Seller Protection, Performance, and Accountability Policies

Overview

Understanding our policies

Meta provides sellers with certain protections for onsite transactions that are documented in these policies. These policies outline what seller protections are available and how to interact with buyers if something does not go as planned. These policies also provide guidance for how sellers should fulfill and ship orders made using onsite checkout.

All sellers using onsite checkout must comply with these policies, as well as the Community Standards and Commerce Product Merchant Agreement in order to qualify for Seller Protection.

Violation or abuse of these policies may lead to various consequences, including but not limited to account restrictions, restrictions on seller protections, cancellation of orders, ranking changes, removal of products, or refunds at a loss to the seller. Meta reserves the right to issue refunds where required by applicable law. Decisions on buyers’ claims and seller protections are governed by these policies and the Purchase Protection Policies , and are made in Meta's sole discretion.

For the purposes of these policies, where specified “Individual Seller” refers to someone selling through a personal profile.

For the purposes of these policies, where specified “Shop Seller” refers to someone selling through a Facebook or Instagram Shop.

For the purposes of these policies, where specified, “seller” or “sellers” refers to both Shop Sellers and Individual Sellers.

Note, in the United Kingdom, these policies do not apply to Facebook or Instagram Shops using onsite checkout.

Seller Protections

Overview

Meta offers a seller protection program to protect sellers against claims and chargebacks resulting from circumstances beyond the seller’s control. The seller protection program consists of four protections: Shipping protection; Item Not As Described; Returns Protection; and Unauthorized Chargebacks. Details of these protections can be found below.

Shipping Protection

Meta protects sellers against claims for lost, stolen, and transit-delayed packages.

To qualify, Shop Sellers must: 1) ship the product within their published shipping/handling window; and, 2) provide a valid tracking number and show the package was delivered to the address provided by the buyer.

Individual Sellers must 1) utilize a Meta-generated shipping label; 2) ship the product within the published shipping/handling window.

Item Not As Described (INAD)

Meta protects sellers against buyer abuse where the buyer claims that the item is not as described. To qualify, 1) the buyer must contact the seller first for issue resolution; 2) sellers must respond to a buyer’s refund request within 2 business days, sellers can ask for goods to be returned (at seller’s expense for individual sellers), issue a refund, or decline the request; 3) If the buyer creates a claim with Meta, they will be asked to prove that the item is not as described in the listing. 4) Meta will decline the claim if we determine that the buyer hasn’t tried to resolve the issue with the seller or if the item matches the description in the listing.

Sellers are the first point of contact for buyers and all sellers should try to resolve buyers’ claims by initiating a return or issuing a refund. If a seller does not respond to a buyer within 2 business days and the buyer contacts Meta, Meta will issue a refund at a loss to the seller and the buyer will keep the product.

If the seller initiates a return or refund, and the buyer declines to return the product to the seller, the buyer will not be refunded.

If the buyer shows the item delivered does not match the listing, Meta will issue a refund at a loss to the seller, Meta does not issue any return label in this case. If the buyer cannot show the item delivered does not match the listing, Meta will protect the seller against the claim.

Returns Protection

Meta protects sellers from buyers who return products they have used, damaged, or substituted for a different product, and cases where the return was never delivered. To qualify, sellers 1) must submit documentation showing the item returned was used, damaged by the buyer, substituted for a different product, or that the return was lost during shipping.

In some situations, Meta may offer a partial refund, otherwise the refunded amount will include the full price of the item, tax, and the original shipping fees (not the return shipping fee).

Unauthorized Chargebacks

For transactions processed through Meta, Meta provides credits to protect sellers from chargebacks resulting from unauthorized transactions, transactions made from compromised accounts, or transactions resulting from Meta system errors.

Limitations

Seller protection is currently only available in the US and coverage is limited to items covered by Meta’s Purchase Protection Policy thathave a sale price of $2000 or less.

If sellers use a third party payment processor, like Shopify, Meta cannot cover unauthorized chargebacks.

Seller Performance and Accountability

Order Fulfillment Obligations

Shop Sellers should provide accurate shipping and handling windows for all products and orders. Sellers must provide valid tracking information for all orders and orders must be received by the buyer within the delivery window (handling time + shipping time) listed by the seller in the product description page. Once confirmed, sellers must fulfill orders within the allotted time frame or the order may be automatically canceled by Meta.

If an Individual Seller has not fulfilled an order within 3 business days from the date of the purchase, that order will be automatically canceled by Meta.

If you ship products, you must meet performance standards for order fulfillment including order tracking, shipping, and delivery, as notified by Meta. These performance standards are determined in Meta’s sole discretion. Additional information on Meta’s performance standards can be found here.

Support and Refunds

Buyers must first contact the seller to try to resolve purchase issues.

If a buyer requests a refund or has an issue with their purchase, the seller has 2 business days to respond to the buyer and attempt to resolve the buyer's issue. If the seller has not responded or resolved the issue after 2 business days, the buyer may make a claim directly to Meta. Buyers must file a claim within 45 days from the date of delivery of the purchased product, or within 60 days for unauthorized claims. Keep in mind that decisions on buyer claims are made in Meta's sole discretion.

Sellers must comply with applicable local laws regarding returns.

Sellers are responsible for handling returns on time, accepting or closing returns and issuing refunds, and following the returns policy stated in the product listing. Refunds must be issued in a timely manner when the seller receives the returned items.

Appealing a Buyer Dispute or Claim

When a buyer is dissatisfied with a delivered product or a seller's conduct during the shipping and fulfillment process, they can raise the issue with Meta as a dispute or claim. Examples of such situations can be found in our Purchase Protection Policies .

As determined in Meta's sole discretion, buyer disputes/claims meeting the criteria in our Purchase Protection Policies will be refunded at the expense of the seller unless otherwise covered in the Seller Protection, Performance, and Accountability Policies. In some situations, Meta may offer a partial refund, otherwise the refunded amount will include the full price of the item, tax, and the original shipping and selling fees. Shipping fee is refunded to the buyer.

Meta will notify a seller when a refund decision has been issued at the expense of the seller. The refund is deducted from a seller's pending payout. Sellers wanting to appeal a refund must do so within 10 calendar days of the notice of the refund decision, after which the refunded amount will be sent to the buyer. Resolution of disputes/claims are made in Meta's sole discretion. Decisions about appeals are final and cannot be contested. If an appeal is decided in the seller's favor, the appealed amount will be refunded to the seller at a loss to Meta.

Sellers are encouraged to submit information with their appeal that may help Meta determine whether the seller or buyer is at fault .

Fees & Chargebacks

Meta will charge Individual Sellers a fee of 5% per transaction, with a minimum fee of $0.40 ("Selling Fee"). Shop Sellers will be charged a processing fee either by Meta or their commerce platform directly. Additional information about Shops processing fees can be found here .

With respect to goods, the sale of a good or goods which are shipped together are a “transaction” for the purpose of this section. The Selling Fee will be calculated based on the entire amount of the transaction (including the sale price(s) of good(s), any shipping fees and Applicable Taxes). Sellers will also be charged a fee of $20 per chargeback by the payment processor, which will be waived upon successful representment provided that you are compliant with the Commerce Product Merchant Agreement and all applicable laws and policies. If you are a resident of or have your principal place of business in Brazil and you use a Seller Commerce Feature, the payment processor we have selected, Cielo S.A., charges a fee of 3.99% per transaction.

A chargeback occurs when a buyer contacts their debit or credit card issuer to dispute a transaction with the seller. A buyer may file a chargeback for many reasons, such as an incorrect or unauthorized transaction on their card, not receiving the items they purchased, or being dissatisfied with the purchase but not being able to resolve the matter directly with the seller.

When a buyer files a chargeback, Meta will notify the seller and deduct from the seller’s account the transaction amount and a $20 chargeback fee until the chargeback has been resolved by the card issuer. In instances where the seller is using Shopify, Shopify will notify the seller.

If the chargeback is resolved in favor of the seller, a credit for the transaction amount and chargeback fee will be returned to the seller’s account. Meta will review chargebacks and cover the cost of chargebacks that we determine to be related to a fraudulent payment, such as unauthorized purchases resulting from theft of credit card or account information. Sellers bear the risk of loss associated with all other chargebacks. Learn more on how to review chargebacks on Meta .

However, if the card issuer decides in the buyer's favor or the seller fails to respond to chargeback within 10 calendar days, the transaction amount and the $20 chargeback fee will be deducted from the seller's account balance.

Responding to a Chargeback

Shop sellers have 10 calendar days to respond to a chargeback and submit evidence against the buyer's claim. Individual sellers cannot dispute chargebacks. Meta may choose to dispute chargebacks on behalf of sellers.

When responding to chargebacks, Shops sellers should provide evidence that relates to the reason for the chargeback. Learn more about how to respond to a chargeback .

Meta will not consider Purchase Protection claims from buyers who have received a refund as a result of a successful chargeback. Meta may conduct additional investigations into seller accounts that face multiple chargeback claims, and may take additional action to restrict the seller's account. Meta may also disable payments or take additional action to restrict the account of buyers who file fraudulent chargebacks.

Payment Disputes with Meta

Sellers have 90 calendar days to contact Meta regarding payment disputes or issues. Any disputes or issues not raised within this time-period will be permanently waived.