Pay Pal

Skip Keane · From: Rhode Island, USA

Hello,
Well I will never use it because I do not use my credit cards on line. I use only money orders it's safer.
thanks

Donald Jeunette · From: Phoenix, Arizona, USA * R.I.P.

Why is it that more people on the forum don't use pay pal? It seem to me it's a quicker and better way to receive money and to pay money. Your only charged when you receive (which I don't mind paying for) and nothing to send. I would like to hear comments.

Egil Skjelnes · From: Meland,Frekhaug

Hello
I have used it for years,and so far never had any problems.Easy.However,it may be smart to use an account for this purpose only,and not keep more money on it then you use.
Egil.

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

I think more people use it than not.

Considering they are owned by EBAY I think they have a pretty high enrollment...

My personal feeling is that if PAYPAL is used correctly and the USER pays attention, it is one of the more secure Internet locations.

Using a credit card anywhere can be a situation. Everytime you use it anywhere the RISK is present, probably more so when another HUMAN actually has it in there posession for a few minutes.

A waiter takes it from you, walks away, goes somewhere with it, comes back a few minutes later...

can they write down some info, and the 3 digit security # on the back ? I suppose they can...all they need now is your full name and address..BINGO..telephone order and charge...

The ONLY time my Credit Card was ever violated was at a hotel. The check in clerk stole the number and used it, and got arrested the next morning.

Visa called me that night for totally suspicious activity ( charges) which were not in the window of NORMAL.

Keep in mind, your Credit Card is protected against fraud. if someone Steels, I mean STEALS your card # and makes purchases, you ARE not liable as long as you report it within the appropriate time window.

Personally I think it is a good idea to view ALL Bank accounts on line as well to monitor daily activity..works for me..and our business...

BUT, your PC should be protected, Firewall, current Security and Anti Virus...

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

Paypal is great for ebay stuff, where you don't know the buyer/seller from Adam.
On the forum, it's easier to trust the person you're dealing with. I don't know you, but I know where you are!

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

You don't have to use a credit card for your Paypal account - you can set it up so that you deposit and withdraw money from a savings or checking account. I buy, sell and repair fountain pens as a semi-lucrative little hobby so I like to keep a modest amount in my account, but if I want to make a larger purchase I just transfer money in, which take 3 or 4 days - most sellers are perfectly happy to wait, as long as you explain it. I set up a special savings account, I wouldn't give anybody online the keys to the vault (as modest as that may be).

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

I've bought a lot of stuff using PayPal, but only recently sold an item (here on the Forum, actually) using it.

I checked first, but they don't take any fee if you're not 'activated' (I think that's what it was called); in effect, that means if you don't have what they consider a business account. This was for $45, and I paid no fee.

RR

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

I have used paypal from 3 continents to buy
2 steels, and a host of parts and other tools.

I would be dead in the water buying from this forum without it.

They err on the side of cuation.
More likely to recall a payment I made for ANY suspicious circumstances than not. A pain in the rear that sometimes...
But better than being ripped off.

In fact paypal and two kind PSG forumites
helped me get out of a foreign country,
when a bank card problem stranded me once.

Paypal also tends to leave a pretty good paper trail too.
Just my 2 cents.

[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 31 October 2005 at 02:53 AM.]

Roger Kelly · From: Bristol,Tennessee

I don't use a Credit Card with Pay Pal. I simply set up a separate account, at my Credit Union, that I use for Pay Pal to make the withdrawals from when I add money to my Pay Pal account. I only keep a small amount in that account until I make a transfer. If someone drafts the account other than me.....they won't get much. I have bought and sold guitars, amps, and other items all over the world, using Pay Pal, without any problems....so far.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

I have a better one question Why is it that someone gets upset if I don't use PayPal???

The amount of people who are too lazy to go get a money order, or too lazy to go to the bank to cash one, never ceases to amaze me.

I also feel when you say...

Mike Scaggs · From: Nashville, TN

I will just add something to think about.

There is wide spread Money Order and Cashier Check frauds out there right now. Lots of forgeries going around. Just gotta be careful. Paypal has always been a safe bet for me and I have never personally had any issues what so ever.

My 3 Cents

Mark van Allen · From: Watkinsville, Ga. USA

You pretty much have to be careful with every transaction these days. Seems a lot of folks want something for nothing.

I've had at least a thousand succesful paypal transactions with no problems so far, so it's been working for me.

One partial answer to your question, Donny, is that PayPal is pretty much instant, somebody transfers you the money, and you have it now. If you are selling an item that has several folks in line wishing to buy it, and the first responder sends you an instant payment, that really beats someone saying they're sending a Money order, etc., and then waiting to see if it ever appears. Most of my deadbeat payments have been folks who said "it's in the mail"... YMMV.
That being said, I've found forum deals to be almost universally painless. Nice bunch here.

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

Mike Scaggs was correct - there is a ton of money order fraud going on right now. In faact, I no longer accept money orders, period.

"The amount of people who are too lazy to go get a money order, or too lazy to go to the bank to cash one, never ceases to amaze me."

I reseent the implication that it's "laziness". In my case, I don't like to mix music and household funds. I use Paypal for all music-related transactions, except at stores, which is so rare as to not even be an issue. That system (using Paypal) worked perfectly well in the six-string world where it's pretty much the standard. Also, the situation with money order fraud concerns me. And actually, it's a royal pain to buy a money order - standing in line for 45 minutes at my post office is a joke, and I won't do it. The banks also open after I leave and are closed before I get home, with no convenient branch near my office. So I can suggest a slot to insert the "laziness" comment into...

Here, I've encountered more people who don't use Paypal than do, and still haven't seen one viable reason. A bunch of people have simply lost sales to me because they don't use it, and that's pretty bad business tactics. You do have to change with the times every once in a while - sometimes it seems the steel world is stuck in 1965 or something.

John Daugherty · From: Rolla, Missouri, USA

I am not lazy. I live a long way from a post office. It takes a lot of time to drive to get a money order. Time is money to me,because I have to close my business to do this.
Paypal is "smart" business. With paypal, the money is instantly deposited in the persons bank account.
I wouldn't know a good money order from a bogus money order by looking at it. When I am notified that the money is in my account, I know it is "money in the bank".
If you watch the bids on ebay, you will see many more bids on an item that is offered by someone who accepts Paypal.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Yeah, yeah, I know all about the fraud. Computers just make fraud easier, that's why computer crime has grown exponentially. It's much easier to buy a computer and "hack your way to riches" than it is to steal security paper, or blank money orders, and forge them. But paper is traceable, computer gibberish often isn't. Nothing is really safe anymore.

Bottom line though is...it's my money, and I prefer to give as few people as possible a piece of it just for the "convenience" of doing business. I buy an item, and the shipper gets his cut. If I buy from ebay, they get their cut. Now you want me to give another piece of the action to the "Paypal guy". Sorry, I don't buy that. If ebay owns it, then it should be a free service (they're already making big bucks from the auctions). You people are just too naive to see what's going on. I relegate you to the same crowd that thinks that credit-card purchases are free, as long as I pay my bill every month.

WRONG!!!

We all pay for every credit card transaction. The costs of accounting, mailing, deadbeats, and fraud are all passed on to the consumer. ALL CONSUMERS! Credit is ruining this country, and if you think another 1929 can't happen, think again!

Yeah, I'm old fashioned, I get highly pissed when someone in front of me must buy a $7 purchase in a store with a credit card. If you can't carry a $20 bill when you go shopping, you oughta stay home. Call me "stuck in 1965" if you like. You see, I was around back then, and people were a helluva lot more responsible and honest, and personal bankruptcy was almost unheard of.

Run your business any way you like. If Paypal's all you take, you just won't get my dollars.

Sorry pal.

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

I used to get a lot of scam e-mails about what I had for sale on my web site. Since I posted that I would accept Pay Pal ONLY for internet sales, that has eliminated the scam e-mails.

I also sell some of our club T-Shirts by mail and sold one Thursday when the new T-Shirt shipment came in (the person had been waiting for the "back order"). I notified him they were in, he sent a Pay Pal payment and from the time I notified him until it was in the mail was about an hour.

Donald Jeunette · From: Phoenix, Arizona, USA * R.I.P.

Bump Please

^^^

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

Donny -

Sorry you feel that way. They way I see it, Paypal fees outside eBay have NOTHING to do with eBay, and are simply a cost of doing business - business that I would not have if I didn't take Paypal. Also allows me to take credit card payments without the hasssle of direct credit card sales.

So if you want to stay stuck in the mud, more power to you. I'd rather pay 3-5% and make $100 than pay 0% and make NO dollars.

And I use a debit card on $7 purchases...don't have to get cash from the bank and I can track my purchases. And it's not any slower nowwdays than a cash trasaction, so you must just be pissed at the principle.

How's your collection of 8-track and reel-to-reel tapes doing? Bummer they don't still make LP's for you....or maybe it's 78's. I KNOW you don't have a CD player. The darned FBI would be tracking activities at your house from the electronics in the laser......like the quilting bee and buggy whip maker's meeting.

;-)

[This message was edited by Jim Sliff on 30 October 2005 at 07:46 PM.]

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

Donny H.
I simply can't get acceptable money orders.
I have to have a interstate bank check cut for between $25-50 just to send it out.
It ain't good for a week too.

So Paypal is the best choice.
And for me, I see it as
LESS RISK THAN LETTING MY CREDIT CARD OUT over the phone or by net.

Oh yeah I bought some stuff this month from
Elderly Instruments
from Thailand using my French credit card.

The bank blocked my card because it was a USA purchase,
and not in Thailand. so it put up a flag.
I got emailed, and maybe it is straightened out.

Same type and place of purchase I had made before,
but from France....

Since I squared away Paypal about my change of continent,
it seems to work smoothly now.
Still not sure about the French bank....

So lazy, yeah I am lazy, but then again I can't send money orders,
and MANY forum sellers DON'T take foreign money orders,
but DO take Paypal.

Stephen Gambrell · From: Over there

Nobody's mentioned this, and maybe I'm the only poor dude here. But, with PayPal, and my MasterCard, I can buy stuff that I don't have the cold hard cash to cover. Now, that may not matter to some of you, but if I want to buy an amp, or another guitar, ANY big ticket item, I need to spread the paymen out over a couple of months, and PayPal lets me do that.
Or do you guys finance stuff when you sell it to somebody you've never met?

Roger Kelly · From: Bristol,Tennessee

Has anyone ever tried to get a USPS Money Order cashed at a Post Office? They seem to be able to sell you a USPS Money Order for up to, I believe, $1000.00 but try getting it cashed at a Post Office. One would think that if they sell'um they ought to be able to cash'um. My Credit Union treats USPS Money Orders like every other check as far as clearing is concerned. I will say that Pay Pal can be costly along with Ebay fees.
I sold a $350.00 item last week and took Pay Pal. It cost me $32.00 total in fees....but I got my money instantly.
Seems like more sellers of larger priced items on Ebay are NOT taking Pay Pal anymore.

Ron Page · From: Penn Yan, NY USA

The idea that Ebay should not make any profit from PayPal is at odds with capitalism. I believe Ebay now owns PayPal, so they probably make even more than you think from it. When an automobile manufacturer sells or leases cars they also make money if you finance the purchase through their finance business; or through a private lender, for that matter. The list of similar such examples would be endless. The poiint is, Ebay and PayPal are offering separate products/services. The fact that they leverage one another is not evidence unfair trade.

Ebay and PayPal are providing services that there is a huge market for. Maybe we're all naive, but I suggest not.

------------------
HagFan

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

My, we are a sensitive bunch! The question was (if I'm not mistaken) "Why don't more people use Pay-Pal?" I simply chose not to. It's that simple. Sure, vendors love it. They get their money right away, and the extra cost is just added on to the next sale. Maybe I'm "old-fashioned", but I'm just not ready for PayPal yet. You got a problem with that? Tough noogies!

With the coming of the digital age, it seems we've forgotten that old motto, "The customer is always right". I'll concede that in certain circumstances (Such as the ones David and John elaborated), it may be a more practical alternative. Fine. If it suits them, and it works, they can use it.

However, vendors getting upset (and that's the "hidden agenda" behind this thread) because they can't make every single person in the world use what is more convenient for them is a little short sighted, and isn't looking at the big picture. Quite simply, if you want to maximize your sales, you have to cater to all customers. That's a basic of Business 101. Just because you like something (be it PayPal or a push/pull) doesn't mean I have to like it too. This country was founded on freedom of choice. Or maybe that concept gets lost in the digital age, too?

Pity.

[This message was edited by Donny Hinson on 31 October 2005 at 08:58 AM.]

Kenn Geiger · From: Salem, Oregon, USA

Just to be fair to paypal, the fee on $350 is $10.50, the rest of the fees went to eBay for their selling fees. I always choose Paypal as my first choice to buy things. If I want an item and the problem is the 2.9% paypal fee, I am willing [most of the time] to add that into my purchase price. I agree whole heartedly that paypal gives me buying power I would usually not have if I had to pay cash. I live on a limited income and have a family [with a teenager

]to care for as well. Maybe someday I'll be good enough to supplement my income by playing in a band, but if you heard me play you would agree I need to continue to budget my money for larger items for a while

Kenn

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

"With the coming of the digital age, it seems we've forgotten that old motto, "The customer is always right". "

No, that was dead decades ago, and for good reason - it's a fallacy. And Paypal is just basically used like a credit card. It's a convenience for both buyer and seller. If you don't see that, you're right - you are NOT ready, and I wouldn't particularly want your business.

I run into buyers on eBay who want to use a money order after the auction closes. I tell 'em no. They get mad at my lack of flexibility, but I simply point out that the "Paypal only" requirement was in the listing - if they didn't like it, they shouldn't have bid. Usually, they either chose to ignore it or didn't read it at all.

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