I'll make this short and simple --

1. Always use Paypal (if possible) to pay for anything you buy on the internet.

2. Credit cards are next best.

3. American Express is the best credit card to use. Amex protects their members and usually rules in your favor about refunds if you have a legitimate complaint or reason for requesting it. Visa and Mastercard don't have the same bargaining power with merchants as Amex has and getting refunds from Visa or Mastercard is usually slower and more cumbersome. Possible, but painful.

4. KEEP TRACK OF YOUR PAYPAL TRANSACTION NUMBER AND YOUR CLICKBANK RECEIPT NUMBER. They both send you emails when you buy something. The emails contain those two numbers, and those two numbers are like gold. SAVE EVERY ONE OF THOSE EMAILS. You'll need them for any questions or problems with the vendor, and they're also helpful if you want a refund. I'd suggest setting up a special folder called "mail order" or something like that. Put every confirming email into that folder.

5. Set up another folder for every email that contains name and/or password information. Call it whatever you want, but put every name and password, one way or another, into that folder. It can be an email folder or a folder in My Documents .... whatever. Just keep all names and passwords in one search-able place. It's kind of difficult to ask for a refund or cancel a subscription when you can't even log into a site, right?

SUBSCRIPTIONS, RECURRING PAYMENTS AND DEFERRED PAYMENTS

6. When it comes time to cancel that subscription, recurring payment or deferred payment, find your way to the hidden Paypal page that gives you a listing of every vendor who is authorized to charge your Paypal account in the future.

Huh?

Hidden?

Every vendor authorized to charge my Paypal account in the future?

Where is it?

7. Buried. Believe me.

8. I spent almost 30 minutes looking for it one night AND I KNEW IT WAS THERE! No, I'm not stupid. :) It's just hidden pretty well. Here's how to find it if you have the new, updated interface:

9. Log into your account and go to your Profile | More Options | My Money | My preapproved payments | update. See? I told you it was hidden.

10. "My Money" is in a block on the left side of your screen. "My preapproved payments" is in a list after you click on "My Money". It's toward the bottom of the page, and "update" is on the right side of your screen. So you will be "updating" your "preapproved payments".

First you have to choose "My Money".

That takes you to another screen where you find "My preapproved payments" and choose "update".

11. And here's what you get when you click "update" --

Wow! There it is -- every merchant who is approved to charge on your Paypal account with Merchant, Start date, Expiration date, Last amount billed, and Status. All right there in one place! And you can cancel any one of them with just a few clicks!

12. When I first went to this screen I was shocked to find how many merchants were authorized to charge on my Paypal account -- merchants I had long since forgotten about. Remember those offers that start out for $1.00 for the first month? Or $4.95 for the first SIX months? And then they can start charging you $47/month? Or $97/month? Or whatever if you don't cancel? Well, I had forgotten about some of them (haven't we all?), but they were all there. A few clicks, a few "cancels", and I had just saved myself a lot of money!

So check it out. Once you find that screen it's quick, painless, and it might save you some money, too.

13. And here is is from the horse's mouth, Paypal's Help area. This will help people whose interface has not been updated yet:

Question: How do I cancel a recurring payment, subscription, or automatic billing agreement I have with a merchant?

Answer: We’re introducing a new and improved Profile to some customers. Until all customers are using the new Profile, there are 2 sets of instructions on how to do this. Please follow the instructions that match what you see on the site.

1. Log in to your PayPal account.

2. Click Profile near the top of the page.

3. Click My Preapproved Payments in the Financial Information column. (Don’t see this step? Follow the instructions below.)

4. Click View the Agreement next to the merchant agreement you want to cancel.

5. Click Cancel or Cancel automatic billing and follow the instructions.

Or

1. Log in to your PayPal account.

2. Click Profile near the top of the page.

3. Click My money.

4. Click Update in the My preapproved payments section.

5. Click Cancel or Cancel automatic billing and follow the instructions.

If you don’t have a PayPal account, you should contact the merchant directly to cancel the agreement. If you can’t contact the merchant, you should contact PayPal Customer Service by phone. Here’s how:

1. Go to the PayPal website.

2. Click Contact Us at the bottom of any page.

3. Click Call Us, then click Continue for our Customer Service phone number.

Please note that after canceling a payment, subscription, or automatic billing agreement, you are still required to pay the merchant for the goods or services you received.

14. You might have thought you had to correspond with the merchant and/or go through some kind of unpleasant back and forth process to cancel a subscription, recurring payment or future payment. You don't. Just get to that last screen, choose your row (transaction), and click "Cancel". That's it. The confirming email arrives in a few hours and you're done. Is that neat or what??

REFUNDS

15. Refunds are a little trickier. You know all those 60 days refunds we usually see? That's partly thanks to Clickbank. Anyone who wants to sell anything through Clickbank MUST offer an unconditional 60 day money back guarantee. But how to remember everything you bought, right? And who you bought it from? And when? That's right, Paypal again. Here it is straight from their Help screens:

Question : How do I request a refund? Answer : To request a refund, send the seller an email. Ask the seller to go to the Transaction Details page for your transaction and click Issue a refund. You can request a refund up to 60 days after you pay for your item. Here’s how to find the seller’s contact information:  

• Log in to your PayPal account.

• Click History.

• Click Details next to the transaction you want a refund for.

• Use the contact information to send the seller an email.

If your seller doesn’t agree to refund your money, you may be able to open a dispute in the Resolution Center. You can open a dispute if you didn’t receive your item or you received something that doesn’t match the seller’s description. (You must open your dispute within 45 days of paying for your item.)

In the Resolution Center, you can communicate directly with the seller and try to resolve the problem. If you aren’t able to work it out, we may be able to help you get a refund.

Note:

• If you paid with your debit card or credit card, your payment is refunded to your debit card or credit card. It may take up to 30 days for the refund to appear on your card statement.

• If you paid with your bank account or PayPal balance, your payment is refunded to your PayPal account.

16. When you click on History you get a listing of every transaction. It looks a lot like the "Preapproved payments" screen, but it shows everything you bought, line by line. Click on "Details" in any line and you get a whole screen full of information showing merchant, date, amount, contact information, transaction number, etc. If you're still within the guarantee period, you have all the information you need to send the merchant a detailed and complete email claiming your refund.

17. But notice that Paypal says you can ask for a refund "up to 60 days after you pay for an item", but they only give you 45 days to open a dispute after you pay. So the guarantee is for 60 days (if it's a Clickbank product), but your Paypal dispute must be opened in 45 days if the merchant doesn't want to pay up. What are you supposed to do it it's 50 days since you paid, the guarantee was for 60 days, and the merchant isn't returning your emails or telephone calls?

Good question. Doesn't look like Paypal will help, because you only had 45 days to open your Dispute.

18. For most other credit cards you have 60 days, but that's it. It doesn't matter how long the guarantee was for. After 60 days, the credit card company doesn't want to be part of your refund dispute. So watch out for those 90 day guarantees. Or lifetime guarantees. If the merchant doesn't honor the guarantee and give you back your money, your credit card companies, including Paypal, aren't going to be much help.

What to do?

19. DON'T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE.

20. Try your new product and if you think you're going to want your refund, ask for it quickly. That's the best way to protect yourself and make your life a little easier.

Wow, did I say "short and simple" at the start? I guess this post turned out to be not so short and not so simple after all, huh? But at least we've covered the ground, and .....

21. As Bugs Bunny used to say, "That's All For Now, Folks!"

Hope this was helpful, and please comment. Your comments, suggestions and additions will make this post more valuable for everyone.

Cheers --

Greg