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[Kwokuen]

I was thinking about opening up a Paypal account a few days ago, but after reading http://www.paypalsucks.com/ I'm kinda worried. The conveinences seem like a godsend, but I don't wanna deal with the hassles of this frozen account business. Are these people just the vocal minority? Also, if anyone here could reflect upon their own experiences (Both good and bad) with Paypal, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Justin Bailey]

I use paypal for my ebay related stuff (which is every once in a while), never had a problem.

 

[The Shadow]

They're a good service for online trasactions and eBay stuff.

However, you'd have to be out of your mind to actually use them as some online bank or whatever. They're not protected like a bank, they have different "rules" than a bank.

 

[BuddyC]

I've used PayPal for a few years, never really had an issue. I just don't keep money in there.

 

[ChrisReid]

Yeah, Paypal is absolutely worthwhile and useful. It's pretty easy to use the service in such a way that there's very little risk to you. You can keep a tiny/zero amount of cash in the account or just pay via credit card with the service, and there's no money for them to "freeze." When you receive money, you can freely export it back to your real life bank account where they can't touch it.

 

[DarienA]

Paypal the service is great and has been for years.
Paypal the customer service i.e. talking to someone by phone is not.

So don't ever have problems with your paypal account.

 

[Chrono]

I never use it much but I never had a problem. Although I'm not fully 'verified' since I didn't give them my bank account. I never used it more then 3-4 times in total I think and it's all fine. I just got the Zelda bonus disk from ebay- completely new.

 

[Ghost]

Just never leave money in there and you'll be fine.

 

[Late Stage Marxist]

I use it for Ebay only and I've never had a problem.

 

[Baron Aloha]

I've used it for eBay. I once had a problem with a seller (I paid for an item that he never sent) and I contact PayPal and they put the money back on my CC. All it took was an email describing the situation. I think it's a good service.

 

[Gantz]

I use paypal for my ebay related stuff (which is every once in a while), never had a problem.

IAWTP

 

[EdLuva]

If you don't run into problems - no.
If you have problems - very much so.

 

[norinrad21]

I use it all the time. I don't like given out CC info

 

[Manders]

Paypal rocks, and if you ever sell anything on ebay it makes it sooooo much easier. A lot of people won't even bid on an item if you don't accept paypal.

 

[golem]

yeah, just dont leave money in there.. if they (it seems randomly) decide to hassle you about it, it takes forever to get your funds unlocked.

 

[Takuan]

PayPal is fine as long as you use it exclusively for sending money. It can get a bit iffy if you're receiving, especially in sudden large amounts.

 

[brooklyngooner]

Posters here who have never had a problem are simply lucky. If you ever, ever, ever have any kind of issue you are fucked, and it happens much more often than PayPal worshippers would like to pretend. PayPal can freeze your account for almost any reason and take its time in rendering a decision and there is no appeals process. It is near impossible to speak to someone and said person will be powerless anyway. There is a reason Spitzer is on the case, PayPal has so many class-action lawsuits pending it is ridiculous.

When more reliable and trustworthy payment services like c2it come into prominence (which may never happen since Ebay owns paypal) PayPal will be useless.

Truly, read the fine print of the user agreement. When you do so you will see how absurd their business practices are.

 

[madara]

I seen that site too and always laugh. I had paypal account for so many years now and it helped be make money and buy items easier. Only problem I had was when I got suckered and sold virtual item in mmorpg. Buyer did chargeback scam and I tried to explain to Paypal I was one being scamed but they have some virtual item clause where I seller would lose everytime.

 

[Incognito]

PayPal are nothing but glorified spammers. Fucking fraudelent assholes. If you have ANY problems with them, you are EL FUCKED. Not even worth the fucking hassle.

 

[Phoenix]

Paypal is good when you're dealing with fairly generic reasonably small sums of money and you don't have to contest anything. If you're dealing with large sums or valuable objects (laptops, cameras, cars) you are MUCH MUCH MUCH better off using an escrow service that will guarantee the transaction such as escrow.com.

 

[Prospero]

Paypal's fine, but:

Don't ever leave money in the account.

Don't use it for more than, say, $100 worth of transactions in a given month. (IIRC, they try to upgrade your service to "premium" if you exceed the $100 limit).

For big-ticket eBay items, I request payment in the form of a check or money order--I wouldn't use Paypal for that.

 

[hgplayer1]

I opened a Pay Pal account a long time ago and hardly ever used it. Two PCs later I had no clue what my log in and password were. I attempted to figure it out and my account was locked. I followed the steps on how to get Pay Pal to reactivate the account but it didnt work and they never answered my email regarding the issue. So basically I have a Pay Pal account that is locked forever. The couple times I did use it, it seemed to work fine.

 

[Pimpwerx]

Nothing wrong with Paypal at all. Great for eBay and other online transactions. Much better than mailing a check, and easier than placing an order on the phone. But stick to regular banks for checking/savings accounts. I don't leave money on there, but I've had my Paypal account pretty much since their first "Free $5" offer. I only use my debit card on there. I'd use my credit card, but I don't really see the need right now. Customer service might be a concern, but then, just don't use them for really big transactions. You'll want protection with big trades that Paypal can't provide. PEACE.

 

[Phoenix]

Nothing wrong with Paypal at all. Great for eBay and other online transactions. Much better than mailing a check, and easier than placing an order on the phone. But stick to regular banks for checking/savings accounts. I don't leave money on there, but I've had my Paypal account pretty much since their first "Free $5" offer. I only use my debit card on there. I'd use my credit card, but I don't really see the need right now. Customer service might be a concern, but then, just don't use them for really big transactions. You'll want protection with big trades that Paypal can't provide. PEACE.

You're actually a lot better off using a credit card when dealing with PayPal. By law, the credit card provides you protection and most credit card companies will cover any fraudulant use of your card. If someone clears out your bank account via a debit card, you have absolutely NO protections whatsoever. Your bank is not obligated in any way to return the stolen funds. This has been an issue for a variety of consumer advocacy groups because consumers DON'T know this to be the case.

 

[NotMSRP]

How do I prevent chargebacks?

 

[aparisi2274]

I was thinking about opening up a Paypal account a few days ago, but after reading http://www.paypalsucks.com/ I'm kinda worried. The conveinences seem like a godsend, but I don't wanna deal with the hassles of this frozen account business. Are these people just the vocal minority? Also, if anyone here could reflect upon their own experiences (Both good and bad) with Paypal, I'd appreciate it.

I have been using PP for over 2 years, and never had one problem. I love it.

 

[ChrisReid]

You're actually a lot better off using a credit card when dealing with PayPal. By law, the credit card provides you protection and most credit card companies will cover any fraudulant use of your card. If someone clears out your bank account via a debit card, you have absolutely NO protections whatsoever. Your bank is not obligated in any way to return the stolen funds. This has been an issue for a variety of consumer advocacy groups because consumers DON'T know this to be the case.

That's a really good point.. I've actually got a premiere account and I've sent/received several thousand dollars over the last year or two with no problems.. But I'll start paying for large things with credit card funds just in case..

 

[Tortfeasor]

Yeah... I recently removed my checking account from Paypal. It is crazy that they could access my checking account if the felt it was necessary to issue a chargeback. So my account only has an AmEx card tied to it now. Let them try to do anything to my AmEx card! I think not!

 

[Manders]

Too bad that your address on paypal is now unconfirmed and most sellers on ebay I've dealt with won't ship to an unconfirmed address.

 

[The Shadow]

Keep the PayPal account open, but only use it for small transactions. Problem solved.

 

[Eminem]

I use paypal for my ebay related stuff (which is every once in a while), never had a problem.

Same here. Always worked flawlessly for me.