PayPal allows South Africans to return items purchased online for free

Back in the day when ecommerce was first becoming “a thing” , one of the first online services that I used to secure my internet transactions was PayPal. This system allowed anyone with an email address to simply top up their account or link their PayPal account to a credit card and then make payments on websites that accept PayPal. This gave us a level of comfort that the site doesn’t have our credit card info.

Fast forward to 2015 and PayPal has continued to be a source of safety for online shoppers. PayPal has revealed their Quarter 3 Earning 2015 of $2.26 billion in revenue which is up 19% year on year and almost double the rate of ecommerce rate. PayPal had processed $69.7 billion transaction globally which were done via 1.2 billion transactions of which 25% were via mobile device. PayPal has 173 million active accounts and interestingly enough PayPal has 1 million accounts in South Africa.

Too scared to shop online

There is still interpretation when shopping online. PayPal commissioned research into the South Africa market where they discovered that the top barriers in South Africa were 67% said security was their top barrier and 58% said they were concerned about not receiving goods they bought.

Consumers in South Africa would purchase more online if:

• 88% said that if online offered at a lower cost
• 85% said that if good were delivered faster
• 85% said if it offered coupons
• 75% said if it was safer to pay online

The same research also revealed that 71% of the people who were surveyed said that the ability to return good for free would be motivator to shop online. This is understandable especially when shopping for fashion as items might not fit, be the wrong size or colour.

Therefore PayPal has introduced its PayPal Refunded Return service in South Africa. South Africa joins 33 other countries and where consumers see free return shipping as a significant added value and crucial when making a decision whether or not to purchase an item online.

With this service, regardless of the reason for the return, users that ordered a product and paid for it via PayPal can return it and get a refund for the return shipping.

“Since consumers can now buy almost everything from everywhere without leaving the house or office, it is not surprising that they expect better service, safer payment options, the assurance that what they buy is what they will get and an easy way to return items,” says PayPal’s Regional director for Africa and Israel, Efi Dahan.

How does the Free Refund work ?

If you purchase a product online you must pay for it using your PayPal account. If the product is not correct/ damaged/ or needs to be returned for any reason you can get a refund for the shipping, up to 400 Rand and 4 times per year (the refund will be paid out in US dollars). All you need to do is keep the posting receipts.

Then, just do the following:

1. Activate the free service on our dedicated landing page: https://www.paypal.com/za/webapps/mpp/refunded-returns/
2. Create a claim: send us your receipts and the claim form within 14 days of returning your purchase.
3. Get your refund: your refund will be credited to your PayPal account within 5 business days from notice of approval of your request for refund.

After completing this short procedure, the refund will appear on the PayPal account in the next 10 days.

The initial test period, the PayPal Refunded Return service will be active until 31^st of December 2015.

Check this out for more information

* headline image from www.BillionPhotos.com / Shutterstock.com