PayMeSafe — Dispute Resolution Rules

Version of test-2026-10-05

These Rules describe how the parties of a deal open a dispute and reach agreement, how an arbiter reviews a dispute, how an appeal is filed and how a decision is executed. The Rules form part of the Terms of Service of the PayMeSafe service provided by PayMeSafe Test Operator (the "Operator").

1. General provisions

A dispute is a contractual procedure that the parties of a deal accept together with the Terms of Service. It is used to distribute the locked funds when the parties disagree about the performance of the deal.
Arbiter — an employee of the Operator who reviews a dispute and decides how the locked funds are distributed. Appeal — a party's request to reconsider the arbiter's decision. Reviewer — an employee of the Operator who reviews an appeal.
The arbiter is not an arbitrator of an arbitral tribunal, and the Operator is not an arbitral tribunal or an arbitration institution; the review of a dispute is not arbitration proceedings. A decision in a dispute is a decision of the Operator as the custodian of the funds on how to distribute the locked funds under the Terms of Service.
The procedure does not deprive the parties of the right to go to court — before, during or after the dispute — and is not a mandatory pre-trial procedure. The Operator executes a court decision on the distribution of locked funds that has entered into force in the manner established by law.
A dispute decides only one thing: how to distribute the locked funds between the buyer and the seller. The service fee is withheld in any outcome, and its amount does not change in a dispute.

2. When and who opens a dispute

A dispute can be opened by the buyer or the seller of a deal with locked funds — after the funds are locked and before they are released to the seller, in the deal statuses where the service offers the "Dispute" action.
Only one dispute can be in progress for a deal at a time. A dispute is not available before funds are locked: a party that disagrees can cancel the deal.
A dispute is also the way forward if the other party does not respond: deal deadlines alone do not release or refund funds.

3. Claim

A dispute is opened with a claim. In it, the party:
- describes what went wrong;
- states the refund to the buyer it requests — from zero up to the amount available for refund; zero means the whole amount stays with the seller;
- attaches evidence — files.
Before sending the claim, the party ticks a box accepting these Rules. The box is recorded together with the version of the Rules, the date and time, the IP address and browser details.
Files of the claim are added to the deal documents and are visible to both parties, the arbiter and the reviewer. Until the dispute ends, deal files cannot be deleted.
When a dispute is opened, the deal moves to the "Disputed" status. The locked funds stay with the Operator until the dispute ends.
The request in the claim counts as the first offer of a refund amount.

4. Settlement by the parties

The other party has 72 hours to respond to the claim; the deadline is shown on the dispute page. The other party can accept the request, offer its own refund amount or decline the request.
Until the arbiter makes a decision, either party can offer a refund amount to the buyer, and the other party can accept or decline it. Accepting any offer ends the dispute by agreement of the parties: the locked funds are distributed according to the agreed amount at once, without an appeal period.
The claimant can withdraw the claim until the dispute is passed to an arbiter. The dispute then closes, and the deal returns to the status it had before the dispute.
Either party can pass the dispute to an arbiter without waiting for the response deadline. If the other party has not responded in time or the parties have not agreed, the dispute is passed to an arbiter by a party or by the Operator.

5. Review by the arbiter

The arbiter reviews the dispute based on the materials in the deal feed: the deal terms and their revisions, messages, files, the claim, the parties' responses and offers.
The arbiter can request additional materials from the parties and set a response deadline. Requests and deadlines arrive in the deal feed.
The parties provide accurate materials. The parties include other people's personal data in the materials only to the extent needed for the dispute.
The arbiter assesses the materials of both parties and decides based on the deal terms and the Terms of Service.
The arbiter reviews the dispute within a reasonable time. There is no fixed review period: it depends on the complexity of the dispute and on how quickly the parties respond to requests.

6. Decision

The decision sets out how to distribute the locked funds net of the service fee: refund them to the buyer, release them to the seller or split them between the parties. The decision states the amount for each party and the reasoning.
After the decision, the locked funds are held until the appeal period ends.

7. Appeal

Either party can file an appeal within 7 days of the decision; the end date of the period is shown on the dispute page. Only one appeal can be filed in a dispute.
In the appeal, the party states why the decision is wrong. The other party can respond to the appeal within 72 hours.
The appeal is reviewed by a reviewer — an employee of the Operator. The reviewer upholds the decision or replaces it with their own.
While the appeal is under review, the locked funds are not distributed. The reviewer's decision cannot be appealed in the service.

8. Execution of the decision

The decision becomes final when the appeal period has expired without an appeal or the appeal has been reviewed.
The service executes the final decision by crediting the amounts to the parties' wallets in the service. No action by the parties is needed.
Once the amounts are credited, the dispute closes and the deal receives the "Resolved" status.

9. Questions

Questions about the progress of a dispute can be sent to support at test@example.invalid.