Pay Pal: Should We Be Worried

[admin]

In the past I had a Pay Pal account that made purchases on line convenient.

I closed my account, however, after learning of problems relating to security.

Before opening an account again, I am interested in your thoughts with regard to the downside of using the Pay Pal service.

Your assessment of the pros and cons is welcomed. By the way, this is the 30,000th post in The Others.

[phlemmy]

I've been using them since 2000 and only had one issue that went unresolved where I was out $20. I love it for buying and selling.

[jimk]

For about a year now, I've been doing a small online business with my book publishing using PayPal exclusively. So far, there have been no problems. One of the things I do, however is set an upper limit for the cash balance in my PayPal account. When the balance reaches said amount, I transfer funds into my bank account.

I don't know whether or not that's a moot point. But if I get ripped off, I might only lose a few bucks rather than say a couple hundred.

JimK

[leftybass]

Peter: You may or may not remember the 'journey' I had to take in order to get my money back($1000) for the bass I bought off of ebay that was stolen merchandise....at any rate it was a less than pleasant experience but in the end all was set right.

From living through this ordeal I found out through experience that many that work there that are supposed to handle these situations lack the intellect in general to do so.

You will find that there are many folks out there that share a disdain for Paypal's buisness practices...try browsing through:

wwwDOTpaypalsucksDOTcom

Interesting read. Lots of it.

[admin]

I remember, John and this is one of the reasons for the question I have asked.

[winston]

Nice Teddy Peter,

I only use paypal for my purchases. They have saved my bacon a couple of times since I started buying on line.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

No issues for me, so far.

But consider any credit card purchase. You run your card at the pump, in a restaurant, say the number over the phone. THEN what? Your purchase has been logged, and that number is stored in its entirety somewhere at each venue. It is viewable by management, and it is stored.

Security is always dependent on those that manage the stores.

[jdogric12]

I always use credit card with paypal now so if there is a problem, I'd like to think I have a plan B for disputing charges. I don't know much, all I know is I never use my bank account for anything online anymore.

[wints]

I always use credit card with paypal now so if there is a problem, I'd like to think I have a plan B for disputing charges. I don't know much, all I know is I never use my bank account for anything online anymore.

Yup, I use my CC for PP too...

Sunday looks good jdog!

[jakeox]

One good reason to accept PayPal as a seller is that you're likely to narrow your pool of buyers if you don't.

I use credit cards through PayPal for all my purchases when possible, and when I get paid through PayPal I immediately transfer to my bank account, unless it's like $5. Then I might let it sit until I get paid for something else or buy something.

If you're worried about security in that your credit card number could get stolen ... it's pretty easy to steal credit card numbers. People are far less secure than systems. If you're worried about someone hacking your PayPal account and getting access to your bank account, that's different. But if you have good password management practices and don't fall for phishing scams, it's about as secure as anything else.

[qwezirider]

... and when I get paid through PayPal I immediately transfer to my bank account, unless it's like $5. Then I might let it sit until I get paid for something else or buy something.

I take it one step further: once the money is transfered into my bank account, I then transfer it to my regular account. Further isolated from the potentially prying hands of Paypal.

[rickenbrother]

I haven't had any problems with ebay and PayPal so far, but I do limit my buying and selling on ebay because of all the scammers and thieves.

[mgauction]

I have had no issues with paypal either. A few have tried to crack my account and paypal has made me change passwords everytime, to their credit. It certainly allows for quick transactions, especially with completely unknown purchasers. As always, I am very sorry to hear about others woes with unscrupulous types. However, if the issue is with the 2 1/2% charge, it's the same as a credit card charge, so no issue there. Like another forum member here, I ALWAYS make a withdraw after accepting funds.

[jakeox]

... and when I get paid through PayPal I immediately transfer to my bank account, unless it's like $5. Then I might let it sit until I get paid for something else or buy something.

I take it one step further: once the money is transfered into my bank account, I then transfer it to my regular account. Further isolated from the potentially prying hands of Paypal.

This is smart. This is how I handled money when I played a lot of online poker. There's plenty of free online checking accounts out there; I went with ING Direct for their interest rate. I kept my bankroll in ING Direct and transferred to my regular bank account from there -- the payment processors never saw my normal bank account.