OT - Pay Pal - Pros and Cons

[JohnO]

I was thinking starting up a Pay Pal account. Before I do, I'm asking for guidance:

- The benefits
- The pros
- The cons

Starlette

How do you intend to use it? As a purchaser, or as a vendor? As a purchaser, it works pretty well. As a vendor, it depends on how you intend to use it. If you intend to sell a few items a day, for a few dollars to many dollars, it should work well. It does not work so well for really small transactions or recurring subscription-type transactions. Also, Paypal does not have great transaction summaries allowing you to slice and dice your data to understand your customers or purchasing patterns.

The only real negatives I've heard relate to being a seller/vendor. One I've heard is that vendors have had their accounts closed if they have an unusual amount of activity in one day. Paypal assumes it is fraud, and shuts it down. It has taken people many days to get it straightened out.

I've had a Paypal account for more than a decade. I use it to purchase a few things each month. I have also sold items on eBay and received payment via Paypal. I also have received money from flight instruction from Paypal. It works well for me. Now, in addition to Paypal, I've started to use Square [https://squareup.com] to accept credit cards. Just another option for my flight students.

John

[Starlette]

Yes, I am considering using it due to two reasons.

1) Recently, I made a transaction with a fellow forum member. He gave me different options to pay him including Pay Pal.
2) Yesterday, I was getting ready to pay someone $145 for a service. He sent his invoice with the option to pay by Pay Pal.
Now, I'm beginning to reconsider starting an account. To answer someone's question, I would only use it for personal reasons. I don't own a business, or such.
And oops I just noticed that I forgot to put "OT" at the beginning of this thread.

What is website to go to start one? Don't want to go to the wrong place.

So, it sounds to me that one of the reasons folks use Pay Pal is more for security reasons rather than using a check, I can certainly understand that. However, I don't understand the reason to use it over a credit card.

Starlette

[Lizistired]

It's not security so much as convenience. The payment is made in minutes instead of mailing a check. I know my password, so I don't have to get my credit card and enter all the billing information. Just click the link, log in, review the bill and payment options, and confirm.

Paypal.com

[ChrisD]

Like many others, I got my paypal account years ago so that I could buy and sell via ebay with ease. It has worked great. No problems for me but I've heard horror stories from others.

A couple of things to remember:
1) PayPal is NOT a bank, they are a subsidiary of eBay. They do not have to follow banking regulations / rules.
2) They can freeze your account / money at anytime.
3) If you have a problem, it is hard to reach a live person at PayPal.

Go to Google.com and search for pros and cons of paypal

Hope this helps.

Chris

[jtmarten]

I've been using Paypal since they started offering it on Ebay. I won't even watch or bid on an auction that doesn't accept PayPal. Money orders and bank checks are just a hassle, except for large purchases or deposits (vehicles, etc).
Had one bad seller on ebay, got a prompt refund through PayPal.

[Heavylids]

12 years a business premier member and zero problems. I use it to pay whenever I can sto avoind spreading my credit card number aroung the interwebs.

Thumbs up for PayPal.

[b360155]

Yes, I am considering using it due to two reasons.

1) Recently, I made a transaction with a fellow forum member. He gave me different options to pay him including Pay Pal.
2) Yesterday, I was getting ready to pay someone $145 for a service. He sent his invoice with the option to pay by Pay Pal.
Now, I'm beginning to reconsider starting an account. To answer someone's question, I would only use it for personal reasons. I don't own a business, or such.
And oops I just noticed that I forgot to put "OT" at the beginning of this thread.

What is website to go to start one? Don't want to go to the wrong place.

So, it sounds to me that one of the reasons folks use Pay Pal is more for security reasons rather than using a check, I can certainly understand that. However, I don't understand the reason to use it over a credit card.

Starlette

http://www.Paypal.com
When using your credit card for a Paypal transaction, the seller never sees your credit card account number.

[Starlette]

Ok, I set up the account. Again, I've never done this before. After, I set up the account it said it will deposit 2 small transactions to confirm all the information then take it back. Then it said:
Log in to PayPal and enter the deposit amounts. What does that mean?

So anotherwords, this is like internet banking except you can use this Pay Pal for multiple transactions correct? With internet banking you setup for certain accounts like light, water, etc. Regarding credit cards, so for all the 100's of purchases we've made online with our credit cards, the vendor can actually see all the numbers? I thought the only numbers that would be exposed would be the last four digits.

Now I have a legitimate bill in PayPal in the amount of $145. How do I pay it for it? Keep in mind PayPal hasn't paid 2 transactions of $1.00 to confirm the account. The only option it's giving me is pay via credit card. I'd rather pay via checking account.

Starlette

[xenablue]

No Starlette, they can't see all the digits of your credit card, but hackers have ways of accessing your credit cards online. I have no clue how, but a year ago I got a call from my Visa Carnival Card asking me if I booked 2 tickets to Paris and made purchases of large amounts of expensive luggage. They even asked me if maybe my DH was booking a trip to surprise me - I laughed as the ONLY tickets he'd buy to surprise me would be to my homeland Australia.

Turns out someone got access to the credit card details online and thankfully the criminals were nabbed at the airport as they tried to leave.

Cheers,
xena

[chunkyfrog]

BUSTED!

[Pugsy]

You don't have to do the verification thing if you don't want to. That's for using your own bank account to draw from or add to. I prefer a credit card. I have never done the verification of 1.00 thing. Payments are made from credit card.

You can go ahead and pay the bill...just use a credit card...you can set it up so it is used all the time as where to draw the funds from or you can just pay from the unverified bank account (or at least I did it a long time ago but switched to credit card for security and ease of use along with protection that one gets when paying by credit card).

I think the verification thing is mainly for when you want to take the money that someone has paid you via PayPal and transfer it to your bank account. I have never needed to do that. I just have used the money someone puts in my PayPal account to purchase other stuff...like from EBay or cpap.com or whatever.
The one time I got snookered by a seller I had used the credit card and PayPal just credited it back.

[Starlette]

Thanks Pugsy and all. I've heard about PayPal for many years and never did it. Bill has been paid. Think I know how to do it now.
Sorry all, I was nervous nelly about this.

Starlette

[Starlette]

One more question, how does someone know to send invoice to PayPal without knowing that I've set up an account?

[BlackSpinner]

Ok, I set up the account. Again, I've never done this before. After, I set up the account it said it will deposit 2 small transactions to confirm all the information then take it back. Then it said:
Log in to PayPal and enter the deposit amounts. What does that mean?

So anotherwords, this is like internet banking except you can use this Pay Pal for multiple transactions correct? With internet banking you setup for certain accounts like light, water, etc. Regarding credit cards, so for all the 100's of purchases we've made online with our credit cards, the vendor can actually see all the numbers? I thought the only numbers that would be exposed would be the last four digits.

Now I have a legitimate bill in PayPal in the amount of $145. How do I pay it for it? Keep in mind PayPal hasn't paid 2 transactions of $1.00 to confirm the account. The only option it's giving me is pay via credit card. I'd rather pay via checking account.

Starlette

When they apear in your bank statement online, open another window for your paypal. It will ask you what the numbers were that were on the account. You enter them where it asks for it. This is part of the security incase you screwed up the bank account stuff. Once it has this info you can transfer money between your bank account and Paypal. To pay a bill you would tranfer money from your bank account to Paypal. This will take a couple of days. When the money gets there, you go to paypal and tell it to pay the bill.

[Pugsy]

One more question, how does someone know to send invoice to PayPal without knowing that I've set up an account?

Everything is tied to your personal email address so all a person needs is your email address to generate an invoice.
Also...all you need to pay someone via PayPal is their email address. Invoices aren't required but come in handy at times.

If an email address is not tied to a valid PayPal account or of someone makes a typo....PayPal will spit it back.