Im wondering what you guys think of PayPal as an alternative to credit cards. I like the idea because your not giving any personal information to the merchants youre buying from and youve got more control of the amount of money available to be paid. The idea of just giving a merchant a credit card number and saying “here, take the money you need and send me a bill” has never appealed to me.
By: Drossel - 25th August 2004 at 19:49
Care to mention the model site ?
I’d better not name them as my site also sells models so they are a competitor of mine. I mentioned it just as a warning of how some companies hold onto your card details. It isn’t confined to online purchases though I had a debit on my card from a restaurant that I had not visited for a year (as I only went to it while on holiday). My card company had no hesitation in doing a refund but if I ate out more rather than being stuck to my computer screen I may have missed it!
By: MINIDOH - 25th August 2004 at 15:39
I use Paypal and I think its great. Better than most other methods of online payment.
By: Ren Frew - 25th August 2004 at 13:48
Care to mention the model site ?
By: Drossel - 25th August 2004 at 13:09
As an internet trader I have bought and sold using paypal. I also use a company for accepting credit card orders – I won’t mention the name of them but will say that they are owned by a large UK bank – their system handles all the card details etc and I never get to see them. In my experience paypal just keeps getting better whilst the other company just get worse (they were great to start with but I was one of their few customers then). The number of attempted fraudulent transactions with other people’s cards is frightening (I have had quite a few US based cards being used for delivery to other countries – thankfully my anti fraud sytems have detected them) – it just shows you must be careful when using your credit card online although most of the risk is for the trader. One thing I do use as an alternative when I am buying is the Cahoot Webcard. This gives me a unique card number and I can set the maximum value for every transaction. Great if I want to use a web site that does not appear as secure as it should be (one model site I bought from tried to charge my card 6 months after I had ordered – they had never contacted me to say they were out of stock)
By: DME - 25th August 2004 at 09:28
I think Pay Pal seems like a good idea. The problem I have is the seller receives payment from PayPal, so they never see your card details, which is good but what if they never send the item to the buyer…..how can you prove you never received it????? :confused:
By: Arabella-Cox - 25th August 2004 at 07:18
WIth a credit card you have quite a lot of power. Credit card companies have strict rules requiring the business can prove you ordered what you ordered and that you receieved what you ordered. Most of the advice I hear is to always buy with a credit card rather than any other method, because if thigns go bad at least you can do something about it. For example if the company you are dealing with demands a cheque and you send it but they claim they never recieved it and it get cashed what do you do… especially if that company is on the other side of the world. If however they claim they can’t properly bill you but your account shows the money was deducted fom your card then you can get the card company to get into them.
I have heard of stories where Escrow systems like Paypal haven’t worked…
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August 25, 2004 at 4:45 am