<p>Does anyone here have experience with Paypal? I want to make money on one of my websites but I have heard some “bad” stories about the service.</p>
<p>I have used Paypal for a long time-mainly for Ebay but also have used it for other payments (and to receive payments). I find it very reliable and secure. You have to be careful about emails CLAIMING to be from paypal and asking for your password, bank info etc. Never answer them, and report them immediately.</p>
<p>I use it to pay for things all the time and love it. </p>
<p>It sounds like you want to use it to receive payments … I have heard a much more mixed bag about PayPal from people receiving money in PayPal (especially if you are going to take credit card payments).</p>
<p>We’ve been receiving credit card payments for several years with Paypal and have had no trouble (except for some approvals on international cards). The fees seem reasonable enough to me, especially since we would lose sales if we didn’t have a mechanism for this. The records it keeps for you - if you have things set up well - allow you to keep all the accounts straight and could even tie back to a simple (i.e., via Excel) inventory system. And once you’ve set up the first item, subsequent items are a piece of cake.</p>
<p>Of course we don’t have that many transactions a year but we use it for conference registrations, book orders, and donations to a scholarship fund we have.</p>
<p>I have used it for many years. Sending and receiving money.</p>
<p>I have also received fake emails from Paypal asking me to update my info. You have to watch out for those.</p>
<p>I used paypal on a transaction this year, did not receive the item and filed a dispute. It worked out in my favor and I had my money back in a short amount of time, (less $25–I could have gone after the individual for the $25, but it wasn’t worth my time.)</p>
<p>I have used PayPal for a long time, primarily for ebay purchases. I’m not sure how it works as a seller, but as a buyer, it has been hassle free and secure. As MOWC says, I do not answer emails claiming to be from PayPal…these can easily be scams.</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>I have also used paypal with no problems. I have never actually cashed the money received, just using it to spend on other purchases, so I can’t say how that works.</p>
<p>I have also received several of those fake paypal emails recently, and the do look very real. Skeptic that I am, however, I did not believe them and forwarded them to the real paypal.</p>
<p>I’ve used PayPal to pay for eBay purchases with no problem. But like Susan, I’ve never tried to extract cash from the system.</p>
<p>I’ve used Paypal for years, intiially only for buying but in recent years for selling small stuff. There is a small fee when you receive money. I, too, have found it to be efficient and user-friendly.</p>
<p>Another satisfied payor through Paypal. I will also echo the concerns about the fake E-mails. I received one after using Paypal ONE time. The E-mail looked very real, and being unfamiliar with the service, I wasn’t certain that I was not supposed to be receiving an email from them. Be very skeptical of any emails that you receive directly purporting to be Paypal - the only genuine ones I have received are confirmations of payments and of a change of address, and obvious advertisements of new services. These ads did not ask for money, and included the standard admonition about not sharing passwords or other info.</p>
<p>It is very efficient and user friendly as the payor.</p>
<p>I do not use Paypal as I accept MC/Visa/AMEX/Discover through a real merchant account, which deposits the funds directly into my business account. I get the letters from the phishers all the time. </p>
<p>My impression is that Paypal is an expensive processor – although I am sure it is dependent on volume. </p>
<p>We are (currently) not doing any online sales – it’s all in-person with the occasional phone order for pickup.</p>
<p>Another one who uses paypal for ebay here. The nice thing they currently offer is a free basic fraud alert account with Equifax. It notifies you when something has changed with any of your credit cards that triggers a red flag to their system. Its usually just some normal purchase, but its nice piece of mind.</p>
<p>PayPal’s advantage is primarily its reputation. Buyers and sellers (I’ve been both) are confident that their payment is secure.</p>
<p>My whole family uses paypal and so far no problems. Some friends have had problems, but all admitted to clicking on a link in a false email.</p>
<p>I run a website and converted to PayPal for all credit card processing a few months ago. We are very pleased with the service. PayPal offers better rates than the company’s regular merchant processor provides, and the employees who needed to work with PayPal got up to speed very quickly (it was my job to train them, so it was nice to see that it was almost effortless on my part). Sales went way up immediately – users have the option of entering their credit card on the web site or using a PayPal instant checkout option that will pull up their stored shipping address info once they log into PayPal - so it speeds the ordering process for many. </p>
<p>So basically, PayPal is wonderful. We’ve had one complaint from a buyer who claimed never to have received the item we shipped, but our customer service person provided PayPal with UPS shipping/tracking info to prove delivery, so there was no chargeback and the whole thing could be resolved quickly by email. </p>
<p>PayPal is also a nice way to handle transfers of money to a kid at college. </p>
<p>The one caveat I would have is to make very sure to use secure passwords – no pet’s names, etc. Of course this is true for any banking site – but I just don’t think this can be emphasized enough. Usually when a site gets hacked, it is because of an insecure password. So this is also something to remind the kids. In addition to using a mix of small & capital letters & numbers, keep in mind that longer passwords are more secure than short ones. Yeah, they are harder to type and remember, but if you have bank accounts linked to your PayPal account, then a hacker who gains access to PayPal may also be able to clean out the company accounts. Since the email used to receive payments is the same as the login, it is very easy for hackers to get hold of the account names – all they need to do from there is guess the password – so you need to make the password uncrackable. </p>
<p>I use a random password generator here:
<a href=“http://www.winguides.com/security/password.php?guide=security[/url]”>http://www.winguides.com/security/password.php?guide=security</a></p>
<p>We’ve used Paypal on both ends (buying and selling) with never a problem. One of the advantages of it on the selling end is that they charge per transaction as opposed to other services such as credit cards which take a larger fee. That can be a benefit for you if you are just getting started in an online business.</p>