PAYPAL?

[Xuzaf D]

Before I forget. I need to make a thread about PayPal so I can ask people about it. Get around to reminding me about that, won't you?


Or just start talking about it here, it doesn't matter.


::goes to bed::

[Tiger_T]

I'm happy with it.

Works like a charm.

[Gabi]

It's worked well for me so far. The help desk isn't very helpful, but if you don't mess up, things should go well.

[Faerie Alex]

My mom always insists on using it, save for some companies she trusts. Can't say we had any problems I know of.

[Sid]

No problems here, either. But I just use it to pay for a few eBay auctions, so I'm not exactly a power-user.

[RJ]

Yeah, I mostly use it for eBay and art commissions and nothing has gone wrong as of yet. So I'm happy with it.

[Tapewolf]

No problems with it except one time when I tried to use an expired card as the payment source 

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

It works fine, unless you're doing something unexpected.

Like, say, linking to an account to collect money for charity, on the front page of your webcomic.

And pulling in over 30 grand in 3-4 hours. Once you do that, they get all shitty about it and disable the account, and won't let you take the money - not even pass it directly on themselves. As I recall, that was a massive furor, since the money was supposed to end up helping out those in NO... and they'd happily give it to one of the charities that had, IIRC, something like 80% going in overheads, and not ending up at the people who it was intended for, and wouldn't give it to any of those that had less than 15% for overheads - particularly the one they were trying for, which was 2-3% overheads...

'course, personally, I haven't had any trouble at all...

[Damaris]

If you use it to pay, make sure to select a credit card (or debit) to go through, rather than having money taken directly from your account.

A fan convention group (Booster Entertainment, who was Buffy/Firefly/Veronica Mars related) took quite a few orders using paypal, canceled the con 24 hours before it started, and quite a few people can't get the money back, because Paypal refused to see that as fraud, as the money was "authorized."

[Gabi]

It's not Paypal's call to give that money back. They just handled the transfer. The responsibility lies with to the people who took the money, in this case Booster Entertainment.

[rt]

I've not heard of any problems paying via paypal, but mabey about a year back one websites problem getting there money from paypal quickly produced 5-10 links to other sites and people who essencially got their money held by papal for a variety of reasons. I'm not sure of some of them ever got their money. So be carefull, also take a carefull look at some of the possibly high money transfer charges for your country.

AFAIK they probably aren't a "bank" either so your money may be protected/guaranteed by any government,

[Damaris]

Actually, Gabi, if a product is not recieved it can be Paypal's call to give you your money back.  There is a time limit on this, much of the time.

If they won't, and you paid with a credit/debit card, a chargeback could be initiated through your bank, but if you use your actual account, and Paypal decides not to help you, then you're out of luck.

[Destina Faroda]

Did I mention I hate PayPal?

[Tiger_T]

Just now.
Why is that so?

[Xuzaf D]

Alright then. I have an account now, but I need to put my money in it now, so I'd like to know what methods are best.

[Reese Tora]

a couple years ago, I recall coming across a site that showcased problems people have had with paypal.

This is not that site, but it may be an interesting read anyway.

http://www.aboutpaypal.org/

[Xuzaf D]

They certainly do push a lot of Free Merchant on you, don't they?

[Tapewolf]

Alright then. I have an account now, but I need to put my money in it now, so I'd like to know what methods are best.

You can put money in it, but I've never tried that.  What I think most people do is connect it to a payment source so that it takes the money as you need it.  The payment source can be either a credit/debit card or a direct bank account transfer.

In either case, it needs to be 'activated' before you can use it properly, which can take a week or so.  Basically, you give it the details of the payment source and it makes two very small withdrawals.
When you get the bank statement, you enter the size of the two withdrawals so it knows that the account details are valid and not from a stolen card or something.  Then you can use it as normal.

There are safety advantages to using a credit card as the payment backend, but it is not without problems.  Zina for instance, can't take Paypal payments which originate from a credit card, as I discovered on my first commission.

[Sid]

They certainly do push a lot of Free Merchant on you, don't they?

Ah yes, an information site that claims that they are not afraid of PayPal... and their WHOIS only points to a "Privacy Protection" agency/proxy whose website has been claimed by a domain squatter. Right. That is completely trustworthy. These are not the droids I am looking for.

If you check the HTML source of http://www.free-merchant.com/ http://www.merchantinc.com/ http://www.paypalwarning.com/ and http://www.aboutpaypal.com/ you will realize that all four sites were done with the same template kit site (very odd CSS paths, hotlinked background from a site that is a placeholder domain for a template site, etc.)... of course, a complete coincidence

Seriously, though. While I'm not saying that PayPal is perfect, I'd look for independent reviews and not sites that only exist to shove you to competitors.

[superluser]

I'd suggest Western Union's Bidpay, which was backed by a rather old and fairly reputable financial services company, but they seem not to be a Western Union service anymore.

[Tapewolf]

I'd suggest Western Union's Bidpay, which was backed by a rather old and fairly reputable financial services company, but they seem not to be a Western Union service anymore.

Really?  In this country they are synonymous with scams, to the point at which no-one on ebay will accept it
and 'Western Union' is like some kind of swearword.
Of course, this might be because no-one here had ever heard of them before they were used in all the non-payment scams...

[Xuzaf D]

Alright then. I have an account now, but I need to put my money in it now, so I'd like to know what methods are best.

You can put money in it, but I've never tried that.  What I think most people do is connect it to a payment source so that it takes the money as you need it.  The payment source can be either a credit/debit card or a direct bank account transfer.

In either case, it needs to be 'activated' before you can use it properly, which can take a week or so.  Basically, you give it the details of the payment source and it makes two very small withdrawals.
When you get the bank statement, you enter the size of the two withdrawals so it knows that the account details are valid and not from a stolen card or something.  Then you can use it as normal.

There are safety advantages to using a credit card as the payment backend, but it is not without problems.  Zina for instance, can't take Paypal payments which originate from a credit card, as I discovered on my first commission.

So let's just say I pay myself with my actual bank account. I could give PayPal money without them being able to access my account, correct?

[superluser]

Really?  In this country they are synonymous with scams, to the point at which no-one on ebay will accept it
and 'Western Union' is like some kind of swearword.
Of course, this might be because no-one here had ever heard of them before they were used in all the non-payment scams...

That's weird.  Western Union invented the crime-proof money order  Nevermind, it was American Express.  I actually used to be an agent for Western Union, sending money transfers from a convenience store, and I'm not familiar with any scams.  Looking around, I see a site that references a scam that can be done with any wire service (Moneygram, for example).

In reality, the method of payment is irrelevant; it's mainly just social engineering.

[Xuzaf D]

I'm also confused as to how I might send money to my account on paypal. Isn't there some sort of account number somewhere?

[Xuzaf D]

Grrrr... If I grab even one payment through PayPal from my bank account, it defaults on that account letting PayPal grab money as they please. That's bullshit. I'm trying to go the other way around by sending money through my bank to the paypal account as oppose to that. I just don't know who I'm sending it to since my paypal account doesn't seem to have a number or address; just the email address I gave them.

I'll just edit this time:

It seems they only go to my acount for money when my paypal account is empty. I geuss I'm good to go with that then.

edited again:

Online account confirmation failed. Paypal is going to make those two small transactions happen. I wait and hope the item I'm after will still be available since it can only be purchased using paypal.

[Netami]

My experiences with PayPal are up-and-down.

On one hand, they froze my account for four months with no real explanation and it took them two weeks to resolve when I did press the issue.

On the other hand, I didn't really need to use it during that time, and whenever I DO use it (donations, porn, secondlife, ebay, WoW gold, more donations), it works very fast and very efficiently by just using a credit card.

[Reese Tora]

They certainly do push a lot of Free Merchant on you, don't they?

yeah, I went back after I posted the link and looked at it a bit, and looked around a bit... everything is on their site and for thier own offering.

I would definently take any advice from them with a grain of salt, but they're describing the same things that the other site I'd mentioned did, which was why I posted it.

For someone spending thier own money, a credit card is preferable to paypal, IMO, because there are a number of protections in place for card users(protection against fradulent charges, for one) that paypal lacks.

[Xuzaf D]

I finally made my purchase. Now we play the waiting game...

Also, if any of you have any intiresting ideas as to how to waste money with paypal, I'm all ears.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

You could always send me some. :-)+)

[Tiger_T]

Or donate to Amber.

Or buy stuff on e-bay.

Or order a an art-commission.

Or just don't right now and wait for inspiration.