Scared of using Paypal. How "safe" is it?

[Going Bhonkers]

Not literally scared, but just overly hesitant. How exactly does it work?

Have you had good experiences with it overall?

 

[Celie]

I have had an account with paypal for years and think if you are going to be ordering online and want a SAFE way to pay, it is the way to go!

 

[Going Bhonkers]

Okay!

Thanks!!!

 

[duckluck]

Have had a Paypal account for 12 years now and never had a problem. That said, I recommend having a completely separate bank account individual of any others, and maybe at a different bank, for it if you are going to send instant cash instead of using your credit card. That way you can only put in what you are going to spend and it's just one more safeguard against problems OR impulsive spending. I personally didn't want it tied to my main checking account.

 

[mdbtalon]

I would say it is just as "safe" as the vast majority of online transactions. Some e-commerce retailers do not store your card or bank account info and this I would say is probably the safest scenario, but the vast majority are like paypal and that information is stored in their database (which can be a security risk, but it greatly simplifies the process).

I have had an issue with Paypal in the past. Somehow my information was compromised and someone used my account to send cash to third person's account. They then used that third person's account to buy "currency" in an online game (which the assumption is they then sold that "currency" to someone for real cash). No idea why the person did not buy game currency directly using my account, but assume there was a reason to do it that way. I tell that story just to point out that Paypal handled it very well and quickly put a hold on my account once notified and had credited my linked credit card within a day.

I do not use bank accounts for transactions using Paypal because I have found their(paypal) dispute process with merchants to be very lacking. If it goes through my credit card though I can use the dispute resolution of the credit card company which seems to be much more consumer friendly. I normally have hundreds of transactions online each year with paypal and both times I had a dispute with the merchant Paypal sided with the merchant, but when I got my credit card company involved they sided with me and resolved the issue.

 

[Going Bhonkers]

Wow, thank you both for the tips

 

[myfinefeatheredfriends]

I have had Paypal since I started selling hatching eggs online about 4 years ago. I have never had a security problem however there are some things about the site itself that are completely annoying, one being - as stated above - their dispute system. I shouldn't have to wait 7-14 days for them to decide on which party gets to keep their money (this happens rarely though, as most of the transactions I've had went smoothly). Another issue I had is that my account was locked one time - I couldn't take money out of my Paypal account for a few days as a "precaution" that payment I received might not have been authorized by the buyer because a customer I did recent business with had his account hacked. Other than that, I trust Paypal everyday with transactions.

 

[Capvin]

I also have used PayPal on many occasions without any problems. I certainly agree that I would not tie my Pay Pal to my bank account in any way. The only negative I can say is that there is a tendency to get a lot of fake e-mails regarding the PayPal account and you need to be sure to not respond. Some are obvious fakes and some are not so obvious but they all have the same line in they want you to go to your account to check something. Ignore them all.

 

[seminolewind]

Paypal is great. Safe. And gives you your money back if the seller is at fault. I've had that happen several times