Paypal question

[Thain]

I love Paypal, it has made supplying the needs of my new and growing baby girl immeasurably easier. Cloth diapers, baby clothes, wraps, wipes, you name it...

But I won't use anything but cash, face-to-face, for a firearm.

I've done too much e-commerce (both selling, buying, and running some major sales professionally) to trust it completly. Everything is in a database somewhere... I don't care if the .gov or .biz can discover I buy Australian Huggalugs baby clothes. They don't need to know about my 870.

Heck, "Thain"isn't even my. real. name.

 

[Xigris]

I'm not going into details, but I've had a couple less that satisfactory experiences with PayPal. I avoid dealing with them now.

 

[foob]

mp510

INCORRECT

I can speak from experience on this one. My Paypal account was suspended once, by their staff's appologetic confession in violation of Paypal's policies on suspending/ closing accounts. Because everything was A-OK with the transaction my account was reinstated and they appologized, their staff was somewhat helpful (though they gave more bad info than anything prior speaking with mgmnt).

They will cancel the Withdrawl transaction, and/or perform a counter transaction if necesary (if they can access your bank account) to hold the money while they figure out what to do.

Overall, they do provide an invaluable service, and ecommerce wouldn't be the same without them. No doubt their policy is to avoid liability, when I had my hassle with them the staff admitted that they were just trying to cover their rears, and when everything was sorted out there was no lasting repercussions (except the cash I blew tying up loose ends).
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Wow how was I incorrect? If the only money in the paypal account is the transaction. Freezing/suspending the account will only affect the money. If you withdraw the money before the freeze, if they do a counter transaction, obviously it's still only that money. They aren't going to touch any other money in your bank account (unless they investigate and find out you defrauded more people).

Anyway what I meant was (which I thought was obvious to most intelligent people), if you take payment on paypal, you should always leave your paypal account empty. You don't take 5 payments over the course of a month, and do a withdrawal. Withdraw after every transaction.

Also it's a good idea to have a separate bank account for online merchants (especially if you don't want paypal to do reverse a transaction), because withdrawing money from your account through electronic debit is easy with just your account number.

 

[bogie]

If your bank won't let you open a sacrificial internet bank account, you really need to switch banks.

My "ebay" bank account generally has maybe $100ish in it. If things get ugly, fine.

As for paypal - blame the lawyer-driven society, not the entity who is attempting to provide a relatively inexpensive service in the face of countless scammers, etc., etc...

THINK. Use logic. I know that at least SOME of you are capable of it.

My apologies to the people who are incapable of logic.

Let's pick our battles. Ebay/Paypal are relatively inexpensive, and, hey, they're covering their ass - wouldn't you?

 

[LAK]

Although paypal is not a bank, no doubt they are regulated under many laws overlapping with some financial institutions. While I am not saying they have not done so and gotten away with it, I have serious doubts about their ability to legally withold funds. Certainly they can suspend an account within their proclaimed rules, but to withold money belonging to a person after a legal transaction amounts to a form of wire theft.

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http://ussliberty.org
http://ssunitedstates.org

 

[thexrayboy]

If my bank lets me write a check for a firearm or related items, if my credit card companies allow me to charge a firearm or related item to the account
then there is no legal reason for paypal to have the rules restricting what firearms and firearms related items through their services. If Wells Fargo, B of A, Discover Card, Visa etc. have no problem with me buying guns, ammo and full capacity mags then paypal can't use the "liability" loophole and expect any one with the brains of a scarecrow to believe that crap. Paypal is not exposed to any legal liabilities that these other companies are not exposed to. Their decision is political. It is not based on a risk management
analysis. That is just an excuse.

Paypal and EBay are anti 2A. Plain and simple. They couch their terms in words intended to decieve their rationale but it won't fly. I have never used either service and probably never will. I don't patronize any business willingly that discriminates against supporters of the Second Amendment.

 

[dfaugh]

I say again. PAYPAL DOES NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE BUYING OR SELLING!

Sort of...They have vast data-mining capabilities ("suspicious activity checkers"....err, yeah right), and I know several peaople who have run afoul of the "no firearms policy", and had their accounts suspended.

And yes they can and do freeze funds, with NO proof other than the buyers say so, and can freeze entire accounts---

Never keep more money than needed for a purchase in your paypal account and never give paypal account info from your main bank account as they will transfer money from there.

Difficult or impractical, though, if you're using it on a high volume basis, as I used to when I was running 100+ auctions (non-firearms related) on eBay at a time.

I run multiple online businesses and move thousands of dollars through PayPal every month. I know how they work.

Do you really? If you do that much business through them, and have never hadda problem, you are among the "1%" club. EVERYONE I know that's used them on large scale, for any period of time, has had multiple problems w/ PayPal, including me, and most refuse to accept Paypal any more. They have been sued at least once (I was a party to the class action suit)that I know of.

Additionally, they now appear to have security issues, as more than one person, including myself has had their account "hacked" in recent months. (I still have one, that I very occasionally BUY things with (like twice a year).
I know better than to respond to "phishing" schemes (I know how to read the header info on emails, which reveals the source.), and run a network in my house, with a firewall and antivirus running on the proxy server, that actually connects to the internet PLUS individual firewalls and antivirus on each PC.

So, the ONLY way my account could've been hacked was at their end.

I could go on, in more detail, but you get the idea---PayPal IS Evil

 

[Can'thavenuthingood]

Give a look at GearPay, they are progun. When I recently setup an online store I asked about debit card, VISA and how do folks send money, here's what I received from Customer Service:

They just go to GearPay, sign up and send funds to your email address.

This way they are dealing with real money and a real person, and not risking fraud since both members get verified and have valid accounts.

So, direct them to GearPay.com and have them sign up and send funds to your email address.

Once they are verified, they can send an e-check or if they have a balance in their account, they can send an instant credit to your account.

We are working hard to provide Debit card usage.

The roadblock has been both the large Credit Card companies have their names on all debit cards and do not care for our stance on the 2nd Amendment.

We will be crossing the 1 year mark in April and will have definite records of a strong business with a strong customer support base to show them we are not going anywhere, so this should sway their opinion.

And to record, no firearm has jumped out of a GearPay customer's computer screen and hurt anyone that we know of to date.

We will send out a Company email to all members as soon as we know something.

Thank you and welcome to GearPay!

http://gearpay.com/

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As I understand it, PayPal is just one huge Merchant Account with all the users or customers utilizing PayPal's account. PayPal sets individual accounts for you, the user. They (your account) are not subject to the SEC or FDIC or most any of the protections that protect PayPal.
Its just one big family sized account controlled by Daddy PayPal and they can do as they please with your money. A large block of money like that can make a bunch of money in short term interest.

Vick

 

[BigBlock]

Do you really? If you do that much business through them, and have never hadda problem, you are among the "1%" club. EVERYONE I know that's used them on large scale, for any period of time, has had multiple problems w/ PayPal, including me, and most refuse to accept Paypal any more. They have been sued at least once (I was a party to the class action suit)that I know of.

I didn't say I never had any problems with them, but again, their problems have nothing to do with firearms. It doesn't matter if you're selling a revolver or an alarm clock, you're equally at risk for problems. Yes, paypal is a huge pain in the ass to deal with, but as an online seller, if you don't accept paypal you're just shooting yourself in the foot. That's like not accepting cash at a garage sale.

 

[mrcpu]

Well, I would disagree, as both a seller and a buyer. The seller has the advantage, albeit slight. At some point in time, he has both money and product at the same time in his hands. The buyer never has that luxury.