PayPal Sucks!

[johnn]

I know the title catches your eyes!

Many Web merchants and Vendors using Paypal as a quick and convenient mean to complete a transaction but many of us are not aware what Paypal really is.

1. Paypal holds our money but they're not FDIC insured. What happens if they close the business? Will our money be gone?

2. There is no buyer/seller protection (like credit card company) If you want protection, you need to buy addtional insurance. This is a big rib off as they charge close to 3% per transaction (almost the same rate most Credit card companies charge vendors).

Suggestions:
- DO NOT keep a large amount of money in your Paypal account. You can always transfer from your bank account or credit card when you buy something.
- If you can, pay by credit card instead off from account balance or your bank as you always get free protection from the credit card company.

Your thoughts?

Thanks,
John

 

[Jeff]

Your thoughts?

Sounds like good general advices, Johnn ... I personally transfer from my bank account directly when paying out -and- to my bank account (this process can take up to three business days, but at least I initiate it right away) upon receipt of net funds.
I've had good experiences with them over the years, and even received a professional phone call when a rather large sum of funds hit the account from a domain sale not too long ago, even kept the guy's name and number for the future. :talk:

I don't think they s*ck, IMHO.
:wave:

 

[johnn]

They suck in a way that they did not use the profit to insure and protect the customers.

They suck because they act like a bank but they don't have to follow rules and regulations of a bank.

Take a while GUESS? How much money do the hold for the customers now? Who knows if they use our money to generate more profit. Business mind (like Paypal) don't let the money just sit in the bank?

That's my 2 cents.

 

[GamingHybrid]

Well I only have $13.40 in mine at the moment and If I had over $100 I probably would either spend soem of it soon or take it out. The Problem with me is that I dont have a Credit Card so I cant really take it out . . .

GOD BLESS

 

[jim]

and even received a professional phone call when a rather large sum of funds hit the account from a domain sale not too long ago. :talk:

:wave:

I got one of those calls also regarding a domain sale . He asked if the item was shipped yet?? I told him the buyer received the "item" within 5 minutes of receiving funds

jim

 

[suthra]

they will get huge interest by lending our money or by reinvesting them.

 

[kaliboy2g]

I doubt paypal will ever just up and shut down. I personally dont keep more than $100 at a time, but it sucks waiting 4 days to transfer money if i need something.

What else can i do?

 

[DownUnder]

A lot of the things you have said are true, however the fact that paypal is owned by ebay gives me some confidence in their ability to look after our money.

Ebay has cornered the auction market and will be making billions of dollars for years to come. They would never let paypal 'go under' and tarnish their brand.

 

[kaliboy2g]

A lot of the things you have said are true, however the fact that paypal is owned by ebay gives me some confidence in their ability to look after our money.

Ebay has cornered the auction market and will be making billions of dollars for years to come. They would never let paypal 'go under' and tarnish their brand.

Most of the horror stories are by people who are adult site webmasters. The Paypal company doesnt allow paypal to be used to deal with adult items and adult webmasters. Altough a search for Porn on ebay will bring up tons of items that are can be bought with paypal.

 

[NameTower]

allthough I am well aware of the risks of paypal, I still use it

It's just that it's instant.

Not long ago I had low 5 figures in my paypal account :p

I once bought something over paypal for $8000.

Do not do that

I had no problems but it was pretty dumb of me.

Use an escrow service for anything big..

 

[forona]

I got ripped off $550.00 by PayPal. They told me I had no seller protection because I was selling a 'virtual asset', not tangible goods. I created a site for a guy, he paid.

Somewhere around 45-60 days later they just deducted $550 from my account (therefore putting my paypal acct -$300 or so) I of course asked why. Seems my buyer may or may not have shipped the products that he was paid for, that was never resolved but *I* got $550 ripped off from me.

That said, I still use PayPal, but as little as possible. It's not the fact that they aren't insured, it's that they don't really care about their customer base at all and put absolutely NO effort in to investigating anything for the honest, REAL business owners that pay their fees. If you use PayPal a lot, you will very likely eventually be taken in some manner. It's happened to several people I know in one way or another.

 

[csmaster2005]

paypal has so many issues it's not even funny... check out www.paypalsucks.com

 

[HFear]

That's the main reason why I never put any money in my paypal account. I just receive, and transfer. :p

 

[kaliboy2g]

I got ripped off $550.00 by PayPal. They told me I had no seller protection because I was selling a 'virtual asset', not tangible goods. I created a site for a guy, he paid.

Somewhere around 45-60 days later they just deducted $550 from my account (therefore putting my paypal acct -$300 or so) I of course asked why. Seems my buyer may or may not have shipped the products that he was paid for, that was never resolved but *I* got $550 ripped off from me.

What. Can you re-explain it. You made a site, the guy paid, where did it go wrong?

 

[forona]

He paid the $550 for the site, all was good for 45-60 days or so.

The buyer of the site was in the business of selling overstocked merchandise. Apparently someone who he had sold a pallet of junk to claimed they never received the goods and claimed fraud on him to PayPal. So what PayPal did is extract all the money from my customer's account, as well as freeze his account and all the funds that had come from his account to people such as me. I figured I was protected, but I was not. I kept trying to discuss it and they basically told me to get lost. It was extremely frustrating, everytime I tried to call or write, I got the same reply, they never even spent one minute investigating as far as I could tell, just kept shooting me this reply:

Dear Jason,

Thank you for contacting PayPal. We apologize for the delay in
responding to your service request.

You received funds that were reported to be potentially fraudulent. You
received a transaction, in other words, that required investigation per
a report received that the authorized holder of the originating account
may not have made the transaction, be it from their credit card, bank,
or PayPal account. As such we have to reverse these funds if the
requirements for Seller Protection are not met.

Even if they ever did resolve it, I never got my money back because the requirements for seller protection weren't met - which I was told was because it was a 'non-tangible product' - so be careful when selling domains/sites w/ PayPal, you have ZERO protection with these products - If the buyer claims fraud on you, or even if he/she ripped someone else off in the past, you will lose your $ and that will be that. Always xfer your $ out fast.

By the way, the domain 'consumerreturns.com' just happens to be for sale after all this hahaha

What. Can you re-explain it. You made a site, the guy paid, where did it go wrong?

 

[forona]

I do too now, but I also have a PayPal ATM which deducts directly from my paypal acct, so it was convenient to use that as 'play money' so I'd leave up to $1k in at a time. No more than $100 at a time now though, and the only reason I still deal with them at all is because I have 100+ hosting customers on PayPal subscriptions.

That's the main reason why I never put any money in my paypal account. I just receive, and transfer. :p

 

[mediaspree]

Its a heck of alot better than CASH!!! or a check when paying for items such as ebay winnings. Hey dosen't ebay own pay pal? I am pretty sure they are here to stay.

 

[kaliboy2g]

I do too now, but I also have a PayPal ATM which deducts directly from my paypal acct, so it was convenient to use that as 'play money' so I'd leave up to $1k in at a time. No more than $100 at a time now though, and the only reason I still deal with them at all is because I have 100+ hosting customers on PayPal subscriptions.

Exactly, everyone i deal i with uses paypal so i cant just quit it and ask my clients to find another payment processor

 

[billinchina]

Come on now... PayPal is everybody's friend and you know it. No service is as widely used as PayPal and it is very unlikely to shut down. It's an ebay company! You can vent about your frustrations, but it's an all around great service. Sending money has never been more convenient.

 

[forona]

I agree it's fast and convenient, but I would hesitate to say it's everybody's friend, hence the class action lawsuit that all of it's 'friends' have signed up for. I was 100% behind PayPal until they got me and refused to even pretend to help.

Come on now... PayPal is everybody's friend and you know it. No service is as widely used as PayPal and it is very unlikely to shut down. It's an ebay company! You can vent about your frustrations, but it's an all around great service. Sending money has never been more convenient.