Forum Moderators: buckworks
The important thing is to stick to the rules. If you're trading on the level and providing your customers good service/product within Paypal's terms, then you shouldn't have any problems.
I read an excellent article recently... evaluation of their services in light of these complaints... I'll see if I can find it.
Disclaimer: I don't know this guy although I've seen him referred to favorably by other sources I respect. He could be just as biased in the opposite direction as the Paypal dissers... but he spins a good story if so.
[wilsonweb.com...]
There was someone *new* who posted to one list about a year ago with helpful information, with a link to an article very negatively slanted against PayPal. I checked it out, and it turned out the site belonged to be some sleazy third-rate outfit with a domain a couple of months old trying to sell merchant accounts through fear tactics. So I shared my helpful information and that was the end of that.
The one thing I've heard is that it's wise to withdraw funds as soon as they come in - always a good idea.
[edited by: brotherhood_of_LAN at 10:37 pm (utc) on June 14, 2002]
Overall, things have worked smoothly, except I have heard some feedback that Paypal tends to be a bit crankier from mid-December onwards (Christmas holidays). Users have said that the server is slower to accept new accounts or accept transaction requests.
While I'm not 100% convinced this is the sole reason, I'm willing to give the claims credence because I've heard several dozen users report the same experience.
Other than that, I've been pleased overall. :)
I had the experience of having my PayPal account frozen when I need to change credit card numbers. It took about four days to be live again, and while I had mixed feelings about being frozen I recognized that it was for security precautions. I'm not a heavy user of PayPal, but it's nice to have it as another alternative for doing business online.
zeus
Not sure what will come of this, and the article is several months old, now, so I'm sure PayPal has had time to come up with a solution so it's probably a non-issue.
I've had nothing but good luck with PayPal, too, though. My Perl Scripting Guy and I trade cash back and forth between our PayPal accounts all the time. I even requested a transfer from my account to my home checking account on a Saturday night and the funds were available Monday afternoon.
G.
You be the judge.
So I take it by reading this thread, you all would recommend they use PayPals.
This site is small site dealing in only one product.
That was the sticking point for me, as all of our transactions are over $200. Two problems:
1) I can get a check and have it deposited in my bank more quickly
2) You may think you have a sale, but until the buyer sends in that verification code, you have nothing.
Maybe that has changed. But if not, and you deal in expensive items, it can be a real problem.
I used them for the first ever time recently to purchase something over the net.
As I am in Thailand, they :
a) Need to validate my credit card before I can make the purchase even though they have already charged my card US$ 1 to join paypal.
b) Said I needed to fax in a past statement etc. (that is a long distance call charge)
c) Then said that I still have to wait after all above until I receive a members number. I have called Amex and they still have not received this.
All this means I still cannot transfer the money I need to purchase this item.
I can very safely say that I will never use them again and will never have them on any of our sites.
The worst part of all this being a long way away from the States is that they have no contact information whatsoever, so I cannot even call or email or anything. I am very concerned about the whole procedure and am even considering blocking them.
I do sympathize with those not in the US that have to jump through some hoops to get authorized to use the system. I full understand PayPals high bar for entry.
PayPal got a wake-up call in the summer of 2000 when Russian hackers found thousands of credit card numbers.They wrote computer programs that opened thousands of PayPal accounts, and then transferred money from one account to another until they withdrew it in cash, costing PayPal $5 to $10 million. Oops. No wonder PayPal is fraud-shy.
But the result of PayPal's diligence is a transaction fraud rate of 0.42%, substantially below Internet fraud rates as a whole.
That's a substantially lower fraud rate than most any merchant account/cc you will find on the internet today.
Something similar happened to a search engine years ago: as a prevention, I had to block and re-new the Credit Card.
I do not use Paypal to receive money, but I used it to sent money several times. It works fine.
I have uncategorically told them what I think of their services, and will never use them again.
In fact what I tried to use them for in the first place still hasn't happened !!
Not for users in the US, at least... If you want to "verify" your account you have to give them bank account info, and to verify your shipping address they use a credit card. You give them the credit card info, and they contact the CC company to verify the billing address.
Sellers have the option of not accepting payment from unverified accounts, and not shipping to unverified addresses... I think PayPal's seller protection policies only apply to transactions between fully verified accounts.
There was no apology not even a Dear Mr. X, just your account has been deleted.
They still have charged me US$ 1.95 which I will now be blocking.
I would not call this proffesional.
