Paypal?

[SoDak]

Here's the deal, I recently got an ebay account because I found some stuff I want to buy. The problem is I need to open up a paypal account to buy let alone bid on said item. I figured no big deal until I read this thread.
http://m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=35312&highlight=paypal
Now I'm not so sure if I want to open an account and give them my credit card number. Am I being too cautious about trusting paypal? Is there any alternative way to use paypal without a credit card? Thanks.

[chadbag]

If you find something you want to buy on eBay, see if the seller will take an alternate form of payment or sell to you outside of eBay.

The few things I sold on eBay this year I specifically excluded paypal (because I have a merchant account and can take CC directly).

If you do sign up with PayPal, attach it to a checking account used for nothing else and keep no money in it. If you can get a CC that you only use with PayPal that would be useful as well.

I have not had issues with PayPal being attached to my AMEX though. For the rare times I need to use PP, which I try to avoid.

[ST911]

I haven't had any problems with Paypal. I opened a checking account expressly for that purpose, which isn't tied to any other line of credit. Paypal isn't gun friendly, but it's the only game in town.

[spamsammich]

I had my paypal account hacked somehow and $20 dollars withdrawn from my account. PP handled my complaint and we tried to figure out how the account was compromised. I have a fairly complex password and all of my computers are either macs (running Avast) or XP laptops from work with a suite of different malware/AV programs. I took pains to not access my PP account from computers that were not in my circle of personal computers. In the end, I ditched PP because I wasn't convinced that I was at fault for the security breech.

[CENTCOM_Survivor]

Paypal loves islam, hates freedom.

Pay Pal’s Jihad Against Journalistic Liberty and Freedom of Thought (http://bigjournalism.com/pgeller/2010/06/16/pal-pals-jihad-against-journalistic-liberty-and-freedom-of-thought/)

[lalakai]

you can also set up a more restricted account; it limits the speed of some transactions. having it as a stand alone account, not linked to any CC or bank account is possible, and that's how i have mine set up. downside is that when i move money from one account to another, it takes 3-5 business days for that to complete. As others mentioned, linking it to an account set up specifically for PP is an option and if you can do it like that, it might be the best option for you.

[rickrock305]

Now I'm not so sure if I want to open an account and give them my credit card number. Am I being too cautious about trusting paypal? Is there any alternative way to use paypal without a credit card? Thanks.

No, you're not being too cautious. Paypal SUCKS. But a lot of times its a necessary evil when dealing with online transactions.

From my experience, you're probably better off doing it with a credit card instead of your bank account. That way if you do have any kind of dispute you can handle it with your credit card company and stop/reverse charges instead of relying on Paypal to do it for you. I would definitely NOT give them access to my bank account, unless it was an account specifically set up for this.

[SoDak]

If you find something you want to buy on eBay, see if the seller will take an alternate form of payment or sell to you outside of eBay.


One seller said I could use a money order when I asked, but ebay wouldn't even let me bid without a paypal account(WTF?). I'm not sure if the seller could change that auction so I could have bid and use a money order, but I didn't inquire any further since I didn't want to be a difficult buyer over $10 worth of stuff.

If I could just buy the item from the seller outside of ebay I'd be happy, but I thought that was against ebay's rules or something. Are many vendors open to doing that?

I'll have to give the separate bank account some thought, but I don't really plan on making buying from ebay a regular thing so it might be overkill.

[TehLlama]

I have a pair of CC/Checking accounts that get used exclusively for PP, because of all the issues I've seen with those accounts. For some uses, the convenience of PP is worth it (usually small transactions), but only when it offers a bit of speed and convenience over MO.