Paypal info

is it fairly safe to use paypal linked to your bank,,,its the only way I can do it right now.

You'll find opinions on both sides of this question, and some have had issues with PayPal; but in my case, I've had my PP account linked to my bank account for over 10 years, and I have never had an issue with it. I've never had any unauthorized withdrawals from my bank account.

My only complaint is that although you can have funds drawn from your bank account to the PayPal account instantaneously, you have to wait 3 or 4 days to send money back to your bank account from the PP account.

Originally Posted by TheFragginDragon

You'll find opinions on both sides of this question, and some have had issues with PayPal; but in my case, I've had my PP account linked to my bank account for over 10 years, and I have never had an issue with it. I've never had any unauthorized withdrawals from my bank account.

My only complaint is that although you can have funds drawn from your bank account to the PayPal account instantaneously, you have to wait 3 or 4 days to send money back to your bank account from the PP account.

First I would like to say thank you for the fast reply. I have read both opinions like you said, just figured I would ask on here since it seems to be the most used path on reptile sites and ebay and such. Well, I dont keep my main money in this account so it should be fine. I was wondering about the transfer issue you mentioned, I had read that as well, I guess as long as you watch yourself with your spending then it should be ok.



What about seller protection???

No sweat!

I'll have to defer to someone else on an informed opinion concerning the seller protection, as I've never had to utilize it (knock on wood ).

Originally Posted by TheFragginDragon

No sweat!

I'll have to defer to someone else on an informed opinion concerning the seller protection, as I've never had to utilize it (knock on wood ).

so you buy and sell with it and no issues so far then? Well that's good lol.

IMO, their protections are heavily biased towards eBay purchases. As a buyer (in a non eBay transaction), if you are unhappy with the product - ie wrong item, broken, etc - you are pretty much SOL unless the seller is willing to work with you. There is no coverage whatsoever on live animal purchases. As a seller, you can pretty much forget about protections if you ship to anything other than the verified address on the account Also, expect to lose deposits if a buyer changes his mind....if you can't show that you shipped, you lose. Sellers are also at risk for chargebacks through the credit card company. If a buyer bypasses paypal and disputes the charge that way, PayPal doesn't care what happened or why....the c.c. bank snatches the money from PayPal, and PayPal snatches the money from you.

Using PayPal for payment plans is both convenient and not. At 45 days, the buyer loses the ability to file a claim on a payment; and the seller loses the ability to directly refund it.

Of course, customer service is outsourced overseas, so expect canned responses from people that may or may not fully grasp your concerns - it can be a very frustrating experience when things do go bad. (Though I've had relatively few issues in the 10+ years I've been using PayPal - I can't say that any of those issues were easily resolved, and most ended up costing me money)

Yes it is safe.

then for someone who sells some geckos now and then and some things on ebay what alternatives to paypal are good?

PayPal is still probably the best option for most people - unless/until they opt to take credit cards directly - for the simple reason that PayPal is probably the most widely used online payment system. More people use it, and are comfortable with it...and those that don't have an account already can still make a credit card payment without registering for one. As I said, I've had relatively few problems in the past 10 yrs....it's just that their protections are pretty eBay focused.

I've been meaning to look into Google Checkout....for a long time, they prohibited animal transactions; but supposedly they reversed that a couple years ago. Of course, unless they offer their service to people without accounts, making that a primary payment method would mean that customers would have to register an account with Google Checkout...which more often than not wouldn't happen (I know I'd have to want something pretty darn bad to bother with it)

Originally Posted by hhmoore

PayPal is still probably the best option for most people - unless/until they opt to take credit cards directly - for the simple reason that PayPal is probably the most widely used online payment system. More people use it, and are comfortable with it...and those that don't have an account already can still make a credit card payment without registering for one. As I said, I've had relatively few problems in the past 10 yrs....it's just that their protections are pretty eBay focused.

I've been meaning to look into Google Checkout....for a long time, they prohibited animal transactions; but supposedly they reversed that a couple years ago. Of course, unless they offer their service to people without accounts, making that a primary payment method would mean that customers would have to register an account with Google Checkout...which more often than not wouldn't happen (I know I'd have to want something pretty darn bad to bother with it)

thank you for the replies. All of you.