Entered CNET Catalog: 04/04/2002
SKU: CNETPAYPAL
Manufacturer: PayPal, Inc.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 04/09/2002
Smart interface
To get started with PayPal, you'll have to hand over the usual registration info--your name, mailing and e-mail addresses--plus a bank savings or checking account number or your credit card information from MasterCard, Visa, Discover, or American Express. PayPal's safeguards have improved over the years. Money in your PayPal account is FDIC insured, so you can dispute credit card charges, which merchants refer to as charge-backs, when you don't receive purchased goods. PayPal also provides a buyer-complaint form for disputes with sellers. As long as you notify the company of any unauthorized use or access to your account, PayPal will investigate unauthorized withdrawals of more than $50 from your linked checking or savings account. Google Checkout allows you to get refunds for fraudulent charges as well.
If you set up your PayPal account so that funds move in and out of a bank account, you'll have to wait as long as a week for PayPal to verify your account, which it does by making a pair of small deposits. If you need to use the service ASAP, you'll have to arrange for it to withdraw money from a credit card account instead.
PayPal's interface is the model of clarity. Your account balance and recent transactions are on the first page of the site, and tabs along the top take you straight to the service's Send Money, Request Money, Merchant Tools, and Auction Tools sections. To send money, PayPal walks you through the entire process with wizardlike guides.
We find PayPal's array of account types to be confusing. If you sign up with the free Personal account, for instance, you can receive payments drafted from only a sender's checking or savings account, not a credit card. In order to receive credit-card-funded payments, you'll have to upgrade to a Premier or Business account. There's no monthly charge for either, but each payment you receive, no matter how it's funded, costs 30 cents per transaction, plus between 1.9 and 2.9 percent with either a Business or a Premier account. And although PayPal allows users in different countries to transfer money to each other, it slaps an additional fee on payments received from senders across any national border. But you're never charged to send money. Confusing, eh?
Debit card convenience
When you receive a payment, PayPal drops it into your PayPal account. To actually get your hands on the funds, you have to request a withdrawal, then wait for the electronic fund transfer to clear so that you can use the money that's in your checking account. In our tests, withdrawn funds were in our checking account three business days later. The other option is to sign up for a Premier or Business account to obtain a PayPal-branded debit card. Once armed with the debit card, you can instantly withdraw received money from any Cirrus/Maestro ATM.
PayPal also sports more extras than Google Checkout. You can store your PayPal funds in an interest-earning money market fund. And if you're willing to part with the 2-percent-per-payment fee, you can mass-produce payments, useful for sending a raft of small cash gifts to nephews and nieces, for example, by using a tab-delimited file, such as one exported from a database or a spreadsheet.
24/7 help available...to some
Have a query about your account balance? PayPal's well-stocked Help Center offers well-written FAQs for common problems. Phone support via a toll number is available weekdays between 4 a.m. and 10 p.m., and weekends from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. PT.If you need more help, though, you'd better get a Premier or Business account; both provide a 24/7 toll-free phone support desk.
PayPal's quirks, especially the $2,000 limit and the confusing number of account types, keep us from giving the service a ringing endorsement, but it's a winner compared to PayDirect. For now, if you're sending money through e-mail, PayPal is your best bet and the best deal.
PayPal has its quirks, but if you're sending money through e-mail or want to sell things online to people around the world, this service is your best bet and the best deal.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
User Rating: 
1/10
PayPal is NOT Safe!
Pros: Nothing good to say comes to my mind. Not only does PayPal refuse to reverse a fraudulent charge, but the people there are not even nice, putting me on hold for hours then disconnecting. In my opinion, PayPal as a company is ugly through and through.
Cons: Where shall I start? I just got burned by a fraudulent site that used PayPal to rip me off. They charged my MasterCard through PayPal, then would not let me log-in to use the service. PayPal refused to reverse the charge to my MasterCard account.
User Rating: 1/10
Poor handling of disputed case
Pros: Such a serious cons easily outweighs whatever pros it may claim
Cons: - Does not handling customer-selling dispute professionally
- Apart than the extremely slow wait for the case to proceed, there's no other way to contact paypal directly.
- After a case is closed, review section disappeared from buyer's paypal page.
Updated on Jul 16, 2009More info: The seller sent to wrong address and paypal accepted their "forwarded email confirmation" for which I'd never received the "original email confirmation". My shipping address is clearly stated in the transaction. So I am completely put off by their handling of the matter (anyone can click forward and doctored the content before sending an email). No more paypal for me, and like otherwise, I recommend others not to use it as long as they have other payment options.
User Rating: 1/10
The Worse and Most Unsecure service on the internet.
Pros: There's nothing to like about this service. Look at the USER REVIEWS here people. The reason that's it's this low is because a lot are losing their money using PAYPAL.
Cons: The service is not secure, and I can prove this, just by telling everyone that there are many people out there getting their PAYPAL accounts hacked everyday. What sort of security is that? I guarantee that you will lose you money, like many others.
1) if you account is hacked, PAYPAL will only refund you the money if you notice it very fast. If you don't guess what, they are not giving you the money back.
2) Most people put their bank account number on PAYPAL, so now you have to worry about who has your bank account number and take care of that side of it.
3) Lets say that you are lucky and your account did not get hacked, but someone that hacked an account purchase some from you (you being the seller here, with your own PAYPAL account). Now let's say that the person with the hacked account notice their account being hacked, and PAYPAL refunds them their money.
Well guess what folks, PAYPAL does this by putting a hold on the payment your are suppose to be receiving, so now your don't get paid for an item that you already sold and shipped. In most cases, the hacker has already got the item, the buyer got his refund from PAYPAL for noticing that his account has been hacked early, the seller (you) got screwed because the refund that PAYPAL gave back to the buyer is the payment it stopped for you.
PAYPAL is just a service that everyone should stay away from, the people that gave PAYPAL a good review here are prob the hackers. This should be a warning to everyone, but then again some people like to learn the hard way, so if you are one of them.......good luck.
User Rating: 1/10
WARNING PAYPAL AND EBAY USERS
Pros: PAYPAL WILL ROB YOU, RUN!
Cons: WARNING PAYPAL AND EBAY USERS
PAYPAL WILL ROB YOU, RUN!
PAYPAL, AN EBAY COMPANY, ARE NOW STARTING TO HOLD FUNDS OF THEIR SELLERS WITHOUT CAUSE AND WITHOUT WARNING.
PAYPAL, AN EBAY COMPANY, ARE NOW STARTING TO HOLD FUNDS OF THEIR SELLERS
WITHOUT CAUSE AND WITHOUT WARNING.
THEY WERE FINED BY NEW YORK STATE AND LOST MILLIONS IN A LAWSUIT FOR THIS
YET THEY JUST STARTED DOING IT AGAIN.
BECAUSE OF THE ECONOMY THEY MAY BE IN TROUBLE AND THERE IS NO PROTECTION AS THEY ARE NOT A BANK.
PAYPAL ACCOUNT HOLDERS:
DO NOT SEND OUT ANY MERCHANDISE UNTIL YOU CAN VERIFY THE PAYMENT IS IN YOUR BANK!
DO NOT TRUST PAYPAL, DON'T BE A VICTIM!
DO NOT USE PAYPAL AS A PAYMENT METHOD!
DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY BANKNING INFORMATION!
KEEP UPDATED ON PAYPAL BY GOING TO:
www.Paypalwarning.com
www.PaypalSucks.com
www.Screw-Paypal.com
www.EbaySucks.com
www.Aboutpaypal.org
www.Paypalpetition.com
www.EbayPigs.com
www.ygoodman.com/paypal.asp
www.suspendedfromebay.com
www.NoPaypal.com
***PLEASE SEND THIS TO SOMEONE YOU KNOW WHO USES EBAY AND/OR PAYPAL
SO THEY CAN PROTECT THEMSELVES.
User Rating: 1/10
Out for profit only...no loyalty
Pros: absolutely nothing
Cons: would rather let ebay sellers sell fraudulent items than to return customers their money.
User Rating: 1/10
Just AWFUL
Pros: they can automate subscriptions for you
Cons: Too many to list.
Waaay. Too many.
The paypal website is absolutely HORRIBLE to navigate. To even use the word navigate is an overstatement. You have to click around for hours just to find a feature you want. There is NO central hub to access all the elements of your account. For example, to access the button creator, you have to "navigate" to the section that advertises it, then click "start using buttons now", and then CREATE A NEW BUTTON!!! Then there's a teeny tiny little link in the middle of that page that says, "go to my saved buttons" and you can access the ones you've already made. It literally takes me over a minute every time to get to my subscription buttons. Its ludicrous. This website is an absolute joke, and I'm shocked that its an industry standard. Its in desperate need of an overhaul. Is there anything out there that can do what paypal does for little or cheap? I really need to find another solution. My productivity level goes from 100 to about 8 every time I have to work on my paypal subscriptions. JUST HORRIBLE. Stay as far away as you can.
User Rating: 
2/10
Accepted by most vendors
Pros: Accepted by most vendors
Cons: Gives you a false sense of security.
No more secure than a credit card.
User Rating: 1/10
Unbelievably horrible
Pros: It may be safer for credit cards and such...
Cons: Horrible dispute help. Don't reply to emails/questions. Horrible answers when I do get a reply. (They beat around the bush with my question not answering at all what I asked)
User Rating: 1/10
Paypal's Website Design - Inefficient and Confusing
Pros: The PayPal website is difficult to navigate and in major need of an update.
Cons: The PayPal website is difficult to navigate and in major need of an update.
User Rating: 2/10
Horrible for high volume sellers & buyers!!!
Pros: ?? They are good till they screw you but then it?s too late!!
Cons: Can take up to 3 weeks for a electronic transaction to be completed !!!
User Rating: 1/10
I really hope no more innocent customers will trust it.
Pros: No real pros, only if appearance count.
Cons: You basically give up everything to them when you check the agreement box with PayPal.
They can overdraw your account.
They can default your account forever.
They can freeze your account and money in it.
They can decide not to let you close your account, and will ensure you do not open a new one.
...
...
It is hard to reach a human for custom service, even if you speak to a human, you pay for the phone call and the person answer all questions in standardized way.
User Rating: 1/10
Beware Credit Card Protection Using PayPal
Pros: Easy to use once registered
Cons: If you want the benefit of credit card protection for double warranty period make sure you have no money in your paypal account. They will use that money first so your credit card will not be charged the full amount, voiding consumer protections..
User Rating: 1/10
PayPal is bad news
Pros: easy to use
Cons: customer service lies to you
User Rating: 2/10
PayPal is not safe and their customer service is awful
Pros: I used PayPal from time to time for years without any problems...then my account got hacked and I found out that they suck.
Cons: 1. NOT secure.
2. CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS. Regularly takes up to 30 min to talk to an agent.
3. Their records suck. They only found 1 of 2 charges made to my account (identical source, same date). The fact that they only found one is a disconcerting.
User Rating: 1/10
PAYPAL HOLDS PAYMENTS. SITE MISLEADING. I'M DONE W/IT!
Pros: Everyone takes it. That is, everyone expect me now.
Cons: Onerous "Payment Holds" means you can't get your money for an indeterminable time, up to 21 days!
Website is misleading
PayPal?s website says "money will be released sooner when we confirm item is delivered." Item was delivered 12 hours ago, but no release. So I called customer service, they said "no, we won't release funds until 4 days ***after*** item shows as delivered!" What?????????????
Totally misleading site. PayPal is essentially stealing my money by not letting me have access to it for ?up to 21 days,? misleading people on when money will be made available, and making it completely impractical to use.
When I can't count on payments being received in a timely and predictable fashion it means I cannot use the service reliably for business.
With the fees they are charging they should be providing much better and clearer service.
As it is, I am done w/Paypal and will not allow my buyers to use this option. Shame on PayPal. Hope they go out of business immediately.
User Rating: 1/10
Makes big claims but doesn't follow through.
Pros: Ease of use at Sellers.
Cons: Horrible customer service.
User Rating: 1/10
User UN friendly
Pros: Um, well, it lets you use your bank account to pay for stuff. Great if you dont have a credit or debit card...
Cons: ... That is, until it demands that you add one, even though you dont have one, and you have more then enough money on your paypal to make your purchase 5 times over.
Then you submit a contact us about it and they get back to you 3 days later.
User Rating: 2/10
Paypal does not respect its members and doesn't care.
Pros: Ease of use but you can get that from any and every payment system.
Cons: They hold your money hostage with the words "pending authorization" even after order cancellation & tell you they have 30 days before they have to act. Without notice, they charge back your account if a buyer says he didn't receive the goods. Etc.
User Rating: 1/10
Most untrustworthy - they still act like scammers
Pros: Lots of people accept them.
Cons: They REQUIRE information they have no right to.
Avoid them like the plague.
If even a company deserved a class action lawsuit, for stealing people's money, then this is it.
User Rating: 1/10
fraud protection? what fraud protection?
Pros: ease of payment.
Cons: apparently only provides fraud protection for the defrauders themselves!
she opened a claim against me on paypal, which paypal has told me i MUST pay back, no option. i provided her proof of their sending (i scanned the receipt for her) and she has ignored every e-mail i have sent her in the time since she has opened the claim. i have tried every means to contact her but she has dropped off the face of the earth.
i call paypal to report this fraud and they tell me that i'm SOL.
thanks, paypal. i'm sure that my father's chemotherapy will pay for itself, since you're robbing us blind.
User Rating: 2/10
SELLER BEWARE
Pros: NONE! SELLER BEWARE
Cons: Seller gets charged a fee and gets no protection. All the protection goes to the buyer.
I will NEVER use paypal again!
User Rating: 1/10
PAYPAL - ITS NOT YOUR PAL.
Pros: Easy of payment, which can get you into trouble easily.
Cons: When you escalate a payment issue, they dont even care about issue, all they have is computer generated response that you will not get the refund. Why even have the escalation mechanism in that case.
BE CAREFULL NEXT TIME WHEN YOU PAY WITH PAYPAL.
PAYPAL - ITS NOT YOUR PAL.
User Rating: 2/10
PayPal is irresponsible with disputes. Merchants Beware
Pros: Very easy to make and receive payment.
Cons: Almost impossible to file a counterclaim to a point of being almost fraudulent. Merchants beware.
And if it is a charge back, you can do whatever you can but the money and the item you sent is as good as gone.
According to a local eBay seller I met at the Post Office, PayPal will only respond if you file a lawsuit against them for a large ticket transaction.
User Rating: 2/10
badest customr support ever
Pros: good service for small amount - yes, you could also use your credit card.
Cons: They do not read what you write.
User Rating: 
3/10
Buyer protection riddled with small print
Pros: convenient for buyers
Cons: costl;y transactions, poor buyer protection
User Rating: 
9/10
Wouldnt do online transactions without them
Pros: Safe, fast, reliable. Prevents "Buyer Beware" by holding both parties to some degree of responsibility
Cons: I dont sell through Ebay yet, but apparently the cost is a little high
User Rating: 1/10
Paypal switches your payment source...
Pros: Paypal is easy to use...
Cons: Paypal switches your payment source.
I tried to contact paypal about this problem, but you can't get a real, live person to talk to and none of the options they offer in email or on the phone pertain to this problem and they just keep hanging up on me.
User Rating: 1/10
Terrible Service for Purchasers
Pros: None Demonstrated
Cons: Very Cumbersome
User Rating: 
10/10
Outstanding, easy to use interface
Pros: Safe, secure, problem free
Cons: All users need to read and understand the User Agreement
User Rating: 3/10
PayPal gives NO protection to Buyers
Pros: Very easy to use for eBay purchases
Cons: No matter what they advertise, they will NOT stand up for a Buyer. They are in business to make money, not give it back
I had a recent dispute that exemplifies the way Buyers are ALWAYS treated.
When problems arose after a purchase & the Seller would not work with me & became belligerent, I filed a grievance with PayPal. The page limited me to a certain number of words in the grievance- which was an inadequate amount of space to give the facts needed. I then became a by-stander with no way to communicate on the subject, but I could see what the Seller was saying- but not rebut it.
After a month, I received 2 emails from PayPal thanking me for my recent input of information (which I had not been asked for & did NOT send) and the case was closed IN MY FAVOR. However, I was required to pay to send the item back with special handling that raised the shipping cost on a heavy object that originally cost about the same amount as the shipping cost.
Even if I took off from work, stood in line at the Post Office and paid to return the item PAYPAL SAID THEY COULD NOT GUARANTEE THAT I WOULD ACTUALLY GET ANY MONEY BACK.
Of what use is that? I would get to pay twice for shipping this woman's garbage instead of once & I would still not have the item I was hoping for!
PayPal is way too much a part of eBay to be fair to Buyers.
There are some delightful, honorable Sellers and there are seasoned, shrewd Sellers that are dumping their garbage on Buyers. Many of these "dumpers" pad their shipping fees with the cost of the eBay and PayPal fees. They frequently say that right in their ads to explain their high shipping charges to the Buyer. That means that when you receive the items and realize what they did not tell you in their ads about the damage or filth on the item, you are sunk, because you need to pay to send it back.
Some have actually only refunded a small amount after getting the item back and come up with all sorts of creative reasons why you deserve it.
The CNet article says there is no porn on eBay. When I signed up, I was given a choice to be able to access the porn sites & I chose not to.
Several years ago, after purchasing a German stein on eBay, I had my teenage son open the box it arrived in to see what I bought for my husband's Anniversary gift. When I saw the look on my son's face, I checked the box and found a monster stack of teenage porn magazines. The stein cost $10 and shipping on my stein had been just under $10. But postage paid that was marked on the box I received was $36 for the pornography.
To get my money back from PayPal, I would have to shell out $36 to get my $20 back. The Seller threatened me to get me to return the magazines saying she would be publishing my home address on her porn selling page & would be sending it to the guy who actually paid for the porn. She said he was really mad and wanted to know where I lived so he could "take care of me personally".
I tried to get eBay & PayPal's help. It was useless. The Seller then filed a SquareTrade grievance against me & I had hours of online "paperwork" to complete with them or I would risk being expelled from eBay.
EVERY TIME I would go to SquareTrade?s site & answer the Sellers latest accusations my computer would do really weird busy things and eventually crash requiring full restores.
How could I do what she wanted and justify sending underage porn through the mail? Wouldn't I be guilty of a crime? Wouldn't it have been a Federal crime? After more threats & no respite from SquareTrade or PayPal, I decided to just call the FBI. The agent seemed eager to hear & see all. He came to my business & picked up the magazines, the info on the Seller and the original Buyer and had me sign papers about this woman's threats and her previous comments about her young children in the house she sells the stuff from.
PayPal still would not help me! And to top it off, eBay even allowed this woman's blistering negative feedback to remain about me even though her actions were slimy and illegal.
Do you want to hear about the Seller that mentioned in an email that she had smuggled the items I bought into the US? Know what support I received from PayPal? Zero, 0, nada, zilch!
In short- Buyer Beware! PayPal is a service to make money, not to give it back.
And don't get me started about CapitalOne's helpfulness on these issues.
User Rating: 1/10
I hate PayPal
Pros: Impossible to think of even ONE good thing
Cons: Everything about PayPal Stinks
User Rating: 1/10
BEWARE Paypal nearly destroy my business, I will never use again!!!
Pros: NONE!!!!!!!!!!
Cons: BEWARE Paypal nearly destroy my business, I will never use again!!!
User Rating: 1/10
Horible company, Will rip you off and not care.
Pros: Its free but will cost you in the end
Cons: Will rip you off, hold your money, provide no support giving you the run around, unprofessional
User Rating: 1/10
Horrible Service
Pros: Paying for an item? not a pro to me...
Cons: NO REPS, MONEY LOCK
User Rating: 3/10
Don't expect full protection
Pros: Fine till you have a problem
Cons: Just avoid having issues
User Rating: 
6/10
putpose of verified acccount
Pros: Great for use on eBay and other such sites where your credit card info is not revealed to others.
Cons: They insist that you use your checking account as your primary funding source.
I have used PAYPAL on EBAY, but I don't know if I would use it any where else.
User Rating: 1/10
Yeah, everyone is right, paypal seems ok... until they screw you
Pros: convenient payment
Cons: not trustworthy, no humans to fix things when they go wrong, and they will.
User Rating: 3/10
provide a service you can't trust
Pros: offer online payment transaction
Cons: terrible customer service
User Rating: 1/10
Imagine the worst service with disindenious customer service
Pros: Used to be the only option for online payments
Cons: It will cost you tonns of money and then they will steal some from you.
2. Can PayPal reverse your transactions without your consent?-YES
3. Can PayPal reward scammers and deduct money from your account without you knowing it?-YES
4. Can PayPal suspend you for offering Google check out instead of PayPal?-YES
5. Will PayPal cancel your eBay account and all your auctions without ANY explanation?-YES
The list can go on and on. If you would like to work in stress-free environment with a company that has customer service and operates for it's customers instead of against them DO NOT CHOOSE PAYPAL.
User Rating: 1/10
Paypal is great.. until
Pros: works great ... until
Cons: Logic apparently is an unknown commodity
Their seamless payment system is great until there is a problem.
Toll Free number is 1-888-221-1161
So called 'customer service reps' apparently are unable to read and comprehend the English language. Unfortunately its the only language I have any level of proficiency with.
Obtaining their 'spring rebate' was a true joke. Approximately 6 hours on the phone PLUS about 2 hours worth of email.
The short version of their qualifications:
1. Single purchase of $30USD, my purchase was for over $50USD.
2. Purchase to be made prior to March 31, 2007. My purchase was made during the 20's of March.
3. Purchase to be made from eBay.com or a qualifying merchant. My purchase was made from eBay.com
Several supervisors contended my purchase was not a qualified one. That I had bought more than one item, I did, all paid for in one payment.
That I bought the items from eBay.uk. Ive never been to eBay UK.
That my purchase included freight, which it did: PER the so-called fine print, "shipping and taxes included in the price"
TOLL FREE 1-888-221-1161
Had I not been able to multi-task, much time would have been wasted.
Even at their bulk toll free rate, my hold time probably cost them more than $15. Speaker phones are soo sooooooo very nice.
Proper customer service is necessary for customer retention.
Payal works great.. until ..there is any type of issue. Once that happens, the hydra of paypal becomes excruciatingly apparent.
Did I mention their next to impossible toll free number.. must be CRS... 1-888-221-1161
Bob
User Rating: 1/10
Snake Bit By PayPal
Pros: Slick As Snot And Just As Sticky
Cons: Buy Counterfeit Item, PayPal May Refund Only If Item Sent Back To Seller. Huh?
User Rating: 1/10
Horrible company - Bad customer service - NO humans whatsoever
Pros: Monopoly - owned by eBay. say NO to paypal
Cons: Randomly freezes account and ALL money in it. NO customer service staff to talk to. it takes weeks to respond to emails. say NO to paypal
User Rating: 1/10
cannot enforce their own rules
Pros: ease of pay
Cons: unsecure, no auction binding, no justice
User Rating: 1/10
laziest service provider one can ever imagine
Pros: Good Promise, never fulfilled though
Cons: Using machine to read emails, fooled by faked tracking number and addresses, keep you waiting on the phone, agents telling you contrasting things about their policies.
The following is the story:
One seller sold me 2 items in Ebay.
The first one never arrived and your are fooled by her/his faked tracking number. I hope so much that your actually check the validity of the "tracking number".
The 2nd item arrived but totally different from the photo the seller posted in EBAY. Actually, the seller stole the photo from other people that I came to know later, and the seller has already abandoned her/his EBAY account.
I was asked by Paypal to send the item back. Again. the seller fooled Paypal with a faked address. I explained the invalidity of such address by email to Paypal agent, who responded with seemingly copy-paste stuff as response----I do not think they ever read my email.
I called in and explain the situation to an agent, who promised to find the correct address of the seller. This promise is never fulfilled. Instead, I received another email from Paypal saying that the case is canceled becuase I "failed to provide PayPal with the requested return tracking information within the specified timeframe".
I called in again and talked to an agent name Bobbi who gave me an email address to appeal the case. I did a lot of research on the faked address and put in a lot of effort to modify it into a valid one and ship the item back and write to this email address that Bobbi provided, and also provide the insurance number of the package, which, is legally a verification that I shipped the item back.
I have not heard from Paypal with regard to either items yet.
I received an email from Paypal today addressing me as "ear ***", saying that
"
Our records indicate that you never responded to requests for additional
information about this claim. Because no tracking information was received
indicating you attempted to return the item this claim can not be
appealled. This claim has been cancelled, we hope that you have worked out
this situation amicably with your seller.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Matthew
"
while this Mathew must be a human email reader because he misspelt the first word in his letter, unfortunately, he still fail to recoginize that all the delay is due to the negligence and laziness on the part of Paypal.
User Rating: 1/10
Paypal should be put out of business!
Pros: ease of use
Cons: limit your account for stupid reasons
User Rating: 9/10
PayPal helps my business
Pros: PayPal gave me a free debit card. When my customers pay me, I have their payments right in my hand.
Cons: As of last week, they now require my customers to register with PayPal to send me/us money.
They DO NOT require your bank info, but there will be limited ways to get money out of your account.
They offer to send you a check, etc.
I highly recommend PayPal. They empower my business, and integrate right into my third-party Billing System.
User Rating: 9/10
great! these people were just unlucky
Pros: makes business transactions much easier
Cons: poor interface, could be improved
I don't know how on earth those other posters got 'limitations' or 'frozen'.. they must have done something wrong..
User Rating: 1/10
WARNING! PAYPAL WILL DESTROY YOUR BUSINESS!
Pros: Before they freeze your accounts and steal your money, the service works well.
Cons: Horrible customer non-service, arrogant, lying, full of misinformation, fraudulent, will freeze your accounts and steal your money, don't care if they destroy your business. Unethical and predatory.
Here's what they did to me:
They froze my merchant account, without warning or reason, right at the height of the shopping boom only days before Christmas. Over $12,000 of my money is now frozen in this account and they won't give it back for, they say, SIX MONTHS. During the time the account is frozen, I am unable to receive money, send money, transfer money, or even issue refunds to my customers. They have essentially put me out of business, because of course, not only are my future customers not able to buy anything from me, but my existing customers who want refunds for items they returned or cancelled hate me because I can't send refund their purchases.
The only correspondence I can get from PayPal about this is a series of form letters that don't relate to my specific issue at all. If I call the customer support number (not toll-free of course to further gouge me), after lengthy hold times, poor voice recognition software, and a few transfers to different departments, I finally talk to someone who tells me to send an e-mail to a certain address.
I do as instructed, but the e-mail comes back undeliverable "You can't send e-mails to this address" it says. I call back, and am told the same exact thing. I demand to speak to somebody else because this doesn't work, and I'm told they don't take phone calls - you have to e-mail. They finally divulge a second e-mail address I can use. I try it, it comes back with a form letter response, and I never hear anything else.
This continues for a month or so, every day, with dozens upon dozens of faxes, e-mails, phone calls, all at my expense, and countless misinformation and dead-ends. Finally I receive an e-mail that says "Your appeal has been denied. We're holding your money for 180 days and then we're closing your account".
Later, my personal e-mail account was also seized (another $350 or so in their pocket) citing "You are too high risk" - what is high-risk about a personal account? This is total BS.
I later read on such good resources as www.paypalsucks.com that this is common practice for PayPal - what they do is invest your money that they've stolen from you and receive a return on it while you are unable to access it. With so many customers, they get big bucks from fraudulent practices such as these, and they don't care at all about how many people's businesses and lives they ruin in the process.
Check out www.paypalsucks.com, www.paypalwarning.com, and www.aboutpaypal.org and read dozens and dozens of other stories like mine. Or just search for "PayPal sucks" and see that you find 708,000 results on Google.
Stay away from PayPal if you value your business, your good name, and your money. If this hasn't happened to you yet, it will.
User Rating: 1/10
Outright Fraud! Horrible beyond belief. Never use!!
Pros: absolutely none.
Cons: unauthorized withdrawals from your account!
PayPal is NO ONE'S PAL. Their security is nonexistent, and their "customer service" is a joke. Use them under no circumstances whatsoever- unless you want money stolen from your checking account.
User Rating: 
4/10
why do they want or need my bank account numbers
Pros: a good service, so far. I buy, seller gets money, paypal gets fees, this should be enough
Cons: Paypal demands bank account numbers , so they can freeze accounts if something goes wrong, regardless of who's at fault.
