PayPal opinions?

[RayG]

My biggest complaint is the amount of time it takes for the money to be transferred from my bank account (one set up specifically for paypal purposes) to Paypal. It can take upwards of a week sometimes, apparently because I live in Canada.

I've not had any problems however, with their service and continue to use it.

RayG

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I've used PayPal for years, had it hooked to my bank account, and have few complaints. I've been using them since the days when they were just a side project of the online bank X.com, which I was also a customer of.

Regarding account freezes; I've had this happen exactly once. The reason for it is that PayPal is extremely paranoid when it comes to the possibility of fraud; they take the "freeze first, ask questions later" approach. (This is not limited to PayPal; my first TAM was temporarily interrupted when Bank of America froze my debit card because of the "unusual" transactions in Vegas.)

That approach has its good points and bad points; I'm happy to know that if my account were compromised, there's a good chance PayPal would limit the damage post-haste. On the other hand, when they get a false positive, it's a mild PITA to get through to someone and have your account un-frozen.

I had a credit card company freeze a payment I made to one of my suppliers for the same reason. Some worker didn't bother to find out if I made the charge, he/she just denied the payment. I had mixed feelings about it since one wants the card company to notice unusual activity but if they would have taken a couple seconds to check what the charge was for they'd have seen it wasn't retail and wasn't a charge that was likely to be paid off a false charge card. Then there was that little easily checked item the supplier had the shipping address and it was mine.

So I chalk that up to an incompetent employee.

I've had a PayPal account for Ebay selling and buying for years. I've never had any problems. I also tied it to a bank account that was just for PayPal and I don't let money accumulate in the connected account. But it's never been a problem.

I notice PayPal fees are up a bit, however. But then I figure it balances out since Ebay buyers have more confidence and waiting for personal checks to clear is a pain.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

My biggest complaint is the amount of time it takes for the money to be transferred from my bank account (one set up specifically for paypal purposes) to Paypal. It can take upwards of a week sometimes, apparently because I live in Canada.

I've not had any problems however, with their service and continue to use it.

RayG

Yeah, that's annoying as are the extra fees they charge for foreign currency exchange. There's no doubt PayPal nickel and dimes people just like the big banks and credit card companies do.

 

[Chupacabras]

I opened my Paypal account before they had the service in my country. Everything is going fine. I use it mostly to collect money.

I once had a few bucks in PP and had to pay, and the default was to use that money first, and the remainder from my bank account, and I think that is good criteria.

When they convert to Mexican pesos they use a different exchange rate than the banks - to their advantage, of course - but well, I don't think its such a big deal, and that's what other money-transfer business do already.

 

[MatildaGage]

I've participated in several market research surveys and always got paid by check.

Never had any problem with PayPal--use it for my small business, ebay, etc.