A LITTLE HELP ON AN INQUIRY & PAYPAL

My sister opened an account with Paypal in order to purchase some sugar gliders over the web. She had instructed them to use her credit card to make the payment, but Paypal drained funds straight from her account instead. Fortunately she was able to manage, but this mistake caused her a good deal of grief.

I have used paypal quite a bit in that last few years. The only problem I have ever had with them is when my credit card expired and I went to put my new credit card on my account. Since the only thing that changed was the experation date their little computer said that the card number was already being used. It took quite a few phone calls and talking to a manager before they got that straightned out.

I did just recently make a pretty big purchase, and I had to make sure that it came out of my credit account instead of my bank account. So I called to see how to do that.
On the very last screen before you actually send the money there is some words that are highlighted alternate funds if you click that it will show your bank account and any other accounts you have on there. Just click wich one you want to use.
If I hadnt found out about that. I probably would have made the same mistake your sister did, and would have drained my bank account. Im not saying that paypal didnt mess up. Im just saying what I found out.

I dont care for paypal at all!

Here was my situation:
I opened my paypal account to purchase some geckos from a guy who insisted on using paypal. I proceeded to put X amount of money into my paypal account via my checking account. I waited. I waited. I waited. FINALLY 10 days later, the money showed up in my paypal account. Shortly thereafter i recieved a nasty letter from my bank saying that i was bouncing checks! I quickly drove to the bank to straighten things out. When the banker lady pulled up my checking account on her little computer screen it showed that paypal had taken X amount of $$ from my account THREE TIMES. I had not planned on this size of transaction and therefore had been bouncing checks because of paypals screwup. Thankfully, the banker lady had used paypal before and said that they had done a similar thing to her once. She helped me transfer adequate funds from my savings to cover the damage paypal had done, and removed all my "bounced check" fees. When i got home, i emailed paypal about it (very nasty letter it was) and 3-4 business days later they deposited the funds back into my checking account. During this whole 2 week ordeal NOWHERE did the other two transactions of $X show up in my paypal account. I have no clue where it went.

My opinion of paypal? USE at your own RISK.

___________
Rakell Grimshaw

Seans link to the PayPal problems, I am glad that I did not follow through with this person, insisting to use Paypal to make a purchase. I work to hard to have " third party interventions" of any kind. Aside from which if the person was seriously interested in purchasing, he could have paid us as we stated in our terms. I think that using Paypal is a problem waiting to happen. Its just a question of time before someone who knows how to play the game better than you will take some unsuspecting provider with the merchandise and have you tied up in knots for months. Its just not worth it. Secondly, their seems to be an overabundant amount of litigation. What would happen if paypal went bankrupt? They are not a bank nor are they insured! JERRY TRESSER

I resisted using Paypal for the longest time, but close to a year ago I decided to set up an account with them. I had had the occasional request to have people pay via Paypal, and setting up the banner ads and such on this site, it seemed like a reasonable thing to do.

So far, I have had absolutely no problems. Setting up buttons for payments, even doing an entire shopping cart page is easy and effective to do. I have received payments and sent payments, as well as transferred funds from Paypal to my checking account with no glitches whatsoever. The few times I have tried to contact Paypal about some question I may have, I have been responded to within a few hours.

Personally I think anyone doing business on the net should have Paypal or an equivalent payment method as a viable option. The more ways you offer a customer to be able to pay, the better off everyone involved will be. It's all about convenience. NEVER make it difficult for someone to send you money.

Well, the OBVIOUS answer to all this is....

DON'T LEAVE MONEY IN YOUR PAYPAL ACCOUNT!

Every time I get a payment through PayPal.... I IMMEDIATELY withdraw it and put it in MY checking or savings account....

To date, I have had 64 "unique" buyers, and about 140 purchases (all together) made through PayPal in the last year.... with NEVER a problem??

I STILL say.... if you use PayPal properly, in the way it was intended.... you shouldn't have a problem. It MIGHT even fix the problems you DO come across....

As far as the PayPal link in the thread above.... I could give you that same scenario about almost every bank in the nation! Nothing ever runs smoothly forever? You are BOUND to come across problems from time to time, as in anything else.... you just fix the problem and then move on....

YOU are in FULL CONTROL of your PayPal account.... you can't call them to tell them to take your money out of a particular crdit card?? YOU HAVE TO DO THAT ON THE SITE!

....Neil

I have to second Neil's post. I have 71 "Unique" buyers and well over 200 transactions all done through PAYPAL and not one problem. Paypal has been a secure, easy, safe, method of payment and will continue to be for me and many other users. The only times I have personally seen anyones funds be frozen is if a accusation or claim is made through paypal and the seller can not show proof of the sale, shipping etc. then the funds are frozen and confiscated/sent back to the accuser but only after the case is prooven.

Just had to go "one-up me" on the PayPal numbers, huh, Trenor???.... lmao

....Neil

I have over 100 Verified Buyers with well over 250 transactions through Paypal but am still unhappy that my funds in Paypal are not accessible. Neil, I basically do what you do...I withdraw funds into my bank account as soon as possible after they are transferred. But I have left some funds in their and right now I can not access them.

Answer me this-how many, if any banks, freeze your entire bank account because they feel the need to do so. And if banks do, how many allow money to still be deposited but not withdrawn?

Are you kidding??? That's big business at it's FINEST! Look at all the large corporations that will still allow people to buy their stock when they KNOW they are going BANKRUPT TOMORROW!! How many banks have you seen that will take DEPOSITS the day BEFORE they go under??
They KNOW they're protected??
Your scenario is exactly why I don't leave anything in my account.... as everyone keeps saying.... THEY ARE NOT A BANK!, they are only a "glorified liaison" for your money.... when your money comes in??.... TAKE IT OUT!!....

....Neil

banks are insured through FDIC, Paypal is not. Unless you have more than $ 100 thousand your fully covered if a bank goes under. In our particular case, we have as I indicated in an earlier post all the necessary terminals for accepting credit cards. This person basically indicated that his funds could only be used through Paypal and that we he was unable to pull the monies out

Here is another email from him "Sorry about that Jerry. I got a bit behind at work and really have not had the opportunity to think about it. I really only have time off on the weekends. If I can't use some of the funds that are in my paypal account I will have to pass. Let me know, Jon" I told him to get the money out of Paypal and send it to me. He indicated that he could not access the money, and I intern indicated that we could not ship under his terms! We parted amicably, but I wont do business with him in the future. It just did not feel right. JERRY TRESSER