paypal.....

thinking of getting a paypal account.whats the pros and cons,non business,personal use only,for say buying and selling tractor parts ???,nothing over 500 dollars

Don't have a Paypal account; never had one - but I keep getting notices that there is something wrong with my Paypal account! That is more exposure than I want from an account.

It scares some people that are paranoid but in reality PayPal is just as safe as any bank. Good place to stash mad money from sales of stuff you no longer need. You can get a debit card on your PayPal account and buy anything from anyplace. Can't remember when I opened my account been at least 10 years without a single problem.

You do need to be careful as with anything. Never open a link in an email, go the site and log in. Heck I get emails supposedly from all kinds of banks and financial intuitions I do not have accounts with. The ones that have trouble are the ones that fall for a bogus email. Click on a link then think they are on the bank's web site when actually they are on a bogus site that is just collecting passwords.

Had one years ago. Dropped them like a rock when I found they are anti 2nd amendment I get along just fine without them.

I've had a PayPal account since they started. They ARE actually chartered as a bank as I understand it. I have never had a problem. They solved a lot of problems of paying for online purchases.

Oh, and Tony, I really don't care what their politics are. They are a bank, and their views on the second amendment are irrelevant to me. For REALLY bad politics, look at AARP.

I've been using PayPal since 2009 or so, for both business and personal transactions and have never had a problem. Mine is linked up to my checking account so that when I sell something I can transfer the money to the bank if I want to. I don't keep a lot of money in the checking account in case it got hacked somehow, but I have a savings account in the bank that I can transfer money into from checking, so it's all very convenient. The majority of my sales come through PayPal.
Zach

The only time I've been ripped off was through paypal. If I try to buy something and they want paypal, I don't buy it.

Keep an eye on it. If they screw up something they don't really have a customer service. You pretty much have to do the work to resolve any issues. For sure only have one bank or credit card linked to the account. At one time I had two accounts linked and when I made purchases I selected one bank and they charged the purchases to the other bank. First thing you know the bank was sending me a half dozen NSF charges. I never did get paypal to fix that problem. All they would have to have done is admit to the bank they made the mistake and the bank would have dismissed the charges but they wouldn't.

(quoted from post at 13:16:31 08/09/16) thinking of getting a paypal account.whats the pros and cons,non business,personal use only,for say buying and selling tractor parts ???,nothing over 500 dollars

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When I buy off the net and they offer paypal I hit the paypal button, no credit card info is sent to the seller its the safest way I have ran across to pay/sell.

I'm a fan of pay pal. Mine is connected to credit cards only, never linked to a bank account.

If pay pal is hacked, they can't drain my checking account, which is backed up by my savings account. So by linking pay pal to CC only the hackers won't get far.

I'm just a buyer, not a seller, on ebay and amazon.

I have a paypal account with a paypal credit card linked to it. They can't touch any of my personal finances.

When I want money out, I have them cut me a check. They can't seem to link up to any of my bank accounts. Their random deposit of a few cents never shows up in my account so I can never verify that it's linked. I gave up and pay the $2 or whatever it is to have them send me a check.

I have been using PayPal for nearly 20 years. I opened a special bank account with checking, savings and credit card. That is the only banking link I have with PayPal.

I never add money to my PayPal bank account. If I want to buy something, it has to have money in there already. This keeps my buying addiction in check. So when I sell it goes into that system.

I have had only one problem, about a year ago with a fraudulent/unauthorized purchase. PayPal took care of it in my favor since I did nothing wrong.

I have used Paypal for many years without any problems. Just be careful if you get an email from Paypal asking you to log on to their site. It may not be the valid Paypal asking you to do it.

I have had one for years, and honestly it is tough to do business online without a paypal account. I know I do some selling on ebay, and that is the only method of payment I use now. When I have the option of using paypal vs. credit card, I always go with paypal, as it isolates my credit card info from the selling party somewhat. I feel paypal is much safer than handing someone your credit card, and I just recently had an issue with my credit card info being stolen and had to shut down and reissue another card, and dispute 3 charges on it. Only 2 merchants I had used the card, but that is one too many to nail down who took the card info.

have used one for years and never had a problem. I like the fact that it isolates my credit card. Would recommend it

I like using Paypal because (though it's not foolproof), it is more secure than just putting your credit card number out there on the internet.

I called and talked to them before I set up an account... you have to go to their website and find their "Contact Us" button/link. After clicking on it, you can see their phone number and they give a code you have to enter when you call (and you have to do it within 60 minutes or get a new code to use).

Here's the gist of the conversation from several years ago:

Paypal is more secure IF you link it to a bank account - so we did set up a new savings account at a different bank in a different town from our normal bank. We only keep about $30 in that account (so if someone manages to get into it and wipe it out - well, at least they won't get much).

The reason that we keep such a small amount in the account is because we prefer to pay using credit card. BUT REMEMBER that their default setting is to the bank account - so for each transaction, when paying you must manually click on "Change", then go select your credit card rather than the bank account. (At least I have not found a way to make the credit card be my default setting... which I WISH I could set it to be my default method of payment.)

You should also provide them a secondary email address - in case of issues.

And providing them a phone number in your profile also helps with security they said.

NEVER, NEVER click on any pop-up on your computer that looks like it is Paypal... that will be a "phishing" scheme trying to get your information.

NEVER, NEVER click on any link in any email from Paypal - they do NOT give you a link to update your password. They will email you and say that it's been a while since you updated your password... that you should go to their website, log into your account, and go to your profile to update your password (or to change or enter a new credit card, bank account or other info, etc.).

DO keep a list (or a print out) all of your purchases or other payments to compare to both your Paypal AND your credit card statement each month.

You can use Paypal at many store's shopping websites too. And if another person has a Paypal account, you can pay them via Paypal if they provide you their Paypal email... we paid a guy in another state that way for some tractor parts.

All-in-all, we've been using Paypal for a good number of years and we like it.

I have one dedicated bank account just for pay pal.Keep a low balance and transfer money for big purchases. Use it a lot. Not one problem in 5 years.Good Luck.

Used one for years.. over 2000 purchases on it...

Good.. its a safe and guaranteed way to transfer money from buyer to seller.

Bad... They will usually side with a buyer if there is a problem and make the seller take the product back... So you must describe it correctly, list it correctly and sell it as is, where is. Even as non working for parts only.. Otherwise you might have to take it back and loose shipping one way. You should take pictures of the item and its parts and mark them so that a buyer cant buy it, remove good parts and return defective parts. As again they try to protect the buyer so the seller must take all the needed precautions against shady buyers.

As sweetfeet said, they "auto default" to a bank account as the fees are lower, and you MUST override it everytime or you will get a surprise in your bank account.This is a common problem if your in a hurry and dont click the correct buttons... BTDI.

I dropped my pay pal more than 10 yrs ago
now when buying online I use prepaid visa cards
as you can get them in many amounts upto at least $500
I buy one just over what I need to pay and use it
the balance I spend back at the store towards my next card
those cards have a web site so you can get your balance from and shows your purchases too
not perfect buy no banking or personal CC info of mine is online anywhere that way
there's some places that can't process them but very few and for them thees always someone else that will
works for me

I do just like Geo. Only linked to a credit card , never a problem in 10 years of buying.. Card was compromised once 4 years ago. they sent me a new card , no problems ...

PayPal is great for buyers. I've had an account since 2002. I only ever had one problem buying.

I had bought a toy tractor off ebay for $19.99 with free shipping. I paid waited a week. Got nothing in the mail. I messaged the buyer several times and no response. I filled a claim. Seller did not respond. I received a refund. Several months past, All most a year. I found a box in the mail. In side was my toy. Taped to the side of the box was a letter. It turns out the seller died suddenly. When the family cleaned up is house they found a box addressed to me and mailed it.

The problem with PayPal is when you are the seller. First, You need to check your account every week for claims. PayPal will not inform you when the buyer has filed a complaint. You have seven days to respond. If you don't respond it's an automatic refund.

PayPal gives the buyer 160 days to file a complaint. That is way too long. 90%of retail stores only give you 30 days for returns. I see no reason for PayPal purchase to need more than 30 days.

I have had two buyers claim they didn't authorize the charge to there credit cards. Both times the buyer waited over 90 days to file the claim. When this happens PayPal freezes your account. Then the seller has to prove that the buyer did authorize the charge.

The last time this happened. I googled the buyers name and the name of the person who filed the claim through PayPal. I quickly learned they were brother and sister and both worked at the same business. The brother gave me his shipping address and used his sister's credit card. They even live three blocks apart from each other. I gave the info to PayPal they decided in my favor. Then PayPal had the balls to charge me for investigating the claim. I'm the one that did all the investigating!

I would not have known a claim had been opened against me if I hadn't logged in to my PayPal account to send an invoice. I had two days left to respond before PayPal would have gave the brother and sister a complete automatic refund.

I use it and like it. See the other responses for lots of detailed facts, BUT, for simple everyday purchases it has been very good. I am not a seller.

Oops - should have clarified that we only BUY using Paypal...

We have never sold anything and been paid via Paypal.

I love it, had one since about the time they came out. I've sold tractor parts, bought an ATV, sold hay, and do most of my holiday shopping with mine.