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In the past at least, PayPal has also been known for simply taking funds from your linked banked account. So maybe it's better to not link a bank account at al

In the past at least, PayPal has also been known for simply taking funds from your linked banked account. So maybe it's better to not link a bank account at all, which means leaving funds in your PayPal account until you can spend them (since you have no way of withdrawing).

ceejayoz 5y ago
Or link a bank account in the middle, between your primary one and PayPal, that exists solely to receive and pass along your funds.
- TheNewsIsHere 5y ago
  I do this, but not specifically for PayPal. I have a checking account solely for using with third parties, writing checks, debit card transactions, account linking, etc. It has overdraft protection disabled. All my bank funds are in a “private” accounts that aren’t linked anywhere, don’t have checks, etc.
- chris_wot 5y ago
  Surely dropping PayPal would be way easier?
  - ceejayoz 5y ago
    On the consumer side, I'd much rather use PayPal than put my card number into a potentially dodgy site. Protects me quite a bit, and with a easier UI. If I can't PayPal or Apple Pay, I've at times gone elsewhere.
    - ranger_danger 5y ago
      My credit card provider allows me to create unlimited virtual card numbers with any expiration date I want, that way every transaction can be its own number and any fraud is extremely easy to detect and prevent.
      - ceejayoz 5y ago
        Cool, but mine doesn't.
        alex_sf 5y ago
        Check out https://privacy.com/ https://privacy.com/. Pretty neat and gives similar/better features.
        ceejayoz 5y ago
        Tried it, but I'm giving up serious credit card points that way.
        boring_twenties 5y ago
        You could look at the Citi Double Cash card, it's 2% back on everything and they support "virtual account numbers" directly.
    - datavirtue 5y ago
      You have zero risk in this situation so I'm not sure why you feel protected.
      - ceejayoz 5y ago
        It's not zero risk; changing my card numbers after a compromise is an annoying process given the number of places I have to do it. Not having to provide that number to the random e-commerce site I'm trying to buy something unusual from is helpful, and reduces the risk of me having to spend an afternoon making sure I switched cable, internet, Github, Patreon, Heroku, kids' school lunches, music lessons, and fifty other recurring payments over to a new card number. (I also get to skip entering card and billing details every time. Given the number of sites that see fit to use a special non-standard widget for the state field, that saves me time and annoyance on every transaction of this nature, too.)
    - AlfeG 5y ago
      All banks I've using have strong 3D secure. One of the banks require biometrics approve with installed phone app. I have no issues directly use credit card on random merchant sites for years. Especially when most of them use one of the popular payment aggregators.
      - ceejayoz 5y ago
        > All banks I've using have strong 3D secure. I've yet to see any bank in the US implement such a thing. Citi, Discover, American Express, Chase, and my local credit union all lack such a two-factor setup for charges.
      - boring_twenties 5y ago
        Biometric approve sounds pretty cool, but I'm personally not going to install some untrusted proprietary app to find out.
      - amne 5y ago
        you have it backwards. 3d secure is not protection for you. it's for the merchant. it protects them against chargebacks. the merchants decides if it enables 3d secure or not, transaction by transaction. Most of them are using an external fraud risk assessment service. Accertify is such an example.
sebzim4500 5y ago
That is crazy to me. Could you at least link PayPal to an account which you do not leave funds in?
- boring_twenties 5y ago
  Yes, that seems like a good option, provided you can find a bank account that's free with no hoops to jump through. KeyBank offered one at some point, not sure if they still do.
  - ashwagary 5y ago
    Might need to use a credit union instead of a traditional bank.
zaarn 5y ago
I'd just go to my bank and tell them to reverse the transfer. Thanks to SEPA for that one.
cuteboy19 5y ago
Wait so merchants can just pull funds out of accounts without user authentication? This seems tailor made to facilitate fraud.
- TheNewsIsHere 5y ago
  Not universally but a lot of the ACH agreements you consent to have a clause allowing drafts to be initiated on-demand until you revoke that consent. This isn’t necessarily bad and can often be desirable, but then it’s often up to you and the withdrawing party to settle your disputes about what is authorized and what is not.
greedo 5y ago
Paypal will issue physical checks if you want to withdraw funds. They charge $1.50 for this service, but I use it since I refuse to link any of my bank accounts directly. I have a credit card linked, but that's a safer (in my mind) way to deal with any PayPal shenanigans.

ceejayoz 5y ago

Or link a bank account in the middle, between your primary one and PayPal, that exists solely to receive and pass along your funds.

TheNewsIsHere 5y ago
I do this, but not specifically for PayPal. I have a checking account solely for using with third parties, writing checks, debit card transactions, account linking, etc. It has overdraft protection disabled. All my bank funds are in a “private” accounts that aren’t linked anywhere, don’t have checks, etc.
chris_wot 5y ago
Surely dropping PayPal would be way easier?
- ceejayoz 5y ago
  On the consumer side, I'd much rather use PayPal than put my card number into a potentially dodgy site. Protects me quite a bit, and with a easier UI. If I can't PayPal or Apple Pay, I've at times gone elsewhere.
  - ranger_danger 5y ago
    My credit card provider allows me to create unlimited virtual card numbers with any expiration date I want, that way every transaction can be its own number and any fraud is extremely easy to detect and prevent.
    - ceejayoz 5y ago
      Cool, but mine doesn't.
      - alex_sf 5y ago
        Check out https://privacy.com/ https://privacy.com/. Pretty neat and gives similar/better features.
        ceejayoz 5y ago
        Tried it, but I'm giving up serious credit card points that way.
        boring_twenties 5y ago
        You could look at the Citi Double Cash card, it's 2% back on everything and they support "virtual account numbers" directly.
  - datavirtue 5y ago
    You have zero risk in this situation so I'm not sure why you feel protected.
    - ceejayoz 5y ago
      It's not zero risk; changing my card numbers after a compromise is an annoying process given the number of places I have to do it. Not having to provide that number to the random e-commerce site I'm trying to buy something unusual from is helpful, and reduces the risk of me having to spend an afternoon making sure I switched cable, internet, Github, Patreon, Heroku, kids' school lunches, music lessons, and fifty other recurring payments over to a new card number. (I also get to skip entering card and billing details every time. Given the number of sites that see fit to use a special non-standard widget for the state field, that saves me time and annoyance on every transaction of this nature, too.)
  - AlfeG 5y ago
    All banks I've using have strong 3D secure. One of the banks require biometrics approve with installed phone app. I have no issues directly use credit card on random merchant sites for years. Especially when most of them use one of the popular payment aggregators.
    - ceejayoz 5y ago
      > All banks I've using have strong 3D secure. I've yet to see any bank in the US implement such a thing. Citi, Discover, American Express, Chase, and my local credit union all lack such a two-factor setup for charges.
    - boring_twenties 5y ago
      Biometric approve sounds pretty cool, but I'm personally not going to install some untrusted proprietary app to find out.
    - amne 5y ago
      you have it backwards. 3d secure is not protection for you. it's for the merchant. it protects them against chargebacks. the merchants decides if it enables 3d secure or not, transaction by transaction. Most of them are using an external fraud risk assessment service. Accertify is such an example.

sebzim4500 5y ago

That is crazy to me. Could you at least link PayPal to an account which you do not leave funds in?

boring_twenties 5y ago
Yes, that seems like a good option, provided you can find a bank account that's free with no hoops to jump through. KeyBank offered one at some point, not sure if they still do.
- ashwagary 5y ago
  Might need to use a credit union instead of a traditional bank.

zaarn 5y ago

I'd just go to my bank and tell them to reverse the transfer. Thanks to SEPA for that one.

cuteboy19 5y ago

Wait so merchants can just pull funds out of accounts without user authentication? This seems tailor made to facilitate fraud.

TheNewsIsHere 5y ago
Not universally but a lot of the ACH agreements you consent to have a clause allowing drafts to be initiated on-demand until you revoke that consent. This isn’t necessarily bad and can often be desirable, but then it’s often up to you and the withdrawing party to settle your disputes about what is authorized and what is not.

greedo 5y ago

Paypal will issue physical checks if you want to withdraw funds. They charge $1.50 for this service, but I use it since I refuse to link any of my bank accounts directly. I have a credit card linked, but that's a safer (in my mind) way to deal with any PayPal shenanigans.