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I used to use paypal for everything but it occurred to me that I haven't used it since 2018. What niche does it support that direct payments don't? When I think

I used to use paypal for everything but it occurred to me that I haven't used it since 2018. What niche does it support that direct payments don't? When I think of paypal, I think of delays.

Nextgrid 4y ago
When it comes to banking there are a lot of modern "shortcuts" that make it safe and painless pretty much everywhere in the world. The problem is that there's also a lot of inertia. For every "shortcut" user, there are hundreds if not thousands of users who don't know about and use sub-par systems (such as PayPal) instead. Shitty companies like PayPal (or various banks which still charge insane fees for wire/ACH transfers) rely on that. --- For me, PayPal is only a route in, as a fallback for those who really can't use anything else. If you decide to use it to pay me (despite my warnings and alternative suggestions), I make it very clear that you are on the hook for any issues arising from it - PayPal money is only considered paid when it hits my real bank account - if they seize the money beforehand, it's as if you haven't paid me and it will be up to you to help me resolve the situation. That's how people should be using this scum. Similarly, if I pay a supplier via PayPal and they refuse to deliver the goods, the supplier is getting their ass sued for goods/services non-rendered. The fact they use a crooked payment processor (despite my advice) isn't my fault at the end of the day.
- wobbly_bush 4y ago
  > When it comes to banking there are a lot of modern "shortcuts" that make it safe and painless pretty much everywhere in the world. Can you elaborate what shortcuts are you referring to in this context?
Andys 4y ago
I like using it for subscriptions, because it lists them all in one place and gives me a hassle-free way to cancel each of them.
OmahaBoy69 4y ago
>What niche does it support that direct payments don't? For buying stuff online it removes the need to fiddle around with CCs (+ trusting individual websites with CC info) and lets you checkout quickly. It's also great if you get scammed out of your money somehow... Their chargeback system is stupidly easy and is infamous for always siding with the buyer. It sucks when you're on the other side of the transaction, though. Used to run a Minecraft server as a teenager, and they gave me a huge amount of grief between indisputable chargebacks and locking my account once for KYC purposes.
- ThePowerOfFuet 4y ago
  > trusting individual websites with CC info Websites don't keep CC info, and they haven't ever since PCI DSS has been a thing.
midoridensha 4y ago
It's really useful for small businesses that want to accept credit cards without having to get a full-blown merchant account. If your business is really tiny (like a little side project) and makes less than, say, $100k/year, a merchant account can be too expensive, plus setting up your website for the merchant account is much more difficult than PayPal integration, which is almost trivial (the simplest form is to just add some HTML buttons to your site).
- cramjabsyn 4y ago
  There's square, stripe and others that aren't really any harder to integrate than paypal. The sign up process is slightly longer though
111111101101 4y ago
I prefer to use PayPal to pay at random sites just because I'd rather not give my credit card number to a site that could be backdoored or even run by fraudsters. https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/18/fbi_credit_card/ https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/18/fbi_credit_card/
- joecool1029 4y ago
  So? Dispute it with the credit card, it's not a huge deal. By comparison Paypal is often linked to a bank account where you'd out the money until investigation completes. Even if you used credit cards exclusively on PayPal, PayPal's terms of service preclude you from using your credit card's chargeback. (I mean you could use it once I guess and then they ban you from using their processor)
  - 111111101101 4y ago
    It's a lot easier to get a refund on PayPal than a real bank. The one time that I did a charge-back on my credit card, my bank gave me the 3rd degree and made me feel like I was the criminal. You're right about PayPal helping themselves to bank debits. I have a small eBay business and back when they dealt directly with PayPal, I would have a separate account to receive the funds and as soon as they hit I would transfer the money out. It's just part of the OPSEC that's required when dealing with our new megacorp overlords.
    - notch656a 4y ago
      I agree. Bank accused me of fraud when I reported someone hijacking my card and buying ridiculous mixture of Christmas ornaments and female beauty products (I am a male atheist). Ultimately I lost after going through the full appeals and I was made to feel a criminal; like I was lucky they didn't refer me to law enforcement. The email the bank sent me to prove 'I did it.' -- something very close to 'piratearrgghhhh34398903@yahoo.com' The fucking scammers taunted me by literally calling themselves pirates in the invoice. The one upside of paypal is the customer basically always wins to the point you're almost relying on the good faith of the customer not to take the money back.

I used to use paypal for everything but it occurred to me that I haven't used it since 2018. What niche does it support that direct payments don't? When I think of paypal, I think of delays.

Nextgrid 4y ago

When it comes to banking there are a lot of modern "shortcuts" that make it safe and painless pretty much everywhere in the world. The problem is that there's also a lot of inertia. For every "shortcut" user, there are hundreds if not thousands of users who don't know about and use sub-par systems (such as PayPal) instead. Shitty companies like PayPal (or various banks which still charge insane fees for wire/ACH transfers) rely on that. --- For me, PayPal is only a route in, as a fallback for those who really can't use anything else. If you decide to use it to pay me (despite my warnings and alternative suggestions), I make it very clear that you are on the hook for any issues arising from it - PayPal money is only considered paid when it hits my real bank account - if they seize the money beforehand, it's as if you haven't paid me and it will be up to you to help me resolve the situation. That's how people should be using this scum. Similarly, if I pay a supplier via PayPal and they refuse to deliver the goods, the supplier is getting their ass sued for goods/services non-rendered. The fact they use a crooked payment processor (despite my advice) isn't my fault at the end of the day.

wobbly_bush 4y ago
> When it comes to banking there are a lot of modern "shortcuts" that make it safe and painless pretty much everywhere in the world. Can you elaborate what shortcuts are you referring to in this context?

Andys 4y ago

I like using it for subscriptions, because it lists them all in one place and gives me a hassle-free way to cancel each of them.

OmahaBoy69 4y ago

>What niche does it support that direct payments don't? For buying stuff online it removes the need to fiddle around with CCs (+ trusting individual websites with CC info) and lets you checkout quickly. It's also great if you get scammed out of your money somehow... Their chargeback system is stupidly easy and is infamous for always siding with the buyer. It sucks when you're on the other side of the transaction, though. Used to run a Minecraft server as a teenager, and they gave me a huge amount of grief between indisputable chargebacks and locking my account once for KYC purposes.

ThePowerOfFuet 4y ago
> trusting individual websites with CC info Websites don't keep CC info, and they haven't ever since PCI DSS has been a thing.

midoridensha 4y ago

It's really useful for small businesses that want to accept credit cards without having to get a full-blown merchant account. If your business is really tiny (like a little side project) and makes less than, say, $100k/year, a merchant account can be too expensive, plus setting up your website for the merchant account is much more difficult than PayPal integration, which is almost trivial (the simplest form is to just add some HTML buttons to your site).

cramjabsyn 4y ago
There's square, stripe and others that aren't really any harder to integrate than paypal. The sign up process is slightly longer though

111111101101 4y ago

I prefer to use PayPal to pay at random sites just because I'd rather not give my credit card number to a site that could be backdoored or even run by fraudsters. https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/18/fbi_credit_card/ https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/18/fbi_credit_card/

joecool1029 4y ago
So? Dispute it with the credit card, it's not a huge deal. By comparison Paypal is often linked to a bank account where you'd out the money until investigation completes. Even if you used credit cards exclusively on PayPal, PayPal's terms of service preclude you from using your credit card's chargeback. (I mean you could use it once I guess and then they ban you from using their processor)
- 111111101101 4y ago
  It's a lot easier to get a refund on PayPal than a real bank. The one time that I did a charge-back on my credit card, my bank gave me the 3rd degree and made me feel like I was the criminal. You're right about PayPal helping themselves to bank debits. I have a small eBay business and back when they dealt directly with PayPal, I would have a separate account to receive the funds and as soon as they hit I would transfer the money out. It's just part of the OPSEC that's required when dealing with our new megacorp overlords.
  - notch656a 4y ago
    I agree. Bank accused me of fraud when I reported someone hijacking my card and buying ridiculous mixture of Christmas ornaments and female beauty products (I am a male atheist). Ultimately I lost after going through the full appeals and I was made to feel a criminal; like I was lucky they didn't refer me to law enforcement. The email the bank sent me to prove 'I did it.' -- something very close to 'piratearrgghhhh34398903@yahoo.com' The fucking scammers taunted me by literally calling themselves pirates in the invoice. The one upside of paypal is the customer basically always wins to the point you're almost relying on the good faith of the customer not to take the money back.