PayPal

[Gumdrop]

Do any of you use or have used PayPal? I have used it for about 2 years mostly for eBay stuff and have so far had no problem with them.

A friend told be today that he won an auction on eBay (which was quite a sum) and used PayPal to pay for it. He was charged twice, and when he contacted PP they told him it was his bank that was at fault. He got in touch with his bank and was told that a single (double amount) payment was made, but the seller (who seemed genuinely helpful and willing to send copies of his bank statement, and also pointed out that PP had done the same to him in the past) said he had only received one correct payment.

My friends bank sent him a statement and he got back in touch with PP who said they would double check, and in the end admitted they were at fault so no harm was done, but still... rather strange.

Like I said, I have had no problems so far, but wondered if anyone else has?

[littlek]

I don't use them. I had tried to set up an account before but was unsuccessful and so I just quit trying. I sure hope your friend gets this straightened out. That would upset me,

[Fafhrd]

I've had no problems with it over 4 (?)years of using it, but I don't use it constantly either.

[Komag]

I've used Paypal consistantly (a couple transactions per week usually, more lately) for 3 or 4 years with never a problem ever.

Paypal is a business that wants to make money. As such they are going to try to serve their customers/clients well to retain business, but of course mistakes will happen here and there. All the "Paypal is EVIL" spouters love to tout the bad experiences, but they are the extreme exception. If you listen to them you might as well never drive or fly anywhere ever again either, because once in a while innocent people are killed in car crashes and plane wrecks of no fault of their own!

[ChowYunFat]

I use PayPal occasionally & have never had a problem at all. I HAVE had a problem with one of my credit cards (HSBC Visa) which once inserted a digit into the amount of a check I had sent for my monthly bill. So that instead of having $250 withdrawn from my checking account, I had $2,750 withdrawn. I called them several times & each time they blamed my bank but said it would be fixed right away but three months went by with no change. I finally called my bank who told me it was actually the credit card company's fault & they fixed the problem immediately. On my next bill, though, the Visa card charged me interest on my charges from the months they had me with a huge positive balance! I had to argue with the woman on the phone for almost half an hour before they voided the charges.

So PayPal isn't that bad.

[Rommel_1891]

I've been getting turned off to paypal due to their outrageous fee structure. They charge a percentage off amount transferred to you, which is acceptable, but the fee also applies to the shipping cost.... what gives??? :mad:

They also seem to discourage payments for auctions for gun parts which I definitely do NOT like. When private companies start telling me what I can and can not buy (even though what I'm buying is legal), I get a little taffed off.
:rolleyes:

[yubetcha]

That would also tick me off, Rommel. Why should they care?

Gum, go to paypalwarning.com, and click on Wall of Shame at the top. You will see pages and pages and pages. And that's just one site. There are others. I think there is one called paypalsucks.com or something similar. Do a search. They even like to say "***** you" and hang up the phone on you. And restrict your account so that you can't get into it and they keep the money! Some sellers at auctions refuse to even put the Paypal logo on their auction page. Problems such as the one you described are common. There have even been lawsuits against them.

[Gumdrop]

Thanks for the feedback. I tend to agree with KoMaG about only hearing all then bad crap, but I still won't be using PP for any large transactions... just to be safe.

[Rommel_1891]

Overall, I have to say my experience with Paypal has been positive, but there are small annoyances that seem unnecessary.

Their money market account is kind of a cool feature though. When I make sales on Ebay or other auction sights, sometimes I will leave the money there for a few months to gain interest. Eventually you get your fees back! :D It is possible to lose money participating in that, but so far I have not, nor know anyone that has. ;)