Paypal reliable?

[Trevor Belmont]

Hey everyone,

Not sure if this is the best place to ask this question, so if it isn't, I'm sorry in advance.

I've been trying to track down a Turbo Duo system for what seems like forever. It seems that every place I've found, whether it's eBay or other websites, all take Paypal. Honestly, I'm a little skeptical about Paypal. I've heard some crazy stories and the fact that it has websites devoted to how it rips you off is a little scary. But I also know not to believe everything on the Internet, and that some of these cases might be made up, embellished, etc.

So to all you eBay connoisseurs out there that rely on Paypal, how have your experiences been? Ever had any trouble with them? If so, would anyone know where I can get a Duo system with just using a credit card?

Many, many thanks. Any help at all would truly be appreciated.

[gruzniak]

paypal, is the best, and safest. plain. and. simple.

[mjluther]

Agreed. As a seller, maintain proof of shipping (delivery confirmation is only .45), and you have nothing to worry about. If you're only buying, it's even less a concern.

Seriously, have you read some of the 'horror stories' at sites like paypalsucks.com?

"Someone payed me, but I don't have a bank account and now I can't get my money!" Don't open a PayPal account if you don't have a bank account; jeesh.

Some people have had genuine problems, but no electronic money transferring service is perfect. The only real problem I see is the credit card payment fee. But, that's only a problem for sellers.

[Solar77]

Well you can get screwed as a buyer.

Paypal doesnt protect the buyer with regard to "quality of goods." This means that a seller can ship you a big box of nothing with delivery confirmation and be completely protected under paypal's rules.

Also, if a seller cleans out his paypal account before you can file a chargeback, paypal will not refund your money. They will only refund money if they can grab it from the seller and will not risk losing any money of their own.

As a seller, if someone pays with a stolen credit card, you're screwed.

[SoulBlazer]

It should be noted those are the exception and not the rule, though.

Seriously, just use common sence and you'll be just fine 99.9 percent of time.

[anagrama]

Also, if a seller cleans out his paypal account before you can file a chargeback, paypal will not refund your money. They will only refund money if they can grab it from the seller and will not risk losing any money of their own.

Not true. A buyer filed a fraudulent $80 chargeback against me when there was nothing in my Paypal account, and Paypal took the money and left me with a negative balance, freezing my account until it was paid.

That said, that was the only problem I've had in about 4 years of constantly using Paypal, and around 600 eBay transactions.

[jonjandran]

I've sold on Ebay for 4 years now and I've always used Pay-pal to buy and sell.

Probably around $60,000-$70,000 in buying and selling.

I've lost money 3 times from buying and only lost money 1 time from selling.

Pay-pal is the safest and most reliable way to buy and sell on the Internet. Just follow the rules and everything will be fine 99.9% of the time.

[Aboliax]

It should be noted those are the exception and not the rule, though.

Seriously, just use common sence and you'll be just fine 99.9 percent of time.

I'm one of those .1%. I bid on an auction of a 99.9% Pos feedback 600+ feedback seller. The item was ~225$, well I emailed him several times and he responded and it sounded reasonable. About three weeks in I got worried and went to paypal. His account was cleaned out and they wouldn't do anything. It happens, my recommendation is to just keep the $ down and be careful and you should be fine.

[Trevor Belmont]

Thanks for your input, everyone.

Sounds like Paypal is indeed reliable, but does have problems every once in a small while. Obviously that's going to happen.

And yes, the "stories" over at places like paypalsucks.com do seem a little melodramatic at times, which is why I was a little skeptical of their claims.

Thanks again everyone.

[gepeto]

My Perspective is from a buyers point of view and completely unbiased I been ripped off 4x on ebay 3 of which I paid with paypal. Paypal has never reimbursed me for my loss. They make it a very difficult to process to begin to get your money back. They lose 50 percent of the people trying to recover their money
through mindless procedures in hopes you get frustrated and drop the complaint. When you call and finally get try to talk to someone they act like they care but then tell you their hands are tied and cant give you info on what actions are being taken. I have had good transactions with paypa. But I say don't use a card tied to your checking account and expect
not to be reimbursed by paypal lf you don't recieved and item. The way I see it I believe ebay bought paypal so if paypal stops the process ebay wont get their fees. The government really needs to step in and force them to do better. I read from an article from a former paypal employee that stated basically who cares if the person never comes back there are plenty more ready to take their p

lhttp://paypalsucks.com/ace. Don/t believe me go to paypal sucks.com read the horror stories yourself

[jonjandran]

lhttp://paypalsucks.com/ace. Don/t believe me go to paypal sucks.com read the horror stories yourself

[gepeto]

http://www.paypalsucks.com/


My Bad, trying to multitask

[Griking]

paypal, is the best, and safest. plain. and. simple.

...If you're a buyer that is. Prepare to bend over though if you're a seller because 99.9% of the time Paypal will automatically take the buyers side in a dispute. Sellers aren't innocent until proven guilty, they're guilty until proven innocent.

[Flack]

If you're a buyer, then what's the difference? If you send a money order or cash and the seller sent you a big box of nothing, what recourse would you have?

[Promophile]

Prepare to bend over though if you're a seller because 99.9% of the time Paypal will automatically take the buyers side in a dispute. Sellers aren't innocent until proven guilty, they're guilty until proven innocent.

what he said. If you get a bad buyer things WILL go to hell. Say you sell something to a buyer, and they decide they want their money back. Paypal will ALWAYS say thats alright, just send back the item. They could send you a big box of NOTHING, and if they get a delivery confirmation slip there is NOTHING you can do, paypal will give them back your money.

[drummy]

I used to do everything by money order and stuff, but I always felt that it was slow. Once I got a checking account/bank account/credit card, I started using PayPal. And so far, I haven't had any major problem yet. And it's REALLY fast too.

[NESaholic]

A friend of mine bought a broken Neo Geo a while ago on Ebay (ofcourse the auction said it worked perfectly,but he's technical and knows the motherboard was dead when it didn't work) and paid $500 for it, the seller lives in Australia and he lives in Holland.
He paid with paypal and the credit card company got all the money back for him,paypal return $400 if you respond in 30 days after buying,if those pass you can ask credit card company to help out and usually that works out fine.

[jajaja]

I have used Paypal for a couple of months now and I only had 1 "problem".
When you register at Paypal they charge $1.95 from your bank account.
But these amount are given back to your Paypal balance.

Paypal had some problems a while ago and when they had fixed it my balance was $0.00. I e-mailed them and asked why and got reply.
Either they didnt understand what I was asking about or.. i dont know. I didnt wanted to waste more energy on it, but I never got the $1.95 back.
You might think that this is nothing to worry about and I agree, but its the principle. What if they take 2 dollars from every Paypal user? Then they will have 100 million dollars (about 50 million Paypal accounts according to their website).

But other than this little "problem" its all good!
I would strongly recommend Paypal, its both free, secure and very easy to use.

[jonjandran]

That's weird.

When I signed up they put $.22 and $.16 IN my bank account.

And they never took it back out.

[anagrama]

http://www.paypalsucks.com/

So where's www.paypalisOK.com? Y'know, the one where anyone who hasn't had problems can post and share their story?

Of course there isn't one because it would be thousands of times bigger.

Yes, PayPal isn't perfect, but it's the best there is for the vast majority of online purchases.