24 Sep
2000
24 Sep
'00
6:19 a.m.
I know that I will get a flame just for this inquiry, but here goes.
I found an article on eBay that I bid on and rather than sending
a Money Order, I thought I might try paypal? Can anyone
please comment? It seems reasonable from the outside as
compared to paying with a Money Order, but I thought that
asking first might help. Note that I am not comparing with
a process better than a Money Order since this vendor does
not accept a cheque, MC or VISA.
Sincerely yours,
Jerome Fine
24 Sep
24 Sep
7:16 a.m.
At 11:19 AM 9/24/00 -0400, you wrote:
I know that I will get a flame just for this inquiry,
but here goes.
I found an article on eBay that I bid on and rather than sending
a Money Order, I thought I might try paypal? Can anyone
please comment? It seems reasonable from the outside as
compared to paying with a Money Order, but I thought that
asking first might help. Note that I am not comparing with
a process better than a Money Order since this vendor does
not accept a cheque, MC or VISA.
I think PayPal is a great idea. The only problem I have with them is that
they require you to give up all the rights you have when using a credit
card. You must promise to never dispute a charge from PayPal. Of course,
they can't make you keep this promise but they will disable your PayPal
account if you dispute a charge.
For this reason I won't use them. Your mileage may vary.
Regards,
Bob
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Bob Withers Do or do not, there is no try.
bwit(a)pobox.com Yoda.
http://www.ruffboy.com
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7:43 a.m.
At 11:19 24-09-2000 -0400, Jerome Fine wrote:
I know that I will get a flame just for this inquiry,
but here goes.
I found an article on eBay that I bid on and rather than sending
a Money Order, I thought I might try paypal? Can anyone
please comment? It seems reasonable from the outside as
<snip>
I've used it. It works quite well, and I've not gotten ANY spam from them
at all.
I'd call them a good risk.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho, Blue Feather Technologies
http://www.bluefeathertech.com // E-mail: kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com
Amateur Radio: WD6EOS since Dec. '77 (Extra class as of June-2K)
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our
own human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."
8:50 a.m.
On Sun, 24 Sep 2000, Jerome Fine wrote:
I found an article on eBay that I bid on and rather
than sending
a Money Order, I thought I might try paypal? Can anyone
please comment? It seems reasonable from the outside as
compared to paying with a Money Order, but I thought that
asking first might help. Note that I am not comparing with
a process better than a Money Order since this vendor does
not accept a cheque, MC or VISA.
I'll post the reply to the list since PayPal can be useful for classic
computer acquisitions over the web.
I started using PayPal to accept credit card payments for VCF registration
and it has served me well. I collected about $600 with it. I also got
several "sign-on" bonuses: people who used PayPal for the first time as a
result of wanting to register for the VCF earned me a $5 bonus.
It's real simple to use. You can tie your account to a credit card so
payments you send get debited directly to that. You can also tie it to a
bank account, so that you can "sweep" your incoming funds into that
account.
For the regular user, it's totally free. The way PayPal makes money is by
sticking the money you leave in your PayPal account into a mutual fund
that they manage. They basically use your money to invest and make money
themselves.
For business operators like myself, they take a small percentage of each
transaction (was 1.6%, changes as of Oct-1) and when you "sweep" funds
into your bank account they take another percentage (was 0.6%, also
changes as of Oct-1).
The changes taking place as of Oct-1 increase the rates a bit, but it is
still very reasonable for me, and the referral bonuses more than make up
for the fees, so my usage of PayPal is still effectively free.
I like it.
Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking for a six in a pile of nines...
VCF 4.0 is September 30-October 1
San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California
See http://www.vintage.org for details!
10 a.m.
PayPal stinks.
Once you spend $500 through them, you can't use their service anymore unless
you provide them with complete information about your bank account!
I refuse to do this (they claim it's fraud prevention). I have had maybe
a dozen emails back and forth with them on this problem (it takes them from
2 to 4 days to respond to an email, incidentally), and they won't budge.
I can't wait until that PayPal (dis)service goes bankrupt. Justice.
And, not to mention the other downsides of using their service, already
mentioned here.
Bah!
-Mike
On Sun, 24 Sep 2000, Jerome Fine wrote:
I know that I will get a flame just for this inquiry,
but here goes.
I found an article on eBay that I bid on and rather than sending
a Money Order, I thought I might try paypal? Can anyone
please comment? It seems reasonable from the outside as
compared to paying with a Money Order, but I thought that
asking first might help. Note that I am not comparing with
a process better than a Money Order since this vendor does
not accept a cheque, MC or VISA.
Sincerely yours,
Jerome Fine
11:42 a.m.
Jerome Fine wrote:
I found an article on eBay that I bid on and rather than sending
a Money Order, I thought I might try paypal? Can anyone
please comment? It seems reasonable from the outside as
I have only used PayPal to receive money or to pay out money that was
already in the account (from someone else :) ). It has been trouble and
hassle free since I started using it. It remains free for non-business users
but the distinction between business and personal has raised the hackles of
more than a few people. The "Forever Free" slogans they started with is the
biggest point of contention since they are not converting business users to
the business account (which is not free, but does have lower costs.) Because
money transfers are basically the same as cash, it is best to know the
person to whom you are sending the money is reliable. At this point, they
are still US only although they are indicating international transfers are
in the works.
Bottom line, I like it although I remain do remain cautious.
1 p.m.
Hello Jerome
On 24-Sep-00, you wrote:
Regards
--
Gary Hildebrand
Box 6184
St. Joseph, MO 64506-0184
816-662-2612
or
ghldbrd(a)ccp.com
I know that I will get a flame just for this inquiry,
but here goes.
I found an article on eBay that I bid on and rather than sending
a Money Order, I thought I might try paypal? Can anyone
please comment? It seems reasonable from the outside as
compared to paying with a Money Order, but I thought that
asking first might help. Note that I am not comparing with
a process better than a Money Order since this vendor does
not accept a cheque, MC or VISA.
Sincerely yours,
Jerome Fine
Caveat Emptor . . . I've heard that you don't have recourse through PayPal
like you would through Visa or MasterCard if you get ripped off.
AFAIK, PayPal is like using cash for the seller, and plastic for you and me.
I'd be super cautious.
What you might be able to do is arrange to have the seller go through a
friend or business that takes plastic. I've done that once, paying the
discount as well. In that case, if you get ripped off, it is between the
seller and his 'friend/business'. They can fight over your chargeback
leaving you in the clear . . . .
11:04 a.m.
Caveat Emptor . . . I've heard that you don't
have recourse through PayPal
like you would through Visa or MasterCard if you get ripped off.
AFAIK, PayPal is like using cash for the seller, and plastic for you and me.
I'd be super cautious.
What you might be able to do is arrange to have the seller go through a
friend or business that takes plastic. I've done that once, paying the
discount as well. In that case, if you get ripped off, it is between the
seller and his 'friend/business'. They can fight over your chargeback
leaving you in the clear . . . .
Paypal are slime. They promised it would be "Forever free" to use, but if you
receive any money through them they start insisting you get a seller's account,
which of course has a fee. They also put a 300 lifetime limit on your account
until you give them a bank account number. I don't know what they do with these
numbers, but I'm not giving them out to anyone - them having my visa number is
bad enough.
In all honesty they haven't done anything to me personally - I've had several
transactions through them until I depleted my $300 limit, and it DOES work, but
yes, you have no recourse if you get e-screwed. They say this up front in the
agreement to use their service.
-Jim
--
Jim Strickland
jim(a)DIESPAMMERSCUMcalico.litterbox.com
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BeOS Powered!
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2:58 p.m.
Ok, I've used PayPal and I think it is pretty darn cool.
To Mike and others, yes giving them a Bank Account _is_ fraud prevention
because Banks won't give checking accounts to people that they can't reach.
So by requiring a bank account PayPal knows that they can get hold of you
if they have to.
Now there is no restriction that it be your main account, only one that has
your name on it. I walked down the street to a local bank that was giving
free checking for life when you signed up, deposited $50 to open the
account and got a free 2 liter Pepsi too! Now this is the account that
PayPal has and it keeps a balance of $50 max. Thus the maximum "damage"
anyone can do if they subvert PayPal and clean out the account is $50, same
as a credit card.
And speaking of credit cards, since people throw them at you, if one is
finanically able to have a card just for Internet use, then it is easy to
spot bogus charges on it right away. Also if you limit the credit limit
then that helps too.
Now this doesn't help folks like Paxton (who clearly has many financial
difficulties and thus can't avail himself of these techniques) it should
help folks who just want to be cautious with the information about them on
the web.
Using PayPal is _exactly_ like sending a Money Order. You send it, the
seller high tails out of town, and your stuck holding an empty bag. Now if
that seller is "verified" (which means PayPal had an account number from
them) they they will cover your loss. So in that respect you're better off
than the Post Office who has never been willing to refund my money on a
money order that had been cashed by the addressee.
--Chuck
6:54 p.m.
And, of course, PayPal is worthless except in the US (and here it is only
slightly better than worthless until you run up against their $$$ limit.)
-Mike
On Sun, 24 Sep 2000, Wayne M. Smith wrote:
Using PayPal
is _exactly_ like sending a Money Order.
It's even a bit better as the transit time is
effectively zero, and there's less risk that it will be
lost in the mail.
5:50 p.m.
Jerome Fine wrote:
I found an article on eBay that I bid on and rather
than sending
a Money Order, I thought I might try paypal? Can anyone
please comment?
Jerome Fine replies:
By the way, the article I am buying is over ten years old, so
I hope that payment for it is not so off topic.
Many thanks for the comments. As Tim Shoppa pointed out,
I am in Canada, so it may not work. But I did forget to
ask about the procedure????? From what I see, I give them
a some personal information like where I live, but since they
require a US address, that may stop the process. If I get
beyond that point, how does paypal receive my credit card
number if I choose to use one? And are there any other
questions of a practical nature that someone with actual
experience using paypal would tell me to ask?
One thing that I am reluctant to do is send the credit card
number via the internet, but I guess that it is essentially no
worse than doing so by phone to any other large company?
Any comments on this aspect?
Namely, I would like to understand the actual details of
what I might be getting into??
Sincerely yours,
Jerome Fine
25 Sep
25 Sep
12:10 a.m.
I found an article on eBay that I bid on and rather
than sending
a Money Order, I thought I might try paypal? Can anyone
Last I checked it was USA only, but I use it, prefer it to anything else.
Its immediate, done, reversible (if both parties want), and if you sell a
few items on ebay to get your paypal account rolling along, its like play
money. I buy stuff with my paypal money I am normally to cheap to buy with
real money or credit cards. I figure, no big deal, I just dig in the garage
and list a couple more items next week.
8742
days inactive
8743
days old
13 comments
11 participants
participants (11)
-
bwit＠pobox.com -
cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com -
foo＠siconic.com -
ghldbrd＠ccp.com -
jhfine＠idirect.com -
jim＠calico.litterbox.com -
kyrrin＠bluefeathertech.com -
mac＠Culver.Net -
marvin＠rain.org -
mikeford＠socal.rr.com -
wmsmith＠earthlink.net