of delivery are two different things.

• The PayPal Transaction Details page for the payment, showing its protection status
• Proof of shipment: online or physical carrier documentation with a verifiable tracking number, the date of shipment, and a recipient address matching the Transaction Details address (the UK page also accepts an address showing at least city and postal code)
• Proof of delivery, where required: carrier documentation with a verifiable tracking number, the date of delivery and 'delivered' status, and a matching recipient address
• The date and time PayPal notified you of the claim or reversal, to show the two day rule
• For intangible goods: compelling evidence the item was delivered, such as a system record of the date it was sent to the recipient (email, IP and so on) and that it was received or accessed
• Your replies to PayPal's requests, with dates

Where PayPal's pages state conditions or differ

• Pages read: US Seller Protection (last updated 26 January 2026) and UK Seller Protection (last updated 15 July 2026).
• Account country: US page, primary address in the United States; UK page, in one of the countries to which the user agreement applies.
• UK page only: you must accept a single payment from one PayPal account (partial and instalment payments are excluded). It also says that if your checkout does not send the buyer's browser session and device information to PayPal, PayPal gives a 60 day notice to fix it before it may remove eligibility for unauthorised transactions.
• Not eligible, on both pages: Significantly Not As Described claims; Item Not Received claims filed directly with the card issuer; personal payments such as friends and family; items sent after PayPal advised you not to release them; gift cards and stored value; and some other categories. Read the full list on PayPal's page.
• Both pages list countries where guest checkout and standard card payments do not qualify for business accounts registered there; the United Kingdom and the United States are not in that list.
• PayPal's UK user agreement says no standard Dispute fee is charged for disputes filed by the buyer directly with PayPal as an unauthorised transaction, or for disputes PayPal deems to have met all the Seller Protection requirements. Amounts are in PayPal's fee table, which we did not read.

Plain text. Replace every [bracket] with a fact from your records and delete any line you cannot back with a file.

Case or transaction ID: [ID]. Payment: [amount and currency], date [date], buyer [name on the transaction].

You notified us of an unauthorised transaction claim on [date and time].

Proof of shipment (attached: [file name]): carrier [carrier], tracking number [number], shipped on [date, no later than two days after the notice], to [address], which matches the shipping address on the Transaction Details page.
Proof of delivery (attached: [file name]): delivered on [date], status 'delivered'.
Transaction Details page showing protection status (attached: [file name]).

Please let us know if you need anything else.

[Name], [store name]

Never state anything you cannot prove. Every sentence in the response should point to a file you can attach. Delete any line you have no file for.

• Shipping after the two day window PayPal states for unauthorised transaction claims. Proof of shipment must show a ship date within two days of PayPal's notice.
• Assuming every payment is protected. PayPal's page says to check the payment's Transaction Details page, and that PayPal decides.
• Shipping to an address other than the one on Transaction Details, or letting the parcel be redirected. PayPal says either can make you ineligible.
• Selling an item type PayPal excludes, such as gift cards, and expecting protection.
• Mixing up this claim with a card chargeback. Seller Protection can apply when a card payment is reversed because the buyer says they did not authorise it, but not to an Item Not Received claim filed with the card issuer.

How do I know if a payment is covered?

PayPal's pages say the Transaction Details page in your PayPal account shows whether the transaction may be eligible, marked 'eligible' or 'partially eligible' for unauthorised transaction claims. PayPal decides at its sole discretion.

What is the two day rule?

For an unauthorised transaction claim, PayPal says you must provide valid proof of shipment or delivery showing the item shipped or was provided no later than two days after PayPal notified you of the dispute or reversal.

Does Seller Protection apply to UK sellers?

PayPal's UK page says the account's primary address must be in a country to which the user agreement applies, where the US page says the United States. Its conditions otherwise follow the US page, plus a single payment condition. PayPal still decides each case.

Does it cover a buyer who says the item is not as described?

No. Both pages list Significantly Not As Described claims as not eligible.

Is there a fee?

PayPal's UK user agreement says no standard Dispute fee is charged for disputes filed directly with PayPal as unauthorised transactions. It also describes a Chargeback fee for card chargebacks on payments not made through a PayPal account. We did not read the amounts.

• A buyer opened a PayPal dispute. How do I respond?
• A buyer opened a PayPal 'item not received' dispute. What do I send?
• A buyer opened a PayPal 'significantly not as described' dispute. What counts?
• PayPal dispute, claim and chargeback: what is the difference?

• A customer disputed a Shop Pay Installments order. Who handles it?
• A customer opened a Klarna dispute. How do I respond?
• They filed a chargeback after I refunded them. What do I send?
• A Stripe dispute on my Shopify store: where do I submit evidence?

We read the US and UK Seller Protection pages and the UK user agreement. Other countries' pages, PayPal's fee tables and its Chargeback Guide were not read. Rules and deadlines can change, so use the due date and form on your own dispute.

The Chargeback Evidence Checklist skill, or its paste-in prompt for ChatGPT, asks for your dispute reason and lists the evidence to gather. Or pick the reason on the chargebacks page.

The kit now has six fill-in response letters for Word or Google Docs (one per reason), evidence checklists, worked examples and a Start-here PDF, plus the skill and a paste-in prompt. The Chargeback Response Kit and the free Chargeback Evidence Checklist are written around Shopify's chargeback reason names: Fraudulent, Unrecognized, Product not received, Product unacceptable, Subscription canceled, Duplicate, Credit not processed and General. The Writer's README says it also handles inquiries, Shopify Protect orders and orders that were already refunded. Its response structure carries over to other payment methods, because the questions a bank asks are similar. Where and how you submit differs, and we have not tested the skill against a PayPal unauthorised transaction claim. Check the form's own limits before you paste anything in. What carries over to PayPal, Stripe and other processors: the way the response is built (what happened, evidence as numbered exhibits, the policy quoted word for word, dated contact with the customer, nothing you cannot back with a file) and the evidence ideas for each kind of claim. The fill-in letters follow Shopify's reason names, so for another processor pick the letter for the closest reason and use it to organise your facts. What does not: the reason names, the deadlines, the evidence field names and where you submit, which belong to each processor, so check them against that processor's own page above.

Before: a merchant sent delivery photos against a fraud dispute and lost.
After: a verdict (weak, fight only if cheap), what the bank actually asks, and what to gather instead.

It is also one of the six skills in the Store Ops Pack, $29.

Send the dispute reason, the amount, the due date and the evidence you hold, with no card or customer data. We reply with what looks strong, what is missing and whether accepting may cost less. Free, no call, no sign-up. We cannot promise a day, and nobody can promise how a bank or payment provider will decide.

Kai Ventura, Pro Skill Packs

General information from the public sources above and our own checklists. It is not legal advice, and no response can promise how a bank or payment provider will decide. Pro Skill Packs is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Shopify Inc., Affirm, Klarna, PayPal or Stripe. All chargeback pages.