Important heads up about Paypal

I have used PayPal for years as well with no problems. I keep $0 in Paypal account directly and I do have it linked to a checking account that I only keep $100 in. Just enough to keep free checking at the bank and yet be verified by PayPal and Ebay should I choose to sell something. then whenever I want to buy something, I just tell Paypal to use my credit card for all the funds. Nice and easy and haven't had problems yet.

Mickey

I have never had to use paypal and do not understand why people do?????

pbelarge wrote in post #12073606
I have never had to use paypal and do not understand why people do?????

Well, Paypal has your credit card info and when you buy something say from B&H Paypal charges your card and pays B&H. Same thing when you use Paypal with a different vendor. In all cases only Paypal knows your credit card info. I like minimizing how many merchants or processing systems have my cc info because these do get breached.

Checkouts are also faster as you don't have to go find your cc and enter all the info again.

Another reason is individuals selling things can get paid by Paypay (thus allowing you to use your credit card to pay them) without needing merchant credit card accounts.

It is popular for a reason.

An update:
I'm still in Paypal Hell. The money has not transferred in from savings. I called them and they said it bounced. I said WTF, as I knew enough money is in there. Turns out it's been trying to take the funds from a checking account that I had used on a previous transaction. I was sure I had chosen the savings account. Either it defaulted back to the checking via a glitch or I accidentally chose the wrong account. Either way, I got a $29 fee from the bank with the checking account. The transaction still said "processing" despite this. They told me it would try two more times before auto-canceling. I told them to just go ahead and kill the transaction and I would redo it. They said there was no way they could stop it. I suggested I delete that checking account from Paypal and they said that could not be done as long as a transaction was pending with it. Then I said I would delete my entire Paypal account to stop it, as I could just re-create it. They said no can do. You cannot delete an account if any transaction is pending. In other words, once a transaction has started, it's set to try 3 times and nothing can stop it. Arg!

So I checked with my bank to see what they could do, and they said they could not block it, that I would get hammered with that $29 fee two more times. I was pulling my @#$%ing hair out. You would think you could just kill an unwanted transaction at either end. The bank did waive one $29 fee, thank goodness.

So what I ended up doing was wiring money from my savings to that checking account in hopes of getting it there before Paypal's next hammer. Very frustrating. Paypal is not as flexible as one would hope. So one $29 fee is waived. If the money transfer beats Paypal's next hammer, I will have avoided all those bounce fees and the only cost from this hairpullerouter will be the $30 wire fee.

I've decided from now on to only associate Paypal with one checking account and to transfer money to that account from savings if need be before doing anything with Paypal. I hope this info is useful to people.

Paypal is a useful tool, but you it can also burn you if you're not careful.

Update: The wire-in has shown up. I've escaped this mess with only the $30 wire fee. Could have cost me $90.

ottacat wrote in post #12073659
Well, Paypal has your credit card info and when you buy something say from B&H Paypal charges your card and pays B&H. Same thing when you use Paypal with a different vendor. In all cases only Paypal knows your credit card info. I like minimizing how many merchants or processing systems have my cc info because these do get breached.

Checkouts are also faster as you don't have to go find your cc and enter all the info again.

Another reason is individuals selling things can get paid by Paypay (thus allowing you to use your credit card to pay them) without needing merchant credit card accounts.

It is popular for a reason.

This for sure. Anytime I use paypal I just pay for it by credit card. After I get the receipt from paypal I login to the bank and transfer the money from checking to the credit card. That way I 'payed' for it with the credit card. Haven't had any problems other than it just showing up(paypal) late on my CC statement and there usually being a small credit to my CC <$10.

Too late to help with this transaction but next time DON'T transfer the money manually. Just pay the guy and it will ask you where you want the funds to come from. One of the options I always see is "INSTANT transfer from savings account." Of course the other option is from your credit card. Either one of those would have allowed you to get the money to them immediately.

On second thought, you could still do that if you have enough money. Leave that transfer you initiated alone and start over with what I'm saying above.

Sometimes I don't have enough funds in one account to make a purchase. Some sellers don't want multiple transactions, so I do the same thing as the OP. I transfer money from one account to my Paypal balance. Once that's transferred, I use another account or a credit card to fund the rest of the remaining balance. That way the seller receives one payment with the full amount.

OP, are your checking and savings accounts at different banks? If at the same bank, don't they allow you to transfer between accounts? If you couldn't do that, I'm curious why you didn't just physically take the money out of your savings acct and deposit it in the checking. Why pay a wire fee? My bank has 4 branches within 3 miles of my house and would rather drive there, do it in person, and save $30. Every big bank is either right next to or around the corner from my own. It would probably be faster doing it physically anyway. Plus, you'd have the peace of mind that you wouldn't be hit with any more fees?

klr.b wrote in post #12100971
Sometimes I don't have enough funds in one account to make a purchase. Some sellers don't want multiple transactions, so I do the same thing as the OP. I transfer money from one account to my Paypal balance. Once that's transferred, I use another account or a credit card to fund the rest of the remaining balance. That way the seller receives one payment with the full amount.

OP, are your checking and savings accounts at different banks? If at the same bank, don't they allow you to transfer between accounts? If you couldn't do that, I'm curious why you didn't just physically take the money out of your savings acct and deposit it in the checking. Why pay a wire fee? My bank has 4 branches within 3 miles of my house and would rather drive there, do it in person, and save $30. Every big bank is either right next to or around the corner from my own. It would probably be faster doing it physically anyway. Plus, you'd have the peace of mind that you wouldn't be hit with any more fees?

They're different accounts, and the checking one is in another state (long story). As of yesterday, the money transfer STILL hasn't gone through, despite the money sitting in the right account waiting for it. In this time, I've received my Federal tax refund and used it to pay another 1K. So I'm at 1300 of 1950. All I can do is wait for that @##$%ing transaction to finally clear or time out so I can start again.

In my experience a transfer takes about 4 business days. I usually try to transfer on Monday (or Sat/Sun) knowing that it'll be available around Thursday. Transferring in the middle of the week can sometimes take a full week before it's completed. Unfortunately, it's the weekend, so you'll just have to wait.

An update: STILL waiting for the transfer to complete. I pulled up my bank records online and it shows the transfer has come out of my bank account. I pull up Paypal and it still says, "Processing." I called them up and they say it will clear on April 6! It's March 30 today. They say it has to go through the Federal Reserve. This for a transaction I started on March 21.

Let's face it. PayPal just plain sucks. It's great when it works right, but if there are problems, getting a resolution is like pulling teeth. I've been actively googling alternatives.

Fortunately, the seller's been understanding, and I don't desperately need the 1D 3 for a shoot. I can handle my next shoots with my 20D. My PayPal transactions last August all went without a hitch. This one has been sheer exasperation.

All I can do is wait it out.

I sold something on e-bay with overnight shipping with a delivery time. Package was delivered 3h late but nevertheless I filed the claim and got the money from USPS. I issued full refund (of shipping). Although the guy paid full 3% when sending payment, refund immediately became e-check which meant no balance in his account for 6 days or so. How ridiculous!! I have bank account as well as CC attached to Paypal if you are wondering.

Personally I avoid Paypal like the plague (aside from Bill Me Later).

It was a good idea to start with but it became too big and has been rotting from the inside now for years.

pbelarge wrote in post #12073606
I have never had to use paypal and do not understand why people do?????

Well for one thing they pay me 2% cash back on everything i buy with my Paypal card which has saved me thousands over the years.

An update. The transfer finally went through today and I paid for my camera. I'm excited to soon be owning a 1D Mark III.

ThomasOwenM wrote in post #12141752
An update. The transfer finally went through today and I paid for my camera. I'm excited to soon be owning a 1D Mark III.

Glad it worked out and congrats on the new camera.