Under UK Law, there is no requirement to offer a refund policy on digitally downloaded goods (for example ebooks, templates, software). Allied to this, I make sure that my "thank you for purchasing" email and the download log-in page both state that by downloading the purchaser agrees to waive any right to a refund.

It's fair, it's legal, it works. Every, _every_ time that anyone has gone straight to Paypal to dispute a payment, I can show my terms and the download times and Paypal always rule in my favour. No if's, but's or maybe's.

So, when I receive "I want a refund" emails, I usually say "no" and that's the end of it. If they want to go to Paypal, they can - I'm happy about that.

However I recently have been giving refunds on certain occasions as a goodwill gesture, and it's actually working out in my favour. Goodwill goes quite a long way, and can lead to an (ex)customer promoting your goods and services.

An example of this would be a recent one where "Mr Pink" asked for a refund on a $97 product as it did not quite suit his needs - he is now recommending the product (there is no affiliate scheme for this particular product) on his Blog to others, whereas before I refunded him, he wasn't!

So, it is true that sometimes people are requestiong refunds because they are lying, theiving, cheating scum - it's also true that some people have a genuine reason for refund and can actually help your business to sell more products/services.