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PayPal is fantastic for transfers - when it works / as long as you're not hit by their "arbitrary bus".
by sundvor 10y ago
PayPal is fantastic for transfers - when it works / as long as you're not hit by their "arbitrary bus".
- xorcist 10y agoI don't know about "fantastic", those fees are astronomical by any measure (3% where my bank would be free and an extra 3% on top of that for currency exchange spead where the bank is less than half) but it's often the only available alternative.
- ReidZB 10y agoFor transfers between "friends and family," there aren't any fees, which probably drives a non-negligible number of account creations. That said, if PayPal thinks your transaction is not between "friends and family" (despite being marked so), they won't hesitate to freeze those funds while they investigate. A couple years ago, I used to send my portion of rent to my roommate via PayPal, and they froze the funds once on him. Surprisingly, he was able to get them unfrozen pretty quickly. That free transfer system in combination with being a "safer" payment option offered by some merchants makes PayPal pretty attractive to the average customer. And -- most of the horror stories come from merchants, not customers. Even though I try to avoid PayPal on principle, it's hard for me to convince my friends to care.
- sundvor 10y agoYep. I was primarily thinking about friends / family here, thanks for clarifying that they are free. Just used one for an international transfer of cash into family member's bank; the turnaround was significantly quicker than using my bank, essentially delivering same day availability of funds in the bank. It ended up being cheaper than using my bank also.