Paypal - watch yourself

[Whip]

Your right about that Rob.  

As a side note, an interesting statistic that stuck with me from my banking days is that a very small percentage of people actually balance their checking accounts every month.  If you don't balance your statement you have absolutely no protection or recourse against fraud and mistakes.  Nobody at the bank is balancing your account for you.  That is your responsibility.  Trust me, mistakes and thefts do happen to customers of every bank in the country!  Sometimes it's crooks, sometimes it is honest errors.

Good financial management is your only real protection, both for checking accounts and credit cards.  Don't be lazy about your money and think it could never happen to you.

[Blackstick]

In the last few years, I have started to rate banks right up there with insurance companies, government mandated taxes and other things you have no control over.

[tj69]

I love paypal. Its an easy and safe way for me to buy things in foreign countries.
Pretty american trad bows for example  

[JL]

Anyone have a 21 day "payments hold" placed on their PP account? Just got a notice from PP about this....not a happy camper here.

JL

[tradtusker]

both buyer and seller are protected.
 

Ya thats all fine and dandy on paper, but have you ever tried to recover fee's if something gets lost or scammed, from PayPal?  

I have and its a nightmare!    

[bentpole]

Thanks Whip!          I appreciate it!

[jcar315]

I can only speak from my personal experiences using PP. I have never had an issue even when I was running $5000 per month through them. Few things I was told in advance by another PP user and a few opinions I developed over time:

1. Don't ever leave money in your PP account regardless of the amount. If you leave money in the account you are a potential target for scammers. I got in the habit of "sweeping out" my PP account after each and every transaction. When you have alot of "transactions" or you are a PowerSeller you are a target!

2. IMO don't deal with any overseas buyers or sellers under any circumstances. I had a period of time where my **** account was being "taken over" on a daily basis by someone overseas. This went on for a week. That experience impacted my selling and buying. I don't even answer questions asked by overseas buyers as when you do they can capture your email address and then they are off to the races. (The ONLY way I would deal with an overseas buyer would be someone here on TG that I "knew" quite well....IE: Felix)

3. I would also suggest you have seperate email addresses for your **** account and your PP account. this way there is no way anyone can get one and then tap into the other.

4. PP is upfront on their fees IMO and as a seller you have to take these fees into account when you set your asking price.

5. Both as a buyer and seller I like, and will pay, for the security and ease in using PP.

6. Money orders, as Whip pointed out, are subject to quite alot of scamming and they are just a pain in the neck. Don't like them and the effort it takes to get them to use for payment or the trouble they can cause when you go to cash them. The ONLY money orders to take IMO are US Postal Service MO because the post office will cash them for you on the spot. If you take MO to your bank they treat them like a check and you are subject to all those pitfalls.

Whip provided alot of facts that are very insightful. Each of us is free to use, or not use, any service or business out there. We can make choices that work for us. We don't live in a  "one size fits all" society. What works for one of us might not work for the next guy and that is OK and freedoms like this are what makes America great!

[StickBowManMI]

As a buyer, I learned that Paypal does not protect you when the seller receives the money and does not ship the entire product that you paid for. I had to pay twice the cost of the merchandise to attempt to get my money back from a dishonest individual. Lucky for me, my Credit card issuer became involved and paid me back for the purchase price as well as the other charges incurred. I closed my paypal account and will not use them anymore.

[Shakes.602]

Got No Complaint about 'Em Yet! Knock Wood!!     They have done Right By Me!! Knock Wood Again!!      

[LC]

Man reading through all this has my head spinning. I don't shop flea bay, don't use credit cards cept to order supplies I just can't get local which is very rare, etc if I don't have cash to buy something I ain't buying and never have ran onto someone who wouldn't take cash. Man I'm out of touch thought I was on a trad site. Man you dudes live a complicated life for sure. Good luck with that.

[mjdglobal]

I actually had a great experience using them yesterday.  Here's the story:  My nephew had a model rocket starter kit on his christmas list, so I decided to order one for him as well as another rocket.  I placed this order well before Christmas, yet, you guessed it, it didn't show up.  Long story short, after numerous unanswered phone calls, voice messages and e-mails, I was pretty pissed.  Not only was I being ripped off, my poor little nephew still was without his gift from me.  Without no other course I contacted Paypal.  It was 10 minutes and I had my money refunded.  I hate to think about how long this would have taken had I not used them.  I'm sure like every company, it has it's good points and bad, but they really made a bad situation for me better.  By the way, my nephew got his rockets today (went and bought them locally), we put one together and launched it (with about a foot and a half of snow outside).  He loved it!

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by LC:
Man reading through all this has my head spinning. I don't shop flea bay, don't use credit cards cept to order supplies I just can't get local which is very rare, etc if I don't have cash to buy something I ain't buying and never have ran onto someone who wouldn't take cash. Man I'm out of touch thought I was on a trad site. Man you dudes live a complicated life for sure. Good luck with that.

lc, it's a complicated world that gets more complicated every day.  wait'll ya see what the credit card companies are plotting.

if you use ANY means of payment for goods other than consuming a deal face-to-face with your seller/buyer with you forking over greenbacks, you take a risk.  it was this way in the old millennium and it's just carrying over in spades to this new millennium.  

yes, it takes a leap of faith, of sorts, but there are at least a few things you can do that might protect you - some have been outlined in previous replies within this thread.

i love it when someone sez they'll never give their credit card to a vendor on the phone or online and then happily fork it over to a 17 year old airhead sales clerk at the local wally world.

traditional?  heck, if yer feet are planted in this century, and yer not living off the land in some outback mountain or plains region, you ain't at all 'traditional'.  this ain't the 1800's, as far as i know ......

[2treks]

Lots of risks for sure(all over not just paypal).
You will pay someone for the service they provide and as far as paypal goes, They are huge therfore I think "on top" of the whole security thing. I guess the bottom line for me is this, use what works for you and PAY ATTENTION before during and after.
As far as being traditional and complicated...
LC, If you want to be in business or do business outside of your own city limits, you will start the complicated life. How much you want it to grow is your choice, but if you want to avoid it all together, good luck with that.
reducing our needs is something we all could take a leason in. I try eachday.
Chuck

[Ken Taylor]

Coincidently, I just started using paypal this week and thought...hope now I guess, that they are pretty safe. I did notice however that the exchange rate seems slanted to their advantage.

I live in an isolated community (Indian Reservation) in Northern Quebec and it is very handy for us to use that system.

Also, I am a hunter/bush guy that is new to hi tech computer stuff since we have only relatively recently been "connected" but yes, in this day and age, even we have gotten on the band wagon.

 Let me give you another example: one of my native friends lives in a cabin in the bush with his family about 10 months of the year. He is a full time hunter/trapper/woodcutter and his wife is traditional in the Cree sense of the word. She is a woman of few words...and, unbelievably although English is her second language, and she has never lived elsewhere, she is on "facebook"!.

[trapperDave]

for what its worth...

had my pay pal account hacked once. they tried to withdraw a grand in some foreign country. I reccomend you NOT give them your bank account info, and put only enough in it to cover your purchase.

[Shakes.602]

Rob, in reference to "CC Plotting", I had to have a Valve Stem replaced in my mower tire last Summer, and the Lady told me that by the time i used my Debit to pay for it, they add so many Fees and Crap on to the Transaction, she might as well have just given it to me.
  She Told me that it happens on the Big Purchases, and they are Losing Money by taking the Debit/Credit Cards!! Just Plain Sad!!

[Bjorn]

I have been a pretty much daily user of Paypal for about 8 years-likely more.
Everything-birthdays, christmas, auctions, weddings, you name it. Here, Canada, and several countries in Europe-never a problem.  
The most dangerous payment instrument is a check; you have no idea what crooks can do with them until you become a victim.

[jcar315]

One more "detail" about PP. Yes, it is linked to a credit card and a bank account. The bank account linking helps in getting "paid" from PP and you become "verified" in their system.

I would strongly suggest setting up a completely seperate bank account and at a bank that is different from the one you have checking and savings account with.

As I said earlier in this thread: sweep out your paypal account after every transaction and have it transferred to  your bank account. Once it is in the account sweep it out of there too. That way you get your money fast from paypal, it gets to your bank in a few days, and then you can withdraw it ASAP. I don't like money sitting in my PP acount of my PP linked bank account just in case.....

[Ken Taylor]

I don't understand about having to give them your bank account info.

I bought some big game art. I gave them my credit card number and then they asked me to approve my purchase for the amount I paid plus the shipping. Is that a safe way of doing it?
I hope someone can enlighten me.

I think that this is a good topic and is relative since a lot of stuff we use for traditional hunting can be purchased on **** through the paypal system.

[Whip]

You don't have to give them your bank account number Ken.  But if you are a seller and receiving money that is the easiest way to get your money out of the Paypal account.  You can transfer the money you get directly to your bank account.
If you don't want to link to a bank account and still want to receive money you can either withdraw it with a check ($1.50 fee) or apply for a Paypal Debit card and use that card to spend the money.