PayPal, Paddle & FastSpring: what these Merchant-of-Record charges are and how to cancel

You bought some software, a plugin, or a SaaS tool — and your statement shows 'PADDLE.NET', 'FS*SOMENAME', or 'PAYPAL *SOMENAME' instead of the product you actually paid for. This trips up a lot of people, especially developers and designers who pay for indie tools. The reason is a billing arrangement called a Merchant of Record (MoR).

What is a Merchant of Record (MoR)?

A Merchant of Record is a company that legally sells and bills for a product on behalf of the maker, handling payments, sales tax/VAT, and card-network rules worldwide. So even if a small indie studio built the app, the receipt and the card statement show Paddle or FastSpring as the seller. This is exactly why a tiny overseas developer can sell to you at all — the MoR handles the messy global tax and compliance. The trade-off: the real product name is hidden behind the MoR's name.

How the statement patterns look

• Paddle: 'PADDLE.NET' or 'PADDLE.NET*PRODUCT'. The text after the * is often the real product
• FastSpring: usually 'FS*COMPANY', sometimes 'FSPRG' or 'FASTSPRING'
• PayPal: 'PAYPAL *MERCHANT'. The name after the * is the real seller. It may be a PayPal automatic (recurring) payment
• Lemon Squeezy: indie software and digital products; find the real product in the receipt or the My Orders portal

How to find the real product

The fastest route to identifying an MoR charge is your receipt email. Right after purchase, the MoR sends a receipt that names the real product and includes a link to manage the subscription.

1. Search your inbox for a Paddle / FastSpring / Lemon Squeezy / PayPal receipt to find the real product name
2. No receipt? Use the buyer portal to look up the order by email — Paddle: paddle.net, FastSpring: fastspring.com/consumer/, Lemon Squeezy: app.lemonsqueezy.com/my-orders
3. For PayPal, go to Settings > Payments > Automatic payments to see and cancel recurring merchants
4. Once you find the product, cancel the subscription with that service too, not just the MoR

Cancelling and refunds

To be safe, cancel in two places: (1) the real product's own account, and (2) the MoR portal, to make sure auto-renew is off. Paddle receipts include a 'Manage Subscription' link that lets you cancel and turn off renewal directly. FastSpring order emails include an Order ID that speeds up cancellation and refund requests.

Refund eligibility follows the software maker's policy, not a fixed rule (we won't invent numbers here). The MoR usually applies that policy, and the refund window can depend on the payment method. Check the exact terms on the MoR's and the product's official pages before assuming a refund is guaranteed. Where possible, refunds are returned to the original payment method — Paddle, for example, states this on their buyer support pages.

This guide explains the general structure and steps; it does not confirm whether any specific charge is refundable. Actual terms follow each MoR's and product's official policy. If you believe a charge was never authorized by you, treat it as possible fraud and follow the 5-step unknown charge check to contact your bank first.