Paypal

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I now have both a credit and a debit card (PM me for #'s ) and obviously that opens a lot of doors, some of which are filled with identity theft and severe loss of money.

However, I was wondering if any of you have any experience with PayPal (link). I am interested in starting an account for small online purchases/donations (~10 USD). It should be pretty safe, but asking a bunch of people over the internet seems like the best way to assess that.

[scotchedpommes]

Have used it several times with eBay and never experienced any difficulties, so I
couldn't tell you what is perhaps the most important aspect - how easy it is to
resolve any problems. It is relatively simple to operate.

[Al Khalifah]

Likewise, I use it all the time for ebaying stuff (buying and selling) and I've never noticed any problems. Always seems pretty seemeless - especially if you want to make payments to foreign clients.

[Navaros]

If Paypal notices too much money going through your account, they will report you to your country's tax agencies and/or the entity that oversees business licenses in your country. If they think you are running a small business and you don't have a license for it, Paypal will probably freeze all your money for 180 days.

Or if they think your funds are being used for illegal purposes, they are also likely to freeze all your money for 180 days.

You also may lose your consumer chargeback rights that using a credit card would give you but buying with Paypal does not.

So when using Paypal, remember, big brother is watching you and you better hope he likes what he sees.

For additional reading about horror stories regarding Paypal, visit http://www.paypalsucks.com

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

That's pretty creepy. But not in line with what Al Khalifah and SSNeoperestroika have said.

Can you impose a limit on yourself for security like "deny all purchases over $XX" ?

[Navaros]

I don't know about limits or that sort of thing.

Most people do not realize the dangers associated with Paypal or other even worse payment processors because bad things do not happen to everyone.

However, reading that site you will see bad things do indeed happen to a ton of people and there is no way that all of those people are lying.

It's good you had the wisdom to ask about this rather than blindly putting trust in it. I suggest also having the wisdom to realize the full reality in the answer of what using Paypal may entail.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

What Navaros says is true, my friend's younger brother was using his paypal account to buy and sell graphics cards, making a profit in the process. It got frozen due to the amount of money going through it.

So the moral of the story is-insist any entrepeneurial siblings get their own accounts.

[Spetulhu]

I've used it for purchases where people have no other means of accepting money. No problems.

[Hepcat]

I have used my mother's account for buying sheet music, cds and dvds and never had a problem. My mother hasn't ever had any trouble either and she uses it frequently.

[rory_20_uk]

As an occasional purchaser I've been happy with it, especially as I can use my credit card and therefore continue to enjoy the 0%APR on purchases.

As a seller I've no experience. Looks good as long as you are playing the game.