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For the life of me I cannot understand anyone would use PayPal. I'd rather trust the postal system with an envelope of money. I have yet to see an area where th

by Dah00n 3y ago

For the life of me I cannot understand anyone would use PayPal. I'd rather trust the postal system with an envelope of money. I have yet to see an area where there aren't better options.

neom 3y ago
I've used paypal frequently for 15 years and never had a single issue at all.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
seanhunter 3y ago
At the moment I use paypal when my bank rejects a credit card transaction due to fraud risk. For example this happened yesterday when I tried to make a payment to a (very reputable) educational institution for an application fee. This is by no means a high risk transaction. In fact I would go so far as to say the payment could never in a million, billion, Brazillian years be fraud, but it was rejected. But they take paypal also, so no bother. Do the transaction on paypal. This kind of thing happens maybe once every couple of months for me, and is why I keep paypal around. Edit to add: I think some UK banks are much more trigger-happy than the global average when it comes to flagging transactions as possible fraud. I once had to pay my tax bill (to the UK government) by paypal because the debit card transaction was declined.
- tamimio 3y ago
  >rejects a credit card transaction due to fraud risk This actually happened to me yesterday, thing is, the merchant doesn’t use paypal or anything except card, so kind of suck it up :/
- zimpenfish 3y ago
  > I think some UK banks are much more trigger-happy than the global average For a good year, Barclays would ask me if my monthly Oyster purchase, for the same cost, at the same station, on roughly the same day of the month, was actually me doing it. Natwest, similarly, have blocked my "early September, about £1200, to Apple" payment for 5 years in a row now. It's infuriating.
  - seanhunter 3y ago
    Yeah. It's completely nuts. Especially when you consider how little of the actual fraud they seem to manage to stop. It's like someone needs to go in there and give them a stats 101 talk about type I and type II errors, because they somehow manage to defy all the rules of logic and have extremely high rates of both.
  - fmajid 3y ago
    The real travesty is that the credit card companies have had over 25 years to standardize a secure payment system and get it into browsers, yet have still failed to do so which is why we have fraud detection heuristics and their associated false positives. SET was launched in 1996, for crying out loud: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Electronic_Transaction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Electronic_Transaction
    - martin8412 3y ago
      Your own link mentions the technology(3D secure), but all cards issued in the EU have mandatory 2FA for online payments in the form of 3D Secure. I usually have to verify in an app. This results in very little fraud. Additionally there's the Payment Requests API from W3C which is compatible with Apple Pay and Google Pay.
- martin8412 3y ago
  I've had payments rejected when Revolut thought the payment was fraudulent, but I just get a notification in the app asking if it was me. If I click yes, I just do the payment again and it goes through. Had it happen recently in the US when paying for a hotel room. They immediately froze the card when it was swiped through the machine by hotel staff. Clicked yes in the app, and it went through.
addandsubtract 3y ago
Paypal is useful, because it transfers money instantly. Sending money in an envelope isn't an option when you want something instantly. As a buyer, it also offers a form of protection from fraudulent sellers, which you also don't have with the postal service.
- Dah00n 3y ago
  I can do that with other services too without risking PayPal though. If it is national transfers I can both use a national payment app or even a bank transfer - both instant transfer. PayPal might give some protection but it also freezes some accounts and keep the money. No other service I have heard of have as bad a reputation.
hexfish 3y ago
10-15 years ago (when I started using paypal) most Europeans didn't have a credit card and most US-based services (and things like Ebay and Dealextreme) didn't accept anything but credit cards and paypal. And this sometimes is still the case.
- BrandoElFollito 3y ago
  Almost nobody in Europe uses credit cards. We use debit cards, various types (immediate, deferred, ...). It was also the case 10-15 years ago. The usage has became much higher, but it was already all right by then. Except Germany, for cultural reasons.
  - FartyMcFarter 3y ago
    Plenty of people have credit cards in Europe. In 11 countries, the majority of people do, in fact: https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/people_with_credit_cards/Europe/ https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/people_with_credit...
    - freetanga 3y ago
      A same-bank-as-your-cash-account credit card set up for full payment at the end of the month, so there is no financing. Technically a CC, feels like a DC. Thats my experience in EU a I worked in Banking in many countries .
      - utucuro 3y ago
        My reason for getting a credit card as soon as possible when I moved to Germany, was being able to switch the country of residence of some of my services to Germany, because they only accepted a local credit card as proof of residence here. Google was the main culprit in this regard. Mind you, the credit card itself is a serious joke - it's designed to be useless as far as I'm concerned. You cannot change the billing date, the app doesn't even show you the cutoff date. You cannot change the pin at all - if you request a new pin, they send you a new card. The only good way I've found to use the card is through Paypal, ironically. At least this way I can see, down to the minute, what I spent and where, which the bank is unable or unwilling to show me.
SCdF 3y ago
It depends on what you mean by "use PayPal". To give out my debit card details as infrequently as possible, if a business supports paying with paypal I'll use them as the payment provider. I don't store any money with them though.
- isaacremuant 3y ago
  Disposable/virtual cards are a great alternative to that if you have a good banking system that provides them (e.g.: Revolut in Europe)
- prmoustache 3y ago
  You usually don't need a paypal account for that though. Having said that, it can bite you in different way. Paypal keep an association of last email used in a transaction with a card number. For example, I had paid for a vps hosting using paypal payment (without a patpal account) with one card, using my email address in the billing details. Later one we bought something for my partner with the same card, but using her email address in the billing details. Subsequent payments notifications for my vps hosting were sent to her email address.
GuB-42 3y ago
PayPal is excellent for sending money (buying) for the same reason it is terrible for receiving money (selling). Essentially, the buyer is always right, and so, as a buyer, it is very easy to get your money back in case of a problem. The seller is the one who gets all the fees, and needs to justify himself if there is a dispute. Sellers offer PayPal because even though it is really bad for them, it gets them customers.
- ForestCritter 3y ago
  They also have the best fee rates of payment processors for small businesses and craft show/ event venues. There is no cost unless you sell too.
domh 3y ago
I use PayPal for when I'm buying stuff from websites that I use very infrequently. I "trust" (in the lightest possible sense) PayPal more than a random website with my card details. Making it go through PayPal seems safer?

by Dah00n 3y ago

For the life of me I cannot understand anyone would use PayPal. I'd rather trust the postal system with an envelope of money. I have yet to see an area where there aren't better options.

neom 3y ago

I've used paypal frequently for 15 years and never had a single issue at all.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

seanhunter 3y ago

At the moment I use paypal when my bank rejects a credit card transaction due to fraud risk. For example this happened yesterday when I tried to make a payment to a (very reputable) educational institution for an application fee. This is by no means a high risk transaction. In fact I would go so far as to say the payment could never in a million, billion, Brazillian years be fraud, but it was rejected. But they take paypal also, so no bother. Do the transaction on paypal. This kind of thing happens maybe once every couple of months for me, and is why I keep paypal around. Edit to add: I think some UK banks are much more trigger-happy than the global average when it comes to flagging transactions as possible fraud. I once had to pay my tax bill (to the UK government) by paypal because the debit card transaction was declined.

tamimio 3y ago
>rejects a credit card transaction due to fraud risk This actually happened to me yesterday, thing is, the merchant doesn’t use paypal or anything except card, so kind of suck it up :/
zimpenfish 3y ago
> I think some UK banks are much more trigger-happy than the global average For a good year, Barclays would ask me if my monthly Oyster purchase, for the same cost, at the same station, on roughly the same day of the month, was actually me doing it. Natwest, similarly, have blocked my "early September, about £1200, to Apple" payment for 5 years in a row now. It's infuriating.
- seanhunter 3y ago
  Yeah. It's completely nuts. Especially when you consider how little of the actual fraud they seem to manage to stop. It's like someone needs to go in there and give them a stats 101 talk about type I and type II errors, because they somehow manage to defy all the rules of logic and have extremely high rates of both.
- fmajid 3y ago
  The real travesty is that the credit card companies have had over 25 years to standardize a secure payment system and get it into browsers, yet have still failed to do so which is why we have fraud detection heuristics and their associated false positives. SET was launched in 1996, for crying out loud: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Electronic_Transaction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Electronic_Transaction
  - martin8412 3y ago
    Your own link mentions the technology(3D secure), but all cards issued in the EU have mandatory 2FA for online payments in the form of 3D Secure. I usually have to verify in an app. This results in very little fraud. Additionally there's the Payment Requests API from W3C which is compatible with Apple Pay and Google Pay.
martin8412 3y ago
I've had payments rejected when Revolut thought the payment was fraudulent, but I just get a notification in the app asking if it was me. If I click yes, I just do the payment again and it goes through. Had it happen recently in the US when paying for a hotel room. They immediately froze the card when it was swiped through the machine by hotel staff. Clicked yes in the app, and it went through.

addandsubtract 3y ago

Paypal is useful, because it transfers money instantly. Sending money in an envelope isn't an option when you want something instantly. As a buyer, it also offers a form of protection from fraudulent sellers, which you also don't have with the postal service.

Dah00n 3y ago
I can do that with other services too without risking PayPal though. If it is national transfers I can both use a national payment app or even a bank transfer - both instant transfer. PayPal might give some protection but it also freezes some accounts and keep the money. No other service I have heard of have as bad a reputation.

hexfish 3y ago

10-15 years ago (when I started using paypal) most Europeans didn't have a credit card and most US-based services (and things like Ebay and Dealextreme) didn't accept anything but credit cards and paypal. And this sometimes is still the case.

BrandoElFollito 3y ago
Almost nobody in Europe uses credit cards. We use debit cards, various types (immediate, deferred, ...). It was also the case 10-15 years ago. The usage has became much higher, but it was already all right by then. Except Germany, for cultural reasons.
- FartyMcFarter 3y ago
  Plenty of people have credit cards in Europe. In 11 countries, the majority of people do, in fact: https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/people_with_credit_cards/Europe/ https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/people_with_credit...
  - freetanga 3y ago
    A same-bank-as-your-cash-account credit card set up for full payment at the end of the month, so there is no financing. Technically a CC, feels like a DC. Thats my experience in EU a I worked in Banking in many countries .
    - utucuro 3y ago
      My reason for getting a credit card as soon as possible when I moved to Germany, was being able to switch the country of residence of some of my services to Germany, because they only accepted a local credit card as proof of residence here. Google was the main culprit in this regard. Mind you, the credit card itself is a serious joke - it's designed to be useless as far as I'm concerned. You cannot change the billing date, the app doesn't even show you the cutoff date. You cannot change the pin at all - if you request a new pin, they send you a new card. The only good way I've found to use the card is through Paypal, ironically. At least this way I can see, down to the minute, what I spent and where, which the bank is unable or unwilling to show me.

SCdF 3y ago

It depends on what you mean by "use PayPal". To give out my debit card details as infrequently as possible, if a business supports paying with paypal I'll use them as the payment provider. I don't store any money with them though.

isaacremuant 3y ago
Disposable/virtual cards are a great alternative to that if you have a good banking system that provides them (e.g.: Revolut in Europe)
prmoustache 3y ago
You usually don't need a paypal account for that though. Having said that, it can bite you in different way. Paypal keep an association of last email used in a transaction with a card number. For example, I had paid for a vps hosting using paypal payment (without a patpal account) with one card, using my email address in the billing details. Later one we bought something for my partner with the same card, but using her email address in the billing details. Subsequent payments notifications for my vps hosting were sent to her email address.

GuB-42 3y ago

PayPal is excellent for sending money (buying) for the same reason it is terrible for receiving money (selling). Essentially, the buyer is always right, and so, as a buyer, it is very easy to get your money back in case of a problem. The seller is the one who gets all the fees, and needs to justify himself if there is a dispute. Sellers offer PayPal because even though it is really bad for them, it gets them customers.

ForestCritter 3y ago
They also have the best fee rates of payment processors for small businesses and craft show/ event venues. There is no cost unless you sell too.

domh 3y ago

I use PayPal for when I'm buying stuff from websites that I use very infrequently. I "trust" (in the lightest possible sense) PayPal more than a random website with my card details. Making it go through PayPal seems safer?