Paypal alternatives

[Shuie]

I've got an indefinitely locked or 'limited' paypal account right now. Thankfully its only got $70 in it at the moment, but from what Im reading, I wont see that for at least 6 months. In the meantime, I've lost sales on a half a dozen items because I don't have a way to accept a trusted form of an electronic payment

From what Im reading, this is common, and has been the subject of a class action lawsuit in the past. I read it on the internet so it must be true.

What is everyone using instead of paypal? Are the 995 merchant accounts legit? Does Google have something similar? Bidpay? Im not running a business or anything, I just need a way to accept and make payments for ebay and forum stuff.

TIA

[Joeaksa]

Sherman,

Yes, this is typical Pay Pal. Go to: www.paypalsucks.com and read all you can.

Then I would look at Bidpay or the other options. I hate Pay Pal but use them because its easy but their stance on many things does grate on my nerves.

I opened my account with them using a bank account, then put my AmEx card on the account. Now the bank account is empty and they hate AmEx. AmEx is the one credit card that will revoke any charge and PP cannot do anything against it. If you stay with PP, put an AmEx card on it.

[notfarnow]

On what grounds does paypal lock an account? I have a few hundred dollars in mine that I use for ebay & forum purchases, will they lock it over feedback or disputes?

[id10t]

Google now has a pay service... still has the no firearms, etc. part of it though. However, I'd trust google more than paypay/ebay anyway, since they tend to "do no evil"

[Joeaksa]

Jake,

PP will lock the account for almost any silly reason, there is no rhyme or reason. Look at the www.paypalsucks.com link and read some of the horror stories.

Thats the reason why I pulled all the funds out of that bank account and stopped any overdraft protection. They will put a hold on your bank account and freeze it, sometimes lasting up to 6 months. You then get to stand on your hands to prove that you are correct and eventually they may unlock it.

The other thing as shown above is that all of them try to keep you from sending funds to anyone that has anything to do with firearms or gambling. I have done neither but it just pisses me off to have them tell me what and where I can shuttle my money, as long as its legal that is. I just looked on www.gunbroker.com and they are showing auctions that will accept funds with www.bidpay.com so guess that they are working with firearms sales. Might be worth looking into this as an alternative. I would not use Google for this reason but then thats me.

[RallyJon]

Bidpay recently completely overhauled the way it does business. Before, it was a very seller-centric service that no buyer in their right mind would ever use. Now, it looks like they're more like PayPal in features and function.

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Thats the reason why I pulled all the funds out of that bank account and stopped any overdraft protection. They will put a hold on your bank account and freeze it, sometimes lasting up to 6 months. You then get to stand on your hands to prove that you are correct and eventually they may unlock it.

Joe, to clarify, did you mean that they will put a hold on your Paypal account, or bank account?

I always used a secondary CC with a low limit, but just recently added a bank account. I had never thought about the overdraft protection, I'll have to rethink that.

Thanks for the tips!

[Shuie]

How can they possbily freeze my bank account?

[Jims5543]

Pay Pal does suck. I tried them and did not like them. So if a vendor is selling and only takes Pay Pal I look for someone that takes a regular Credit Card and buy from them. When these pay pal vendors realize they are loosing customers things will change. But, I doubt it. At least they do not get my business.

[Rick Lee]

I have actually paid for a gun bought on Gunbroker.com through PayPal. I think the trick is to just do it separate from the auction website and change the subject line so as to make no mention of eveil guns. Just bought a few holsters on eBay yesterday and used PayPal. I hate them because of their gun stance. But I've never had a problem with them.

[Rodeo]

So I'm making a mistake by keeping a lot of cash in my paypal account because of their high interest rate?

I think right now, paypal is close to 5%

I actually do the OPPOSITE of Wayne's suggestion, I "sweep" money from my stupid-low-interest Bank of America savings account to paypal on a regular basis, keep just enough in BoA to pay bills, etc.

[Shuie]

I just filled out some paperwork at my bank to refuse all future ACH transactions from paypal and I will be closing this checking account ASAP and canceling the credit cards that I have on file with them. This is abso****inglutely ricoculous.

[Jims5543]

Wait until you go to use your CC on a site that uses Paypal, they will tell you that they detected your CC linked to paypal and you MUST use your Paypal account.

[Shuie]

Is there any fundamental difference between the way paypal and bidpay work concerning ACH payments?

To me, it looks like they function the same way and that bidpay could freeze my account at their discretion and keep my bank info indefinitely the same way paypal can. Cancelling credit cards and checking accounts is a PITA. Id rather not go through this again.

[Shuie]

Because I violated the usage policy. I understand why they locked my account. If you want more details I can PM them.

I've read bidpay's current usage policy, and it doesn't seem like I will have any issues using their service for anything I buy or sell. Does anyone have similar bidpaysucks.com websites or horror stories?