To 'PayPal' or not to 'PayPal'....

[AggroJones]

How many of you Ebay sellers use PayPay? Of course on Ebay's site they'll boast it up so you can use it, cause its their service. I've read all kinds of horror stories and negative info about PP on the internet. Money getting stolen, ID theft, etc.
Have any of you had somthing go terribly wrong as a result of having a PayPal account?
Everytime I consider getting an account with them, I think about all the trouble some people have with it. How common is this sorta thing?

Can I get a digital show of hands, how many of you sellers use PayPal?

[Darth Santa Fe]

I don't think we've had any serious trouble with them like money getting stolen or anything like that. We prefer it over money orders.

[SP4449]

If you don't play by their rules, which change without notice each day, they'll nail you.

[Train 284]

I use it and have had no problems with it.

[AntonioFP45]

I'm opening up a Pay Pal account next month.

I've spoken to a friend about it. He and his wife have been Ebayers for 2 years. All they use is Pay Pal, and have had no problems.

Currently I buy my ebay winnings by mailing a cashier's check. Problem is that it takes days for the check to arrive (man, the post office is slower than ever!), so I wind up waiting an average of 2 to 3 weeks before getting my item.

My friend showed me that with Pay Pal, payment is instant and the seller ships the item to you almost immedietely.

[NZRMac]

I have only used it to buy a loco, I tried to send some money to Kevin Newsom but it would cost him to get it?

The loco arrived no problem, funds come straight out of the old credit card.

Ken.

[CraigN]

I do not use Paypal because they charge you to use it.

If I sell something of mine, I want all the money. Why should I give paypal a cut?

When I win on Ebay , I like to use post office money orders. If I buy from an online dealer, I will use my Visa.

[Anonymous]

I've used paypal maybe 7 or 8 times now and had no problems. I do have a friend however that got caught by the fishing thing. He got an e-mail that looked like it was from paypal asking to verify his credit card #. He did and it was someone who was getting his card #. Luckily he saw it while doing online banking and got it stopped before it cost him. Even after this i still trust it just follow smart procedures and don't replay to any e-mails asking for you to verify anything.

[Anonymous]

I started selling books on eBay back in 1999 and I was using PayPal back before they charged sellers. When they added the sellers fees I took it as a cost of doing bussines. I had to pay a percentage of my credit card sales to the bank when I was a tool destributer in the mid ninties. As a seller I loved getting the money right away nad not having to worry if a check I deposited was going to bounce. As a buyer I love getting the product shipped to me faster.

Never respond to a spoof email. If yo get an email that worries you log on to the site as you normaly would and check your infomation. I wes sweating bricks the first time I got an email saying a new email adress had been added to my acount. After a few dozen, (none of them true), I don't get as upset.

[jxtrrx]

I've used PayPal. Never a problem.
-Jack

[Anonymous]

I had paypal for a while. Never used it so I removed my account. Why? It costs money. And it is to me, another security headache. I dont trust it period.

I dont like having to pay another third party fees on items sold on ebay. Ebay already gets enough of my gross. (10-15% in some cases)

[grandeman]

I use Paypal and haven't had any problems with it. It's fast and convienient.

[leonardbrand]

I have used PayPal lots of times, had no problem, as buyer and doing work for people that insisted on paying with paypal, had no problem.

I do not respond to anything ,nor to anyone asking for info, unless Im the one who initated the call or email.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Aggro, I won't buy from people who don't accept Paypal, and I figure I'm not alone. I haven't tried my hand at selling yet, but that day may come soon. The great part about taking Paypal is that you should get paid fast. No waiting for snail mail, or check clearing. When you see the money in your account, you ship, the end.

I can understand why some people don't like it, because fees are taken automaticly, but from a security point of view, if there were real problems people just wouldn't do it at all. Just read the terms carefully, and make sure you understand them. Also make you understand the fees associated with Paypal and Ebay in general.

A lot of sellers tend to use their shipping fees to offset the acution and Paypal expense. If I'm not mistaken they don't take a cut of the shipping.

I recently saw an auction where the item being sold was about $1000 list. They had a buy it now price of $1 with shipping of $999 (or something like that). Some people will bend the rules pretty far, if they can get away with it.

[trainchris]

I used e-bay to sell my truck,sold fast and for the money i wanted.BUT PAY PAL RIPPED ME OFF SOMETHING BAD!! The buyer paid $1000.00 with a credit card into my pay pal account and the rest in cash when picked up truck. One week after the sale pay pal removed the $1000.00 out of my account and gave me no reason for it. I have been trying to get back my money from them for the last three years now. Still do not know the reason the $$ was taken out. DO NOT USE PAY PAL THEY'RE NO GOOD!!!![}:)][V][:(!] I now list all my things as money order only! I know this is rare but I have heard alot of bad things about them. I just do not trust them with my money now.

[Anonymous]

I've been using Ebay & paypal since 1998. over 280 transactions and no problems. The slowest thing was getting the money transfered from paypal to my checking account about 3-4 days, so now I got a Paypal debit card. I can take my money out instantly or use it to by items anywere just like a credit card. Maybe I've just been lucky but I've had no problems in 7 years. Dave

[bikerraypa]

I've used PayPal since way back in the day, for both buying and selling. The seller fees are negligible, and for buyers, it's free. I've been on either the sending or receiving end of many thousands of dollars over the years, and have never had even the slightest problem. The only thing you have to watch out for is the occasional spoof email, but that's just crooks, and you have them everywhere.

PayPal is definitely the way to buy and sell online.


Ray out

[trainchris]

QUOTE: Originally posted by davsachz

I've been using Ebay & paypal since 1998. over 280 transactions and no problems. The slowest thing was getting the money transfered from paypal to my checking account about 3-4 days, so now I got a Paypal debit card. I can take my money out instantly or use it to by items anywere just like a credit card. Maybe I've just been lucky but I've had no problems in 7 years. Dave

I also had the pay pal credit card, My account with them was $1000.00 I would do the same thing and transfer the money. My account with them was then at a 0 $, thay still took the money back and put my account at a very big neg. $1000.00 [B)] . I used to use them alot and did not have any trouble but after the last transaction that was to much for me. If thay would just work with me to track down the buyer I would feel better. Maybe it was a stolen credit card or something but Pay Pal will not even help me with that so thats where the anger comes from right now.

[AggroJones]

I just sold my first two auctions (for much higher than I thought) and I didn't except PayPal.

4 "no", and 11 "yes" so far.

[trainchris]

Big_Boy_4005 Im not sure what happened I lost your last post but thats ok. My luck always seems to be hard luck, I have never nor will I ever take offense to anyones comments in this forum. Everyone is entitled to there own opinions and that will never be taken personal with me or the wrong way. If you great people of MRR are willing to listen to me vent, babble, and so on them Im more than willing to listen to all of you. I could never ask for a better Group of people to hang out and chat with then model railroaders!! I also do not like to talk bad about people or companies behind there backs and you are 100% right, There is always two sides to the storie. No hard feelings here!![^][:D][:D][:P]

[davekelly]

I've had a paypal account for about 2 years now with a couple hundred transactions. Love it, never had a problem with it. Cheaper for me as a buyer than paying for a money order or cashier's check. Of course I get about 5 phishing emails a month with subject lines such as "Pay pal account suspended" etc. Just delete those emails as they are folks trying to get info for fraudulent purposes. (It is funny though to see how bad the grammer is on those emails).

I do see some folks here saying that their ID has been stolen a couple times each etc etc, but without any details it is hard to determine if those incidents were the fault of paypal or the user.

As to fees - as they only charge fees to the seller, I don't have a problem of using it. If the seller is OK with paying fees, then I am also. If a store will accept credit cards there's a fee there too. As I am looking at selling some stuff in the near future, I do think I will use paypal. Yeah I have to pay a fee, but I think it would be a lot easier than accepting a check or money order, getting to the bank to deposit it and running the risk of having it bounce (yeah money orders can bounce too if the purchaser of it cancels it before you cash it). I certainly do not want to get a merchant account from a bank to accept credit cards, seems like too much of a hassle for casual selling.

Of course in today's world nothing is safe. What was that latest thing? 40 millions credit card numbers, security codes etc stolen from that one financial entity? To me that is much scarier than pay pal.

[Anonymous]

As a seller, I do prefer PayPal above anything else. Auction ends, get quick payment by PayPal, ship out item next day. Auction done. No waiting for 2-3-4-5-6 weeks for money order to arrive. Their speed makes their fees worthwhile.

Bob Boudreau

[Berk-fan284]

As a buyer I prefer PAYPAL but I will get a BANK MONEY ORDER if I want the item bad enough. If you are uncomfortable or uneasy with PAYPAL then don't use it that's what I tell friends. My experience with postal money orders are so-so: I had one I sent (US funds) that the seller's bank were going to charge him a $20.00 fee to process it due to the fact the teller had never seen a Canada Post money order and was leery of it due to mail fraud being fairly common with money orders. I got it all sorted out but it took forever to get a refund from the post office (they only refund in cash and they like to keep very little on hand).

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by AggroJones

I just sold my first two auctions (for much higher than I thought)

Good for you! I looked at your auctions when you posted them. You had nice stuff and a good opening price. If you ever sell any N scale items let us know. I would love to have a piece of your work to show off.

Keep up the good work.

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by trainchris

Big_Boy_4005 Im not sure what happened I lost your last post but thats ok. My luck always seems to be hard luck, I have never nor will I ever take offense to anyones comments in this forum. Everyone is entitled to there own opinions and that will never be taken personal with me or the wrong way. If you great people of MRR are willing to listen to me vent, babble, and so on them Im more than willing to listen to all of you. I could never ask for a better Group of people to hang out and chat with then model railroaders!! I also do not like to talk bad about people or companies behind there backs and you are 100% right, There is always two sides to the storie. No hard feelings here!![^][:D][:D][:P]

Sorry Chris, I actually deleted that post after having second thoughts a few minutes after "pulling the trigger". I had sort of hoped that nobody saw it, since it wasn't up long. I did put a fair amount of thought into it, and it took a while to write, so I saved a copy before pulling it. If you really want to see it again, I can bring it back. I feel better now, knowing that you weren't offended.

As for bogus emails and phishing, don't delete them, REPORT THEM!!!! Ebay takes that stuff very seriously, as it is an attack on their customers and their livelihood, and probably wants to stop it more than you do.

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Darth Santa Fe


Favorite Quote:

Singing: "Tell me why I need another pet rock? Tell me why I got that Alf alarm clock? Tell me why I bid on Shatner's old toupee? Had it on eBay."

From the song "eBay" by Weird Al Yankovic

I actually bought a pet rock for my daughter on Ebay for $20. Maybe some of the best money I ever spent. She was 9 at the time, and never heard of a pet rock, so I bought it for her. I told her it was the only pet I would allow her to have in the house. I had no idea there was so much play value in a rock.

In the past, there have been a few topics about how to keep cats off train layouts. Personally, I don't mind if Marissa (that's the rock's name) comes downstairs and sits on the layout. Eventually she will just blend in with the scenery, or I could even give her rides in a gondola.

My only problem with Marissa has been when she invites her "wild rock" friends in from the yard. Ever stepped on a rock in the dark?

[AntonioFP45]

BTW:

What is involved in signing up for "Pay Pal"? I'l be doing it soon but would like to know more. From what I've heard you can use your bank account (checking? savings?) and that is how the money is transacted immedietly to pay for an ebay item.

Someone please elaborate.

[randyaj]

I use PayPal quite often with no troubles. As a seller they take a small cut of the purchase price, as a buyer there is no charge. It is quick easy and makes money transactions so much less complicated. One not of caution though, Be Careful there are lots of people who will send you an email with titles like "update your account" or "you have added a new email" or many others. DO NOT, I repeat, do not log into your account through any of these emails. Neither ebay or paypal will send you an attachment, so go to their site directly and log into your account to check things out. Most people that have gotten burned through either ebay or paypal have been swindled through a bogus email. Good luck to you on your auctions
Randy Johnson

[tcf511]

I use Paypal regularly as both a buyer and a seller. I've bought items as high as $2500 with no problems ever. I prefer to have people pay me through Paypal because I've received a check that bounced and a phony money order that someone thought I wouldn't notice. The small fee as a seller is worth not having the hassle. I prefer to buy through Paypal because I keep a balance with them from things that I sell.

[simon1966]

Pay Pal is so easy to use and in 4 years of using it, I have never had any cause for concern or complaint. I actually avoid bidding on eBay items that don't accept Pay Pal. I never buy from a seller that only sells with MO's. Why should I have to go to the post office and pay extra to purchase an item. Western Union offers a MO service, but this costs even more to use. I think that sellers that don't accept Pay Pal limit the selling opportunity of their items.