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More Paypal nonsense

regretsy.com

191–200 of 257 posts

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#191
post #62

"Donate" has a very specific meaning, at least in the US, and comes with numerous accounting connotations, including the ability to write off the expense. As many people don't realize that "charitable donations" do /not/ include "donations" to purchase toys for children, it is misleading to use the term "donation" in this circumstance. Meanwhile, often the person /accepting/ the donations doesn't understand this eith…

Thank you for this well-written and educated response.

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#192
post #5

It really perplexes me as to how paypal can get away with withholding money from people. What is stopping them from simply picking accounts at random and saying, "actually, I don't think you deserve this money, so we'll keep it."

When PayPal terminates an account and holds the funds, they're returned after 180 days. The same as any merchant account that's terminated. It's to cover potential chargebacks, which can come in months after the fact -- though they really shouldn't do that when the only payment the frozen account received wasn't funded by a credit card.

Does anyone known if when PayPal returns the held money they also pay the legal interest? Or if they have some specific clause in their contracts that allows them not to?

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because there is no alternative and they fucking know it. Hopefully in a few years time when it's matured, Bitcoin will be that alternative.

In order to be a real alternative to PayPal, Bitcoin will have to avoid the problems that digital gold currencies had, since it's far more similar to them than to PayPal. What were those problems? Accounts differ.

The digital gold currencies had exactly one problem: they worked like cash, but without the necessary decentralization and untraceability. So, people started using them like cash, including for illicit purposes, but the services remained subject to centralized shutdown and seizure.

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#194
post #18

At the risk of being perceived as the devil's advocate, let me ask a question. I've heard of dozens of stories about Paypal along a similar vein. "They locked my account for unreasonable reason X and now are keeping the money". Most of these stories seem anecdotal. Can someone point to a rigorously documented set of cases where both Paypal and the customer's side of things are reviewed? Over the last few years, all o…

A friend of mine down the street tried to sell an online account via PayPal. The would-be buyers sent the money to his PayPal account, got the online account credentials from him, then took the money out of PayPal. The money was lost but the admins for the software he used the account on reinstated it to him since this happens a lot. There are scammers with deep penetration into PayPal.

[deleted]

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#195

I've been sitting here for the last five minutes trying to make a point eloquently. I'm having a hard time with it. So I'll just put it like this: What else can we really expect from a product whose parent is eBay ? This company is a fucking fossil with all the hunger for customer satisfaction of a used tissue. Is it convenient for users? Yeah. Is it worth gambling your entire business on? Given the lack of accountab…

> Why trust a business to such a stagnant concern? Because there is no alternative and they fucking know it . Oh if you're in the US for the US you might be able (and want) to gamble on an other younger service, but in the wider world? It's a fucking wasteland , it's either Paypal or Big Bank Merchant Account, and those are no fun at all either. My card expired (and was renewed) recently, I decided to stop using payp…

As a long time paypal user I must say that I rarely see such a good online based service.

I phoned them multiple times and was always answered by well informed people that promptly provided me all the information I needed. Having lived in multiple countries and run paypal based businesses in more than one country simultaneously, I presented them with quite a few tricky questions which they always solved very quickly. It is also worth to mention that they were kind.

One thing I hate more and more is donations. Specially begging for donations. There's always something fishy with donations deal with big money. I would not be surprised if paypal would start to tighten donations policies which apparently seems to be happening. Donation buttons are epidemic anyway.

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#196

Fun fact: The horror that is PayPal came from the same guy who gave us our hope for the bright future of commercial spaceflight. PayPal has vertically integrated every step required to stiff you. They can do it safely and reliably, but a public mishap like this one may cost them.

Unfortunately, the PayPal of today is a far cry from Peter Thiel's original vision. It was supposed to be an extra-governmental currency more akin to something like bitcoin, until Ebay got ahold of it. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0974670103

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#197
Out curiosity, why wouldn't PayPal just put categorical warnings on the payment page that allows merchants & buyers to assess the risk themselves?

So if a merchant understands these relative risks, they can opt in to a high risk warning category, in order to make sure accounts don't become locked, and buyers can then fully understand what they're getting into via the warnings.

I mean really this is all about liability right...or maybe is it that I'm expecting too much...?

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#198

I've been sitting here for the last five minutes trying to make a point eloquently. I'm having a hard time with it. So I'll just put it like this: What else can we really expect from a product whose parent is eBay ? This company is a fucking fossil with all the hunger for customer satisfaction of a used tissue. Is it convenient for users? Yeah. Is it worth gambling your entire business on? Given the lack of accountab…

> Why trust a business to such a stagnant concern? Because there is no alternative and they fucking know it . Oh if you're in the US for the US you might be able (and want) to gamble on an other younger service, but in the wider world? It's a fucking wasteland , it's either Paypal or Big Bank Merchant Account, and those are no fun at all either. My card expired (and was renewed) recently, I decided to stop using payp…

I'm mostly familiar with these things from the customer end, but what about google checkout? AFAIK it's international and similar to paypal. Anyway I absolutely love using it when it's an option.

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#199
I wonder if PayPal has misunderstood what Regretsy is doing.

For example, suppose PayPal think that Regretsy is buying cheap toys at cost, marking them up for profit, adding the cost of shipping, then selling them to customers as part of their ordinary business model (perhaps not even paying sales tax on them), but of course agreeing to send them to poor kids instead of the people paying the money.

PayPal would have every right to block such transactions, and I'd expect it. It wouldn't be charitable on the part of Regretsy nor would it be donation to a worthy cause, but a partial "donation" to Regretsy, a for-profit company. It would be ordinary profit making on the part of Regretsy in the guise of charity work!

I think Regretsy should just clarify with PayPal what it is they are actually doing. If Regretsy are honestly doing this for needy kids and not for their own profit, then I cannot see how it would be a win for PayPal to not accommodate this in some way.

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#200
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately the down-voters of my comment disagree. Until they present their argument against bitcoin, I assume they are only being ignorant.

Well, its worth mentioning that Bitcoin cannot do charge backs, cannot freeze your account, and doesn't charge astronomical fees. I'm not sure why anyone would downvote Bitcoin.

Because it's not a useful option for normal people, and carries its own set of legal ambiguities that vary from place to place.

All these "use bitcoin" responses are as useful as "let them eat cake".

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