Paypal question

[Shadrok]

I was wondering if anyone had any advice for someone who's thinking of taking commissions through paypal.

Should I go with a personal account, a premier account, or a business account?

[DarkAudit]

I was wondering if anyone had any advice for someone who's thinking of taking commissions through paypal.

Should I go with a personal account, a premier account, or a business account?

I'd be very careful about going with paypal at all. There are horror stories about paypal locking accounts for no good reason. If someone complains about the content of your commissions, warranted or not, paypal may decide to lock your account and keep the money.

They even did that to Deadspin a few months ago when they tried to set up charitable donations through paypal. The account was just summarily locked. I don't know if the money was ever recovered.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Look closely at the T&Cs.

As DarkAudit says, unlike a bank, Paypal's T&Cs basically say they can close your account at any time because you parted your hair funny, and they get to keep your cash.

I'd be looking at keeping the account as empty as I could, and not link it to any bank accounts or anything, if I could possibly avoid it. But that's a side issue...

[Darkmoon]

I always empty my paypal as soon as a donation comes it. It's just safer than leaving it in the "account".

[Gabi]

Well, everyone above has already advised you to empty your account as often as possible, but about your question... start with a personal account. If you get many payments they'll force you to upgrade to premier, but until then you can get to keep all they send you. If and when you're forced to upgrade, stick to premier, not business. Always go with the option that demands the least from you (and takes the least money away from you).

[Reese Tora]

Anotehr erason to take your money out of the account as soona s possible: money in a paypal account accrues intest for paypal, not for you, so it makes sense to put anything you have in your bank where you gain the intrest from it.

[Shadrok]

So from the sounds of things I should

A. Get a personal account and only upgrade when needed

B. Keep it empty as often as possible.

and C. Do not link to a bank account.


I think I should also add that I have a separate bank account just for paypal, and I think the only way I have of putting money into a paypal account is through the debit card of said bank. (I don't have any credit cards)

Also I think the debit card would link the paypal to the bank account, or am I just wrong on that?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

and C. Do not link to a bank account.

I think I should also add that I have a separate bank account just for paypal, and I think the only way I have of putting money into a paypal account is through the debit card of said bank. (I don't have any credit cards)

Also I think the debit card would link the paypal to the bank account, or am I just wrong on that?

Yes, but if the account is mostly empty, then that's fine. Make sure you have -no- overdraft, and let the bank know you'd rather a transaction failed than you went into overdraft. Some banks won't let you do that, particularly over here. You might have to check a few banks to see if you can get an account that will do this.

That way, if paypal -do- use your card and there's no money in the account to cover it, it'll fail. As you want it to.

[rt]

Out of curiosety, if pay pall is not linked to your bank .. how do you get your money out of it? [I thought this was the way]
Link it to CC then do cash withdrawel?

Good to see people are finally getting really carefull with this paypall service.

[Shadrok]

Yes, but if the account is mostly empty, then that's fine. Make sure you have -no- overdraft, and let the bank know you'd rather a transaction failed than you went into overdraft. Some banks won't let you do that, particularly over here. You might have to check a few banks to see if you can get an account that will do this.

That way, if paypal -do- use your card and there's no money in the account to cover it, it'll fail. As you want it to.

I'll check with my bank to see if I can set a withdraw limit or something, Thanks.

[Alondro]

I'll be using Paypal for web donations to my animation company, but I'm first looking into how Paypal deals with federally recognized not-for-profits.  We're officially a 501(c)3 organization, which hopefully will mean they won't screw around with our money.  Since all of that is earmarked as charitable donations, I would think they'd be in some trouble with the IRS if they simply decided to take it.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Heh. Yeah, right.

Was it Penny Arcade who passed 30k donations in 24 hours, in hurricane relief, and paypal appropriated the lot?

[DarkAudit]

Heh. Yeah, right.

Was it Penny Arcade who passed 30k donations in 24 hours, in hurricane relief, and paypal appropriated the lot?

Can't confirm that one, but Deadspin had set up a charity for the family of a soldier killed in Iraq. Paypal locked the account.

Unless there was absolutely no other option, and by no other option I mean paypal is the only entity left in the universe for financial transactions, under no circumstances would I use paypal to hold any money.

[bill]

Heh. Yeah, right.

Was it Penny Arcade who passed 30k donations in 24 hours, in hurricane relief, and paypal appropriated the lot?

I thought that was SomethingAwful, actually. Memorie's foggy, though.