Mere Compliance and Misleading Omissions: The True Scope of Paypal's 'From Click to Doorbell' Consumer Protection Policy

Abstract

This paper provides the reader with a critical analysis of Paypal’s consumer protection policy and its compliance with European consumer protection standards.It offers a view on whether Paypal provides its users with more extensive consumer protection than what is required from credit institutions under EU Law. First, this paper provides a brief overview of how a Paypal account can be opened and verified. Second, Paypal’s liability as an intermediary for unlawful transactions is discussed, followed by a discussion of unauthorised transactions made through its services. It goes on to extensively review Paypal’s Buyer Protection Program.To conclude this paper answers the question whether Paypal does truly, as it claims, protect the buyer “from click to doorbell” or whether Paypal’s advertising, regarding its consumer protection schemes, can be considered to be exaggerated and/or misleading to the average consumer.