Dan Knight wrote in his recent Musings column:
PayPal: Yea or Nay?
In my case, that's three strikes for PayPal over eight years. It's
not a terrible track record, but PayPal's ability to stop you from
using the money in your account without warning is a good reason to
consider alternatives. Even if you don't stop using PayPal, you may
want to have a second option available before you run into an
unanticipated account lockout.
<http://lowendmac.com/musings/10mm/paypal-strikes.html>
I feel for yee Dan. Paypal's policies and such can feel quite
draconian when they slam you in the face. But I gotta tell you -
they're a walk in the park compared to they way traditional card
processors handle small and medium sized businesses. You ain't lived
until one of those has a death grip on your bank account !!!!and
credit rating!!!!, and it takes a judge's signature to even begin to
fix it. And then, when all is said and done, you're totally
responsible for both your and their legal fees - it's in the contract!
A few points:
Lockin down your account when they recognized the hijack... You're
very lucky they noticed. Banks and "regular" processors provide $
recovery IF you pay for that service. ( It's a PR thing for
residential customers ). Other than that, recovering the $3k is your
responsibility - that's why things like business insurances and tax
deductions exist.
Monday's lockdown... Not sure what the deal is there with the cell
phone. I've had no problem there. Have you actually called them?
The PRAM batteries... What? You didn't use LEM Swap?! humph.
Paypal, btw, did not remove the funds from your account. That first
transaction, that expired, was simply a "hold". That's how credit
transactions work. First you do a hold. Then, some time later, you
confirm the transaction in your close-out batch, which causes the
funds to be queued for transfer. "Queued" = they'll do it eventually
when their up-steam close out is done. The problem is that a lot of
companies are lame about closing things out. They end up letting the
hold expire, or re-doing it instead of referencing the original one.
It's a bad business practice that the likes of Amazon do all the
time. Nothing Paypal can do about it normally; these are processing
steps they're under contract to perform, by the likes of Visa and MC.
If you have a big hold, that's crippling your account, you can call
them. They'll often manually release it.
The fax requirement is a PITA. But that's our legal system -
doubtful Paypal can do anything there.
Careful of them other services. Paypal has gone to great
lengths/expense to become licensed all over the world - and thus
subject to their regulations and laws. Few of those other's have.
Are we having fun yet?
Wait until you see the new/higher fees that Visa and MC are hitting
processors with this quarter! Not sure if Paypal or any other
processor will simply absorb them... :\
FWIW,
- Dan.
--
- Psychoceramic Emeritus; South Jersey, USA, Earth.
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