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Is this Paypal experience customary?

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Re: Is this Paypal experience customary?

#281

Post by Thorrez »

efreak wrote: post #278
Thorrez wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just now I (in the US) added TOTP (Google Authenticator) 2FA, and removed my old SMS 2FA. It does seem a bit laggy but I was able to do it and log in.

PayPal allows directly adding totp now? When I added 2fa, I had to use a python script that emulates the stupid Symantec software they were using in order to get the secret; it instead gave you a code to give the Symantec app, which prevented you from using 3rd party apps.

Yes, I think it's somewhat recent. The previous time I checked it didn't let me, now it does. I found this from 6 months ago mentioning it might only be US accounts[1], and this from March[2].

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/YouShouldKnow/comments/a59knq/ysk_p...

[2] https://benbrian.net/authenticator-app-support-in-paypal-fin...

Re: Is this Paypal experience customary?

#282

Post by epicalex »

ken wrote: post #242
davnicwil wrote: post #64

I rarely use Paypal, but was forced to use it recently for something with no other payment option. Whilst there I decided to change my password, and was horrified to find that they limit passwords to 20 characters. It got me thinking about the standard assumption that any system limiting chars in a password must be storing passwords in plaintext and not hashing them, else there would be no logical reason to do so (si…

When I changed my password there, not too long ago, it was worse. The "change password" page (I later discovered) silently cropped the long random password I pasted, while the "log in" page required the saved (truncated) password exactly. I don't know how they expected anyone to figure that out. I suspect the answer to your question is that what we know as "Paypal.com" is a collection of 57 different legacy systems t…

>When I changed my password there, not too long ago, it was worse. The "change password" page (I later discovered) silently cropped the long random password I pasted, while the "log in" page required the saved (truncated) password exactly. I don't know how they expected anyone to figure that out

The British Airways site does exactly the same thing, took me about 5 attempts at resetting my password before I realised what was going on...

Re: Is this Paypal experience customary?

#283

Post by mclehman »

chrisdew wrote: post #84
brobdingnagians wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate a little bit on this? I'm not familiar with mainframes, but genuinely curious what specifically would cause this?

Some financial systems, a large number of which run on mainframes, have databases where all fields are fixed length. (A database with fixed-length records is trivial to access randomly.) One of my credit cards lists my name as "Christophe" rather than "Christopher" as they have a fixed-length 10 character field for first names. Customer support said it was unfixable. It only takes one such system, in a complex web, t…

A similar thing happens to me when I fly. My boarding passes usually truncate the middle name field which in my case (typically) results in the name of a religious figure rather than an uncommon or obviously truncated name.

This has never been an actual issue (or even commented on), but another middle name discrepancy has. Back in high school, there were some issues with my name on my state ID not exactly matching the school's entry for me.

Re: Is this Paypal experience customary?

#285

Post by analog31 »

w0de0 wrote: post #262
analog31 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a seller and I actually like the buyer protection, because it emboldens people to buy a product from a small and relatively unknown seller. Customers also don't have to give me any of their personal or financial information except for where to mail their package. Now, an aspect of running even a small business is that I have some cash on hand, and a profit margin to cover the cost of eating one or two disputes if…

> I don't lose $100, but only my original cost of goods. If you shipped the product, you most certainly lost $100, plus whatever additional labor costs were involved in attempting resolution. There's also the opportunity cost of having that cash illiquid, even if you do win the dispute in the end. Money's time is worth money.

I don't pay for labor. Amusingly, an MBA student interviewed me about my tiny business, and could not wrap his head around the fact that I don't count labor in my cost of goods. I do have a rough estimate of profit, and of how many hours I work. The closest thing I could offer him was a ratio of these numbers, which is typically around $100 per hour. I make my widgets in my basement, and am usually able to take care of everything in one evening per week. It's the closest thing to passive income that I've been able to come up with so far.

I follow a rule that's common among micro-businesses, which is to waste zero time on disputes. I always offer a full refund right away, along with a boilerplate list of troubleshooting suggestions. In virtually every case, the customer comes back in a few days and agrees that my product works. But because of this, I consider a dispute to be an immediate loss, and not a dollar amount hanging in limbo.

Re: Is this Paypal experience customary?

#286

Post by thirdsun »

tinus_hn wrote: post #21

It’s difficult to understand why people are even using this service anymore. PayPal is not your ‘pal’ and to use them safely you need insurance and leverage all the way. The only reason I can imagine is that it works most of the time. But the times where it fails are invariably a disaster.

Because, as a business here in europe, and potentially other parts of the world, I need to offer an instant payment method that doesn‘t expect customers to have a credit card since that‘s not a given at all. Paypal‘s ability to add your banking account as a source of funds has allowed customers to instantly pay for goods long before credit cards became more common here.

Paypal is used in about 40% of our sales and we didn’t have any issues in about a decade. Even from personal experience as a buyer I can‘t report any major issues.

Re: Is this Paypal experience customary?

#288

Post by tobiasSoftware »

nashashmi wrote: post #252
tobiasSoftware wrote: post #66

I recently had a similar experience with eBay, though it got resolved: -I had an old eBay account that was closed through inactivity -I wanted to buy some headphones so I decided to create a new account -When I went to eBay it had already given me a username through some sort of linked google account feature that used the google account I was logged in to -I tried to buy 2 $40 headphones and it wouldn't let me, sayin…

You are lucky. I had a very old account that got suspended. Any further account on the same address also got suspended. They blacklisted the address. I called and spoke with them for an hour and they would not tell me why they suspended the account, other than "I have reviewed the information and have decided the suspension is correct. But cannot tell you why it is being suspended." they kept repeating that she perso…

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of and I think I got lucky. The big thing for me is that I don't use eBay much but I'm getting married soon and my fiancee is moving a very far distance and she will need eBay to get decorations and such to help make her feel at home. I hated the feeling of inconveniencing her over some weird glitch that I was powerless to fix.

Re: Is this Paypal experience customary?

#289

Post by carapace »

ValentineC wrote: post #287
carapace wrote: post #233

PayPal owes me $200. Details: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19773036

Did you follow up after requesting for the check?

Like call the 800 number back? No. At the time I was making about $100/hr so the hassle wasn't really worth it. I figured if they send they check, great, if not I can just bitch about it from time to time on the Internet...

Re: Is this Paypal experience customary?

#290

Post by threezero »

diminoten wrote: post #185
dhekir wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Receiving unintended funds can have all kinds of unintended consequences, including related to law enforcement. In his case, he just got suspended and asked to provide documents he is physically unable to produce (contrary to presumption of innocence). the next day, and after almost two weeks since the refund to place (but only one day after the long phone discussion) my account was blocked as "suspicious" activity a…

Yeah but it didn't here. Any negative consequence this man experienced was due to his anger and outrage. Calmly handling this situation would have resulted in a completely different outcome. Yet again, emotion and anger are now somehow the company's fault.

If the customer’s emotions are affecting their account status, then it is entirely the company’s fault. If a customer is upset, a federally regulated financial institution should never be able to just shut down their account without recourse. That’s why we have regulations and laws, so some random customer service rep (possibly from a country with far different rules and regulations) can’t power trip over a customer.
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