Paypal Horror??

[stephan0246]

Paypal is a very good service. I used it for the last 3 years. I had few problem with, but they were mainly cause by me. Just make sure you get into Paypal with a non-infected PC. Clean your registry and cookies regularly then you should be ok. Or better yet, dedicate a PIII PC that you don't use just to get in Paypal.

Stephan

[stacy131]

One thing that you need to know about PayPal is that it is NOT a bank. It is not FDIC insured and as horrible as it seems, your money is legally theirs while it sits in the account (have you read the fine print before you signed up?). In fact, eBay has implemented a plan that allows PayPal money of new sellers to be held for 21 days without their consent.

If you plan on buying with PayPal, it is your best friend. It will accept any absurd fraud claim as long as you are on the buyer side. Of course, if you are on the selling side, it's not so great. If you couple it together with eBay, you're in for a treat. A buyer could return a rock in a box to a seller and still get their PayPal refund and keep the actual product.

As of June, PayPal will be the only accepted method of payment on eBay Australia. An Australian bank has filed a lawsuit to prevent this monopolizing move. Ebay plans to execute this monopolizing move globally "in months, not years," as their new CEO, John Dumbahoe stated in a recent interview.

[cldnails]

I assure you that it is not JUST suspect situations. I've had 2 accounts frozen then suspended for little more than gray areas in their TOS or another for 'suspected' account hacking.

In either case I assure you that I was well within the rules, was an upstanding member for years and had never had an issue, but in 2 separate times the rug was pulled out from under me.

USE WITH CAUTION and never leave very much in your account.

[peterlh35]

yeap i think paypal sucks too. i always have trouble on it and sometime the payment takes too long to xfer to my account

[odchoi]

Originally Posted by Nuroo

I am looking into opening my first paypal account for receiving payments, but during my research I found a bunch of "horror" stories about it. Like frozen accounts for no reason, bank account getting deducted for no apparent reason, lawsuits, hackers, etc.... Alot of these seem to be from a few years ago. Is this stuff still actually happening regularly? And should I open a separate checking account at a different bank than my primary check account, with a minimal balance just to use with Paypal?

Maybe that will be a good idea. At least you can sleep good at night. Minimal expense if ever.

[dedivpshosting]

I been using PayPal for quite sometimes now for my online business. I had few bad experience with PayPal though it caused by me. Do not believe the horror stories about PayPal, however you can take it as precaution. Frozen accounts for no reason? I do not think so. PayPal must have the reason when they do things like that.

[John Scott]

PayPal is getting better. They used to suck big time. And as for freezing accounts - yes, they still do that if you do a lot of business with a new account. They froze one of my accounts with thousands of dollars in it and I had to wait for 6 months to get my money.

[netdebut]

Folks, I've had my PayPal account since 2001. I was just 18. I've had transactions from a few dollars to several thousand. I never had a problem.

However, before every influx of income, I notify PayPal that I am running a promotion and that there may be more money coming in. I've NEVER had a problem. No frozen or investigated account. Heck, even when I had customers yell scam and asked for their money back ($500) even though it was their ex that made the deposit and it was 2 months later. PayPal worked with me, dealt with that situation and dropped the case after I refunded the money.

When you do something suspicious, of course they're going to look into it. If you truly didn't do anything that would raise a brow, you'll be fine.

[John Scott]

If you truly didn't do anything that would raise a brow, you'll be fine.

Can't agree with that generalization.

[netdebut]

Originally Posted by John Scott

Can't agree with that generalization.

Well, I can see why after reading your previous post. I responded on the first page and didn't see that. I guess I could have worded it a bit better, but you have to admit... it's a little startling if a brand new account suddenly had a lot of big transactions. But yeah, that sucks, man. At least you still have your account.

[Celtik]

Paypal has been fine with me, but I do try to keep my money out of my Paypal account as much as possible by transferring it to my bank, etc. (I also don't get that much money though)

[kimsonsolutions]

paypal attitude can be both positiv and negativ

they freeze your account very easily to avoid any more trouble ( someone stole me about 1000£ on my paypal account for exemple and as my account has been frozen , it stops here and i got back my money some days later) but for a seller this can be a real pain in the ass ( and sometimes once frozen it's really hard to get it unfrozen , at this time mine still is for no reason)

so to conclude i will use again paypal but only to buy

[AmySueN]

I've only had 1 run-in with PP and it was no big deal. I had to change the name on a group account from the former admin to me, and the easiest way to do that is to close the account and open a new one. So I transferred the money to a third account, closed the first, opened the new, and transferred the money in. The same day I got a call from PP asking about the transaction but when I explained the situation it was fine.

[peterlh35]

i hated paypal's limited transaction. i wonder if i can raise the transaction's limit higher?

[blossom]

Coincidentally, Paypal's limiting my access to my own account. They did this after I paid someone $100. Their reason? They're protecting MY security.

It's amazing to look at the excuses they come up with.

[DirectoryMan]

Originally Posted by blossom

Coincidentally, Paypal's limiting my access to my own account. They did this after I paid someone $100. Their reason? They're protecting MY security.

It's amazing to look at the excuses they come up with.

They are here to help (themselves).

[Brazzell Marketing]

I've been considering switching from my traditional credit card merchant service to PayPal, but even the people here who say it's not bad or it's getting better have scared me off of using PayPal for the next five to ten years. Thanks for the info.

I use Merchant Service International (MSI). They only charge $9.50 per month to keep the account open, and their per transaction fees are pretty low (25 cents plus 1.5% I think). I mostly get checks, so my use of the credit card merchant account varies widely, $500 in a month, and then one transaction for 5 grand next month. I don't have to ask anyone's permission to have a good day. When my customers get their credit card statements, they see my company name and phone number beside the charge (not some third party vendor like PayPal). Frankly, when companies accept my credit card through a traditional credit card merchant, it leaves a better impression wiht me about the size and reliability of the company. Feel free to PM me if you want MSIs contact info or more feedback on them.

[Brazzell Marketing]

Just got this e-mail from StatCounter about ongoing problems and intransigence from PayPal. I think it's legit, because StatCounter discusses it on their blog as well.

We at StatCounter are having ongoing, critical problems with Paypal.

In view of the complete lack of assistance from Paypal in this regard and the gravity of the problems, we have decided that we have no option but to inform you, our members, about the facts of the situation. This will allow you to make an informed decision about whether to use (or whether to continue to use) Paypal.

Please note that these problems have been ongoing since 15 May and may arise not only in relation to payments made to StatCounter but in relation to ANY Paypal payments that you make. We hope that our communications will equip you with the information necessary to make sure that YOU do not become another victim of this ongoing Paypal saga.

The two major issues affecting StatCounter Paypal subscribers are:

- Delayed issuing of invoices
- Instances of double billing

At StatCounter we have tried phoning, emailing, posting on the Paypal forums... Many of our contacts are ignored, but even when we do get an answer all we are told is that "Upon review of your account, unfortunately we do not have a time frame for a resolution to your issue we are currently actively investigating your issue with subscriptions."

Folks - we sincerely regret any problems you are experiencing and assure you that we are doing our best to get all of these issues resolved for you.
We strive to offer a high level of customer service and pride ourselves on being responsive to the needs and suggestions of our members. To have our hands "tied" in this way as a result of Paypals inaction is frustrating to say the least.

We would be very grateful for your patience at this time as we wait for Paypal to resolve these issues.

We would also ask you to be patient with any of our fellow internet merchants experiencing difficulties with Paypal at this time.

For further information or to post a question or a comment, please visit our blog.

http://blog.statcounter.com/?p=88

[Steven_D]

I thought that the account limit was removed when you added a credit card then verified the 4 digit code on the bank statement.

I did that and it said my limit was removed.

Also, I have read heaps of the horror stories RE paypal, and I have never had an account freezing issue, but I did find it very very hard to find how to doco's about PDT/IPN and it took me a good 5 hours to get working, but all fine since.

[selfhelpebooks]

Yup, the smart thing to do is to have a separate bank account with minimal balance just for it.
That's exactly what I did.
And if your account starts to fill up (wishes) then transfer it over to the main.