Is PayPal safe to use? Any experience?
And what about Kagi?
They froze my account on an overseas trade. When the package arrived,
and
the funds were released, they charged me another payment fee. I can
give you
a good idea of what I think of paypal, a bunch of thieves.
Very clever thieves as well. They've managed to avoid regulation by
any agency that oversees banking services, and they abuse the resultant
freedom this affords them quite skillfully. My experience with the
most egregious of PayPal's mistreatment of consumers is now over two
years old, but I seriously doubt that they've made any significant
changes to their self-serving policies in the meantime. If anyone
knows for a fact that there have been sweeping changes in their
policies that benefit the consumer (or that they are now governed as a
banking service by the SEC, FTC, or some other Federal agency), please
enlighten me.
I was recently asked by a Swaplister why I don't accept credit cards
via PayPal.
My response:
In order to accept credit card payments I would have to
"upgrade" to a Premier or Business account and pay fees on every
transaction. This would also require that I directly link a bank
account to PayPal; this policy puts the account holder at extreme risk
with no protection.
First thing to remember is this: they're not a banking service and are
not governed by any Federal agency that might protect the customer.
Despite the convenience of the service, PAYPAL IS NOT YOUR FRIEND and
they will do nothing to help you if you have a problem that results in
money disappearing from your bank account.
This happened to me a couple of years ago, and the unauthorized
withdrawal from my checking account resulted in an overdraft and an
assortment of bounced check charges and other damages.
[CLARIFYING NOTE: This was the direct result of PayPal allowing an
online merchant to double-bill me for a purchase, not of any hacker
gaining unauthorized access to my bank account. I got no response from
PP to my request that they immediately void the second charge.]
If my bank hadn't worked with me and been *EXTREMELY* helpful I would
have been out several hundred dollars, because I NEVER MANAGED TO
ESTABLISH
COMMUNICATION WITH A PERSON AT PAYPAL. My entire "grievance" process
was handled entirely by automated servers despite repeated requests for
contact with an officer or representative. The disputed funds were
eventually returned to my account but not until the damage had been
done, and PayPal was of absolutely no assistance in this. My bank
waived all charges reulting from the incident on a one-time basis, but
I still had to bear other related charges.
Credit card is NEVER the "only" way to send money via PayPal. You can
do an Electronic Funds Transfer from a bank account to your PayPal
account. This takes 3-4 banking days; you can then send the funds as
usual. It might be a good idea to maintain a balance in your PayPal
account. That's what I do, and if anything I want to pay for via
PayPal requires more funds than that balance it forces me to make a
decision before I click on that "Pay" button.
</rant>
Gene Osburn
I can't brag about the shape I'm in - I can't sing, I ain't pretty and
my legs are thin; but don't ask me what I think of you - I might not
give the answers that you want me to. Oh well....
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