PayPal Revisited

I opened an account with them, and have felt uneasy about it ever since. Thanks for reafirming my fears.

-- Odie, Confucius say, "He who laughs at one's self is BUTT of joke".

Thank you Charlie. I have never used Pay Pal because I feel they require much more information than I think they actually need. Having said that I was going to open an account to make a donation to the site and the information thing scared me away, again. I won’t be opening a Pay Pal account under any circumstances.
Ya, I would give them my personal banking information…...... NOT !

-- If we learn from our mistakes, I'm getting a fantastic education.

I didn’t really have a problem with them having my credit card info. I figured it is better than giving it out to every Tom, Dick, and Harry. Anyway, losses from fraudulent use of credit cards is limited by law to a small amount. No such limitations apply if my banking info falls into the wrong hands.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

I have used PayPal for many years with no problems.

They do, however, have some policies that I don’t really like. I sell items on EBAY and when the items get paid for, that money usually goes into my PayPal account. If I then buy an item on EBAY (or make any PayPal purchase, really) and pay for that item using PayPal, they will always force me to use any money in the account before I can use my credit card. So, unless my PayPal balance is zero, I cannot use my credit card to pay for purchases paid for through PayPal.

There is an easy way around this. As soon as I have any money in my PayPal account, I simply transfer that money to my savings account, bringing my PayPal balance back to zero.

Another little gotcha with PayPal. The PayPal service is basically free, unless you want to be able to let people pay you with a credit card. Then you have to upgrade your PayPal account. At that point you are charged a fee for every payment you receive, whether the person paying you uses a credit card or not.

I guess they have to make money somehow, but some of their practices seem to be a little disturbing.

-- Mark

I’ll reiterate…..never again. My wife (mostly her because she is a super seller) and myself have used paypal for e-bay sales. We have gone through this same scenario no less than 3 times. The last time cost her allot of money.

i blame charlie for any and all rpoblems with pay pal ! lol

-- if you aint the lead dog the scenery never changes

been using paypal since inception. never had a problem. i use an old checking account in Tennessee for bank info for paypal … works with no real risk.

-- Hey ! I was born in IOWA .... don't blame me

When you get a message from paypal? requesting info forward the message to spoof.paypal.com. You will find they did not send the orig msg.

-- WOOD/DON (...one has the right to ones opinion but not the right to ones own facts...)

Charlie,

Did you receive the notice via an Email ? You must be constantly on the lookout for phishing scams: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/cps/securitycenter/general/UnderstandPhishing-outside

This is not only a paypal issue, it may come from your “bank”, your “credit card” company, etc——it is a scam. Any reputable institution will never ask you for information via email. The mail may look quite official but it is a scam and you are redirected to a site that will mirror your keystrokes——it is a form of indentity theft! It redirects Paypal can freeze your Paypal account NOT your bank account…..best bet is to call your bank and credit card company.

http://antivirus.about.com/od/emailscams/ss/phishing_2.htm

Again, make certain you have anti-phishing software installed on your computer McAfee http://us.mcafee.com/root/landingpages/afflandpage.asp?affid=101&lpname=14444&cid=41725&siteID=qBNKlhsBsB4-BdYALeud%2FPemJkSh%2Ffbxig

-- Bill - - Ad-Marketing Guy, Ramsey NJ

I agree, Charlie. This was probably not a paypal issue. Any time you get any communication about paypal (or ebay, if you have an account there) always forward it to either spoof@paypal.com or spoof@ebay.com. They will tell you if the e-mail in question is genuine. Never click on a link in those mails unless you’re certain it is the real thing.

I’m in the identity theft business (no, I don’t steal them, I protect them) and you wouldn’t believe how much of that stuff is going on. There was a time when it was relatively easy to distinguish the fraudulent e-mails from reputable places, but the crooks are getting very good.

If you gave out any info, it might be a good idea to monitor your credit report for a while, as that’s where evidence of identity theft usually shows up first. I don’t want to get off on a long non-woodworking tangent, this isn’t the place for that here, but if you want to send me a private message, I’ll be glad to give you more info.-SST

-- The poorest of all men is not a man without a cent, it's a man without a dream.

Oh no guys….I’m well aware of the phishing scams. This was totally legit…at least legit in the sense that Paypal is behind it. There was no email. I didn’t know there was a problem until I tried to pay for an eBay item and found out my PayPal account had been limited. I verified it by logging on to my account, and through telephone call to their resolution department. When I told the operator I didn’t want to give my checking information, he said it would have to be submitted for review. Sure enough, if I log onto my account right know it shows up as being under review.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

I have both a Paypal premier business account for the craft business and a full blown merchant account for my primary business. I have had no problems with Paypal but occasionaly have stupid problems with my bank merchant account. A regular bank merchant account will suspend or freeze the account if you have no activity for a couple of months requiring you to call and jump through hoops to get it re-activated. I have also had the merchant account canceled and $500 taken from my business account as a cancellation fee because I went 10 months with no activity. It took three months to get the money back, but not before I threatened to kick everybody’s a** at the bank. I can’t help it if customers write checks instead of using credit cards.

There is always a lot of Paypal trashing all over the Internet, but go try to get a regular merchant account. You think Paypal is nosey? It’s like applying for a home mortgage, plus you need a stellar credit rating. Paypal is just trying to ensure they protect themselves from too much fraud. It is still one of the best avenues for the average crafts person because you don’t apply but sign up with very little information given. If you are selling, you have to link it to a checking account so you have a way to transfer funds out of Paypal. Just do like Mark E said, transfer money from Paypal to a checking account, then move that money somewhere else. A lot of people do this. Now if a customer requests a charge back and there is no money in your Paypal account or linked checking account to recover the chargeback, Paypal will freeze the account until everything is resolved.

I really like the ability to send an email invoice to customers so they can pay through Paypal. I also don’t have the responsiblity of protecting a customer’s credit card number since I don’t see it when the customer uses Paypal.

-- Dennis... www.closetdreams.com

As I said, I’ve never had a problem before, but this really has me angry! There is no evidence of a problem with my credit card, they can’t tell me what “suspicious activity” their system detected, and the “only” thing they want to “fix” the problem is my checking account number. Hell, I’ll give them another credit card if they want, but at Steve Martin would say “But Nooooooooooooooooooo!”

There is no problem, PayPal. I just want my account unfrozen without giving up my bank info, which, by the way, we’ve had a successful relationship without you having for several years! <<<<steam>>>>>

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

I went through this a couple of years ago with PayPal. I was even banned from eBay. For what, I don’t have a clue. I closed the PayPal account and I don’t mess with eBay anymore. I have recieved emails about my PayPal account up to 18 months after I closed my account. Nothing to do with all of this but I ahve changed internet providers, so many I can start over, but no PayPal.

-- If you don't make mistakes, your not trying!

Well, I made an end run…. I just opened up a NEW PayPal account with a different credit card so I could pay for the eBay items awaiting payment. As soon as PayPal straightens things out, I’ll close one account. You would not think they’d make it that difficult.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Charlie,

Glad you found a work around.

I like a number of others have a separate bank account for internet transactions that has limited funds in it or just enough for a specific transaction.

Dalec

It’s all the computerized nonsense, Charlie. Mostly it makes things easier, but when something gets screwed up, it’s screwed up. I just went through the same thing almost with my DHL account. I had to open a new account because of a billing problem. Now I have an account to ship with, but I have to log back into the original account to pay the bill. For some reason they just can’t get it all on the same page. Glad you were able to do the same with PayPal. It’s nice to have when someone stiffs you and they will reimburse your lost.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

Thats the bottom line..I keep a ZERO balance in my PayPal account and always pay for everything using a direct transfer from my checking account. If someone pays me then I transfer it to my checking immediatley. Been using PayPAl since it’s inception, never a problem…but then I don’t use it allot…although I take that back….I have been using it more lately. There are more and more online sellers other than on Ebay that take it now, and it’s so darn easy!

-- Brad Nailor is just my handle..my Name is David, feel free to use it!

As I replied earlier, if everything goes well, great. But good luck of you ever have to deal with their customer service.

When I was a kid on the farm and the heifers were put in the pasture with the bull it was said that they were out to be “serviced” and this is exactly the same kind of “service” one gets from Pay Pal customer “service”.

What I do now is I have an account at a different bank with no fee checking. I keep a small balance in that, and electronically transfer funds from my “real” account as needed.

Well here is new wrinkle! I just got an email saying that my NEW account is limited as well. ....at least until they charge $1.95 to my card, wait for the charge to show up on my statement, and tell them the four-digit code that appears on my statement. THEN I have to upload a copy of my drivers license, passport, or military ID.

Meanwhile, I checked back on the status of my original account, and they are asking for my ID on that one as well. Sheeeesh!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

-- if you aint the lead dog the scenery never changes

Charlie,
Yor’re being scammed. When PP verifies your account it is only with a DEPOSIT. It is usually for two deposits and it is for MUCH less than a dollar. You then tell them how much the deposit is for. Stop what you’re doing and get help. IM me or your bank or the police or the FBI or someone. THIS IS A SCAM!!!!

Grumpycarp, I don’t think so. I’m not getting this information by following an email link. (I did get an email telling me I needed to log on to my account to resolve the problem). I’m getting this from logging on to my account at PayPal’s website.

Further, if there was any scamming involved, it wouldn’t make sense for this one to be a scam since I just created this account from scratch at PayPal, under a different email address. As soon as I opened the new account, I paid for two eBay purchases and the charges went through to my credit card, so everything is on the up-and-up.

I think what is happening is that they have instituted some new policies. Also, what may have played a part in this is that on a recent eBay purchase, a seller refunded me a few dollars because the shipping was less than expected, but he put it through as a payment rather than a refund. So maybe PayPal thinks I am trying to scam them by taking payments on a regular (non-seller) account.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

I’m not entirely convinced. I understand that you’re no rube but your defense is full of holes, at least as described. The transaction which you describe seems to be like “check kiting” which has been around for ever and seems to be, in essence, where one uses account “A” to fund account “B” , at least that is what the legit Pay pal thinks it is. I just don’t at this time think it is legit. I also understand you got an e-mail. Did you click through the link on the e-mail or did you go to your browser and use a secure bookmark? Often these phishing scams use “click through” links using the actual URL’s of and images from the legit sites, substituting only the form address in the scam. These “people” are quite clever.

I refuse to use Pay Pal either after they froze my account one time as happend to Charlie. In my case too, Pay Pall insisted I give them checking acct info also and I told them where they could go. I know personally of one case where a users checking account was accessed by Pay Pal to settle a dispute, to the tune of $400 which caused a lot of havoc for him. I do not want a Pay Pal functionary to have the final say in a dispute whether I am the buyer or seller. If a seller does not take an alternate from of payment, well, we will not be doing business. Like Dalec, I have a debit card I use almost exclusively for online pruchases and I can add funds to as needed and limit my liability. No way will I allow Pay Pal access to an account of mine under their terms again.

As stated on the other PayPal thread, I also have had some trouble in the past…..... In no way am I every going to let Paypal have access to any accounts of mine…..... I will not have anything to do with them.

I almost signed up again last week, because of the donation thing going on here at LJ’s, but then came back to my senses.

-- Brian's Table Top Toys http://home.mountaincable.net/~bgraham/

Pay Pal not here!
Sounds too familiar.
Phishing sheesh. So easy to make a scam look legit. And so many legit things look too much like scams.
PayPal froze us as well.
And of course spoof and spook. ONE is a scam thing. Man it isn’t worth it to me.
We didn’t get took at least. Don’t have enough money for anyone to get any!
Been over a year and we STILL get emails…. and I THINK its the scam thing.
If my check isn’t good enough then they don’t need my business. Yep, may take a while but if they need money any faster they’ll have to get it from someone else.
And I never will give or post credit card information on the computer again. Only option? – I’m real good at doing without. I found MY credit card information POSTED on a website from a reputable company. They said it was a ‘glitch’.... some glitch. Fortunately found it and cancelled the card and reported the company to Visa – I was aghast when they said they had many incidences with the company.
always something isn’t it?

-- CaptnA - "When someone hurts you, write it in the sand so the winds of forgiveness will scatter the memory... "

I’ve had no problem thus far with PayPal BUT I was about to start selling on eBay and thought of ONLY allowing PayPal for transactions. Looks like I’d be cutting my nose off to spite my face. Hmmmmm….

always,
J.C.

-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein