raveflyers.co.uk message board | FAQ
Posted by Weed (82.34.22.145) on 18:55:49 13/December/07
"PayPal is great until they screw you"
this is the opening sentence of the home page of screw-paypal.com
and how true that is!
(see link below for recommended alternatives)
i've been using PayPal for five years to buy small items and pay small bills (i don't have a merchant account) -- during this time i've heard of people having problems with PayPal, but not taken much notice... until now
a week ago i tried to make a small payment for an eBay auction win, and got a message that my account had been "limited" (in other words it's no longer usable for any money transactions) -- no reason was given -- to get it freed i was told to supply a new password and new security questions -- i logged in to https//:www.paypal.com and did that
went back the next day, and the account was still limited with a message that i now needed to supply them with photo id (either passport, driving license or national identity card) and had to fill in a detailed business form (even tho i don't have a business) -- so the form was impossible to complete without giving false info, not to mention bugs which didn't allow some of the given options
in the meantime i've put in 3 requests for clarification about what's happening -- it appears they ignore all comms from someone who has had their account limited -- it's the same with attempts to telephone them -- after 5 minutes struggling thru their voicemail system i was told that my call could not be taken because they didn't recognise my phone number -- this is the same phone number that PayPal have for me on their "my account" page, and is the only phone number i've had for the last 20 years
but this isn't why i'm no longer recommending PayPal -- i have low expectation of big corporates, and all this is par for the course -- what i did do was check out the web, going thru the forums for other people having the same problem with PayPal, and there were lots, and what was ominous was the next step in the process -- if you're a merchant with money in your account it seems that they automatically freeze your account for 6 months -- in other words for six months that money stays in Paypal's bank account earning them interest -- and you have no comeback
for most flyer dealers this would be very annoying, but for some traders with thousands of pounds tied up in eBay sales it's been disastrous leading to them being put out of business -- and of course while this is happening PayPal has earned a nice bit of extra profit
the main reason PayPal is the preferred payment method for most people is because of it's tie-up with eBay, and this is currently being challenged in the US courts by Google Checkout --- Google Checkuout appears to be superior to PayPal in almost every way, including ease of use and currently no fees for merchants (tho this is likely to change in 2008) -- it looks like eBay may soon be forced to open up to Google Checkout in the near future
in the meantime a recommended UK payment company for eBay payments is Moneybookers -- it is easy to register and is said to be simpler to use with a better performace than PayPal, and it is much cheaper for merchants -- it also has a good customer service response (at least in comparison with PayPal)