PayPal?

[JoeFriday]

paypal is NOT to be trusted.. I use it pretty regularly, because it's required by a lot of eb*y sellers.. but I minimize the damage paypal can do to my bank accounts by tying it to a low-limit credit card and a bank account with basically no money in it

remember that paypal is not a bank, and doesn't have to follow all the rules that banks have to.. and don't believe a word they tell you about how your transactions are covered by their personal 'insurance'.. that's total BS.. I was screwed by an ebay seller once and figured I was covered since I used paypal.. ebay and paypal both investigated, and confirmed that I was a fraud victim.. they both simply said 'sorry about that, but since the seller closed his paypal account, you're never going to get any money back'

another time, I had a similar experience, but when I paid by credit card, the cc company immediately reimbursed me, even tho paypal wouldn't do anything.. so always use a credit card.. never cash.. especially when paypal is involved

on the other hand, I've completed dozens of payment transactions with paypal (paying and receiving) and I never have any problems with paypal themselves.. they just don't offer much, if any, support when you have a problem with the other party involved.. altho I've heard stories about people having their bank accounts frozen and ultimately cleaned out by paypal.. but I don't know of any of those people directly

 

[wierdcollector]

I've used Paypal for buying only, but I registered a low limit credit card I only use for Ebay. With a limit of $500 and the protection of a credit card I find I'm a lot safer than using Paypal from my bank account. If Paypal won't follow up on a rip off seller, at least I can do a charge back and I'm not out anything. If and when I get around to selling anything, I'll set up a bank account solely for that, so Paypal can freeze it till the cows come home and my regular account will still be accessible. Works for me, but I list two of my three email addresses for Paypal payments. The G mail account is off limits to Ebay.

 

[doubs43]

Once PayPal said I'd reached my purchase limit and couldn't use them longer unless I gave them bank account information, I stopped using them altogether. I now pay for everything with money orders. If the seller won't take a money order, I don't bid. If the seller is overseas and doesn't have a partner in the US to take my money order, I don't bid.

I may have to change my tune if I ever decide to sell on ebay but until then I refuse to use PayPal.

Walker

 

[jan normandale]

Once PayPal said I'd reached my purchase limit and couldn't use them longer unless I gave them bank account information, I stopped using them altogether. I now pay for everything with money orders. If the seller won't take a money order, I don't bid. If the seller is overseas and doesn't have a partner in the US to take my money order, I don't bid.

I may have to change my tune if I ever decide to sell on ebay but until then I refuse to use PayPal.

Walker

that's exactly what happened to me so I closed the account which was an interesting experience too. Sort of went like this ....

do you really want to do this?..YES
you're sure? ..YES
this is your last chance to change your mind! ..YES
one more chance!....YES
very well but you'll be sorry! .. oh my lions and tigers and bears .. what shall I do!

(apologies to L.Frank Baum)

Jan

 

[RubenBlaedel]

Hi Reuben

I got into the Paypal thing in depth and there is a difference. The European Union do not permit Paypal to operate the same way they operate in North America. Interesting isn't it.

EU says you must operate 'this way' and they do, in North America they do anything they want until a 2 year court case is concluded and then they do as they are told only on that judgement. And so it goes.


Jan

That might be the differnce - I kind of like the PayPal system - moneyorders are very expensive from my part of the world and I do not like to give my credit card numbers to anyone I do not know! I have not lost auctions but someone on the Rolleilist does not accept PayPal so I had to buy him a checque in USD and that cost e about 10 USD to do!

 

[kiev4a]

Like others, I have a seperate bank account connected to Paypal (along with the required credit card).If I get a Paypay payment I transfer the money into that account. If I don't intend to spend it right awy I can move it into our regular account through the bank's on line services. When I pay I use money in the account -- not my credit card. If anyone figured a way to get access to my Paypal bank account they wouldn't get much because I almost always spend it as fast as it comes in.

There are other online payment services like Western Union and Bidpay but they are even more expensive than Paypal (Especially Western Union). I have purchased a lot of FSU equipment and I simple won't bid on anything that can't be purchased through Paypal. Most Ukrainian sellers have access to Paypal--many through an U.S. outfit called Western Bid. Many of the other eastern European sellers don't seem to have access.

 

[nemjo]

To me the main con is that one can use it in a limited region only.
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-approved-signup-countries-outside
If take a look at, you won't find Poland, Czeh Republic, Hungary etc.
If you miss it (the PayPal), you find only possibilities with a higher level of risk.
BidPay is very expensive and they can do silly things. Once i bought - ok. tried to buy - a lens from US, and after more than six weeks not the seller got the money, but me. (the fee prepayed) (The seller was very kind, as not made a negative feedback.)
So however the market is much more bigger there i usually buy from Germany - they prefer banktransfer.
Cheers,

nemjo

 

[hendriphile]

Caveat Emptor: PayPal may sneak into your transaction without your knowing it.

Caveat Emptor: PayPal may sneak into your transaction without your knowing it.

Last week I purchased an item from a leading photographic store in S. California using my Debit Card. Debit card is "equivalent to cash."
The vendor never received the cash.
I discovered the money was being held by PayPal. (When ordering the item I was never informed that Paypal would be a part of this transaction.)
My Bank told me they were powerless to cancel the transaction. Now I don’t have the money; the seller doesn’t have the money; PayPal has the money & they’re keeping it.

Suggestion: Before paying for an item with a card over the phone, ascertain that the vendor has no connection with PayPal.

 

[xia_ke]

That's why I always use a credit card, not a debit. The one time I had an issue with a debit, I was **** out of luck as my bank wouldn't do a thing. The couple times I have had issues with my credit card, the card company was quick to rectify the situation. I even had a Paypal/eBay dispute over receiving an item not as described. They sided with the vendor (it was a case of a supposedly perfectly working camera arriving as a paper weight, but it was sold as-is). A 5 minute call to my credit card company and I was promptly refunded.

 

[willie_901]

I avoid PayPal whenever possible. As posted above, the problem is Black Hats can actually access your checking account. This means you have to have a separate checking account with a meager balance.

If you don't, then if you (or a family member who has yourPayPal credentials) gets scammed, the criminals can empty your checking account. Unlike a credit card transaction, you have no protection and no recourse. To those who may think this is paranoid or alarmist, this advice was given to me by someone who devises risk aversion strategies for IT security at one of the largest banks on the planet.

The credit card link is less of a concern because if you act responsibly your liability is very low.

 

[sevo]

Last week I purchased an item from a leading photographic store in S. California using my Debit Card. Debit card is "equivalent to cash."
The vendor never received the cash.

A debit card is not equivalent to cash - if the seller owes the processing bank (in this case, obviously Paypal) any money, he may not be able to withdraw the money transferred from your debit card...

 

[xia_ke]

I avoid PayPal whenever possible. As posted above, the problem is Black Hats can actually access your checking account. This means you have to have a separate checking account with a meager balance.

If you don't, then if you (or a family member who has yourPayPal credentials) gets scammed, the criminals can empty your checking account. Unlike a credit card transaction, you have no protection and no recourse. To those who may think this is paranoid or alarmist, this advice was given to me by someone who devises risk aversion strategies for IT security at one of the largest banks on the planet.

The credit card link is less of a concern because if you act responsibly your liability is very low.

A VERY good point. My wife and I have individual checking accounts that we keep virtually no money in until we need to it purchase something. We then have a joint checking account for all of our bills. This joint account is not linked to any debit card, payment provider, etc. It's a PITA sometimes, but it is necessary with all of today's scams.

 

[Larry Cloetta]

This means you have to have a separate checking account with a meager balance.

<snip> criminals can empty your checking account.

It's not just criminals, garden variety jerks can cause you a great deal of grief using Paypal against you as well if you link it to your main bank account, which I learned the hard way.
Won't go into all the gory details, but I offered to help a friend sell an $8,000 amplifier on Audiogon which is a hi-fi equipment buy/sell place which operates with Paypal just as ebay does. Amp was in perfect condition, shipped to a buyer in Ohio who didnt read the manual, and blew it up about ten days after he got it. Buyer then decided he wanted his money back, and could use Paypal to get it, and wanted my friend to take back the now worthless amp which the buyer had just destroyed. Buyer hit the Paypal button for "file a dispute" and, instantly, all the funds in my only bank account, which was the one I naively had linked to Paypal, were frozen. I had no access to my money for a couple of weeks until my friend paid this buyer $8,000. Thats the very condensed version, but that's how Paypal works.

 

[brennanphotoguy]

I've had PayPal for more than 6-7 years I'd say and it's been linked to two different accounts and I've made transactions with hundreds of sellers and buyers via gift and ebay and online stores, automatic payments to Spotify, Dropbox, etc and I have only had 1 issue the entire time and it was when I was cancelling my XBox Live account 3 or 4 years ago. I called them, told them I needed to cancel something becuase the website was acting up and Microsoft kept taking money and they had the money back in my account within two hours. Switching from my old First TN account to my Chase account took less than a day to process, sending and receiving money is a breeze, etc. I don't know why people complain about it so much. The only other thing I use now is Chase QuickPay if someone else has Chase because it just goes straight to my checking account and there's no middle man or waiting a business day for the money to go from PayPal to my checking account. PayPal is also buyer protected so if you get something and it's not what you ordered or it's broken or whatever then you contact PayPal and they'll get your money back and you send the item back.

 

[radi(c)al_cam]

A debit card is not equivalent to cash - if the seller owes the processing bank (in this case, obviously Paypal) any money, he may not be able to withdraw the money transferred from your debit card...

It's even more complicated, AFAIK, since US [140393406528] «Debit Cards» and our European «EuroCheque» or «Maestro Cards» are, contrary to common belief, not 100% equivalent.

E.g., in Europe our Bank Cards do not reveal whether one is receiving food stamps, or similar subsidies; whereas in the USA, «Debit Cards» do exactly that, many say. Whether it's true or not, nevertheless probably hence the very negative attitude towards «Debit Cards» that many US Americans have.

 

[panerai]

I've been using Paypal since 1998 and no one has ever broken into my bank account.

Even if someone hacks your Paypal account. All they will get is your bank account number (and what ever cash you have in the PP acct.), but if you do any banking on line. They will need the password to get into your bank account and without one. They're not getting in. Unless you use the typical 1234 as your bank password.

Only way you would get scammed is if you fall for a phishing email and provide the passwords that allow them in.

I've done probably about 20,000 transactions. Burned a few times by crooks, but small amounts where I only lost less than $30.00 total over all.

Wonder if FRank ever got his account as this post is 11 years old and the second 11 year old post I've replied to today.

Must be revive the dead post day

DON

 

[mpaniagua]

Ive used paypal for umm like 10 years for buying and selling. Like everything on internet, you need to be careful and dont be naive. Read the small letters. As been said before DONT LINK YOUR MAIN BANK ACCOUNT OR CARD to Paypal. Keep a separate account just for Paypal. Thats what I do. Ive issued dispute and had dispute agaist me. No problem with any of them. You got great protection on your purchase.

Just need be careful with it.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I'm not using debit card over phone. I'm using it rarely and mostly to take cash from bank machine, because same places are cash only. Like buying cooked poutine in Costco.

PayPal is great for buying. I recently called them and asked what if I never receive privately sold to me camera which I paid 725 USD. They told me - we will give you money back.
Actually, I don't know why I either called them, because before this I called them and asked what if I sell camera and ship it without tracking (the only reasonable priced option if you are shipping from Canada elsewhere, excluding USA). They told me - buyer calls, tells us - I never received it - WE are giving YOUR money back to him.

 

[splitimageview]

Wow. Resurrect a thread after 11 years and then fill it with nonsense. There is so much misinformation here, I don't know where to start.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Wow. Resurrect a thread after 11 years and then fill it with nonsense. There is so much misinformation here, I don't know where to start.

Mmmm... Not sure. I was thinking of getting a Paypal account for the first time, mainly for selling cameras on line, along with weird stuff such as my Space Outlaw ray gun (http://rogerandfrances.eu/toys/space-outlaw1) but as I've never sold anything on line before, I was interested.

Are there more modern or more reliable alternatives?

Cheers,

R.