Well, in light of the recent asshat trying to screw over some fellow pimps I thought I would make a thread about protecting yourself from paypal.

First, a little rundown on paypal. They are NOT FDIC insured like your bank is. What that means is all of your money in paypal is at risk. If you lose it for whatever reason you are simply SOL. Furthermore, paypals TOS says that you waive your rights to credit card consumer protection laws.

The above alone scares me. I feel very comfortable using my C.C. online because of their consumer protection. If my C.C. is stolen, all charges not made by myself are not my liability. What Paypal has done is take this protection away from you when using their service. So, if you pay for something with your C.C. through Paypal and its a scam, once again you are SOL.

Anyone who has used the customer service of Paypal knows its a friggen joke. They send cookie cutter responses that rarely have anything to do with what you asked. Also, if there is a dispute and they put a hold on YOUR money, it can take up to 180 days for them to release it (read the TOS). I don't know about you, but I don't want anyone holding my money for 180 days.

To summarize Paypal can, for whatever reason THEY deem, pull any and all money out of your bank account at ANY time. You are at their mercy to clear things up with very few avenues of recourse.

Paypal is the judge, jury and executioner. PERIOD.

Tip 1: Do not, and I repeat, DO NOT link your paypal account to your main bill paying checking account.

Tip 2: Read tip #1 again

Tip 3: There are at least half a dozen banks that want to give you a free checking account. Go to a bank other than the one your main account is housed and get a checking account just for paypal. Keep minimal funds in it, or just enough to cover your transactions. Also, DO NOT get the overdraft protection on the account.

I also took one of my CC's that I rarely used and had the limit reduced to $250. That way I don't have to run to the bank to make a spontaneous purchase.

Tip 4: When someone sends you a large payment, transfer the money to your bank and pull it out in cash. Hit the ATM, go inside, whatever.

Tip 5: If you are buying a big ticket item use an Escrow service. The piece of mind is well worth the fee, and usually the seller will split it with you.

Those are some good tips! I never liked how PayPal takes money out when you send stuff, and once I had a problem with them and there customer support was downright terrible.

i found it stupid that i was using my grandmothers account, then she switched banks, and they wouldnt let me change to my mom's name and bank account... so i have to make a new account and i dont feel like it >,< oh well EFF PAYPAL

Paypal sucks, agreed, never link it to a bank account. But I'd think even if your paypal account got jacked, their (PPs) TOS wouldn't override your credit/check cards fraud protection. On a similar note (dont feel like bumping my thread a third time, anyone know if i can move a balance out of my ebay account to regular paypal? I got double charged, so now i have $14.12 positive balance in my ebay account that i cant do anything with (dont have anything to sell or buy at the moment).

I always found that contridiction confusing at the very least. As many of you know, I had used PayPal for (I believe) 5 or 6 years, sending nearly $2,500 through their services over the course of hundreds of transactions. When I finally reached that "limit" they impose on unverified members, they told me that I had to provide a bank account number for verification purposes because they were required by federal law.

However, reading the TOS, they are not a bank and therefore not held to federal banking regulations nor are they a credit card company that provides federally mandated consumer protection. Giving up that bank account number is just about as safe as giving permission to an average Joe out on the street.

I told them that if they didn't trust me after the long history of business that I had with them to just forget about it. Good write up so I'll give ya some + rep for that.

Rob

Quote: Originally Posted by Cyno01 Paypal sucks, agreed, never link it to a bank account. But I'd think even if your paypal account got jacked, their (PPs) TOS wouldn't override your credit/check cards fraud protection.

The way I understand it, by agreeing to their TOS you are entering a contract stating you will not instruct your C.C. company to charge back any charges to Paypal. Now, if your CC company has not payed yet you can always have them put a stop payment in place, but you better pray you don't have a bank acct with any balance in their system..

Edit: Plus, it doesn't really matter. By the time you find out either your funds in Paypal have been frozen, your bank or C.C. has already been drained or both. Once they have your money you are at their mercy.

Another tip I found after some digging:

If you are going to continue to use PayPal call them at the number above and request to have a feature called Auto Sweep turned on. This is a feature that they do not advertise but is available. This takes all the money in your account at the end of the day and automatically withdrawals it to your bank account. You need to give them your Social Security Number and also lift your withdrawal limit before they will allow this. When you call, if the rep does not know what you are talking about ask them to transfer you to a professional or look in the knowledge base under auto sweep.

Quote: Originally Posted by Caspertg The way I understand it, by agreeing to their TOS you are entering a contract stating you will not instruct your C.C. company to charge back any charges to Paypal. Now, if your CC company has not payed yet you can always have them put a stop payment in place, but you better pray you don't have a bank acct with any balance in their system.. Edit: Plus, it doesn't really matter. By the time you find out either your funds in Paypal have been frozen, your bank or C.C. has already been drained or both. Once they have your money you are at their mercy. Another tip I found after some digging: If you are going to continue to use PayPal call them at the number above and request to have a feature called Auto Sweep turned on. This is a feature that they do not advertise but is available. This takes all the money in your account at the end of the day and automatically withdrawals it to your bank account. You need to give them your Social Security Number and also lift your withdrawal limit before they will allow this. When you call, if the rep does not know what you are talking about ask them to transfer you to a professional or look in the knowledge base under auto sweep.

God, giving paypal your SSN sounds like an even worse idea. Im sure theres no love between paypal and the CC companies. Visas always gone to bat for us on stuff like that, i cant see them saying your SOL if paypal tries to screw you. I'd like to see paypal trying to sue someone they tryed to rip off for violating their TOS.

Good info... thanks for the post. I'm going to make a few adjustments to my account right now.

Bump for the night crowd, this is important info giving the actions of a former member.

Great write up. Very informative to the n00bie Paypal-er's like myself. Time to go sign up for another bank account!

ya well i dint really know all this before, is there any way i can erase my bank account from paypal or not

Here is a link you guys may want to check out

Quote: Originally Posted by 4rm4g3dd0n ya well i dint really know all this before, is there any way i can erase my bank account from paypal or not

You can remove it from you paypal account, but paypal will allways keep it on file. You can either go down to your bank and instruct them to refuse all payments to paypal or you can call em and say you lost your checks and get a new account all together.