Paypal

Marc Montgomery · #1 13-09-11, 13:19

just curious. I have signed up for paypal..but I see lots of criticism

and as a newbie, I admit to not knowing the ins-and outs

The reason I signed up is that I thought it would be cheaper than a bank
EMT- electronic money transfer- which is a huge rip-off

i signed up with my credit card thinking (wrongly) I could use that to transfer funds. It seems I still have to use an EMT to put funds into paypal...which seems to defeat the purpose

Also it seems there are a great many angry complaints about PP rather exhorbitant exchange rates...much higher than bank exchange rates..which is a concern as many things are bought across borders.

it also seems a bit..well interesting ..that ebay owns PP and so almost insists that people use it.

What are your experiences - opinions.. alternatives

Ralph Volkert · #2 13-09-11, 14:55

Marc I have been using Paypal for some time (because I have used ebay for some time). Like you I originally started with my Credit card. I soon used my Bank account. It improved transfer times, decreased costs and I have never had a problem. Paypal will then only use your credit card incase of insufficient funds in your bank account. I use a seperate Bank account for paypal but that was only to keep things seperate.

Bob Carriere · #3 13-09-11, 15:32

I have used Pay Pall for all kind of money transfers.....far easier to have it linked to a special bank account. Any money received can then be kept on PAy Pall or cash deposited to your account..... the credit card datat is just for there assurance of payment. If the seller wants cash I send a Bank Money Order...... which I get free...... being a senior has its privileges.

Touch wood but never lost a red cent with Pay Pal or with any of the EBay transactions.

Bob

Marc Montgomery · #4 13-09-11, 15:37

thanks for the input..

On their website there are a LOT of complaints about overcharging on exchange rates...which I would think is a concern given that most of us buy across borders..

thoughts?

Bob Carriere · #5 13-09-11, 15:50

You deal with Ebay and Pay Pal they have you by the short hair.....

why is it that when the Canadian dollars is at $104.95 they still charge you a conversion rate to convert to US dollars....?? not even accepted at PAR....

Why is it an item is sold at $100 in the US and sold at $139 Cdn in Canada when our dollars is worth more.....?

What about buying a $5 item that can be shipped anywhere in the USA for $14.00 but the seller charges a flat fee fo $20.00 ....?

Just have to add these $$$ fees to realize the real cost.

I found some real savings can be made by having a regualr mailing address at a local ...across the border....UPS store...... you save on shipping and sometimes on custom PST/GST when you forget to declare expensive small items.

90% of the business done by the UPS store in Ogdensburg, NY is with Canadians.

Bob

gordon · #6 13-09-11, 15:51

I think all the other methods of moving money will be the same or worse.

I use PayPal for lots of small E_Bay purchases and all has been OK ( till now )

You can't really beat the convenience of being able to buy something online round the other side of the world and pay for item and postage in a few clicks.

Gordon

rob love · #7 13-09-11, 15:52

How do you figure that EMT is a rip off? The sender pays $1.50 and the receiver pays nothing. It is instant, and costs less than a cheque and a stamp in most cases.

I use paypal for out of country purchases, but as you mention, they really gouge on the exchange rates. As well, the person receiving the paypal payment pays fees, especially if the funds are credit card based.

I only link my paypal to my credit card. In the event of a dispute, and if paypal will not help me, I can go to the credit card company and reverse the deal. I can't do that with the bank account, since those funds are now gone.

Also with paypal, you have to be careful with your purchases. If you use it for any firearms (or accessories) and they figure it out (ie: in the notes of the purchase) then they will sieze all funds in your account and try to hold on to them for as long as they can get away with it.

If you want to read some of the horror stories on paypal, go to the http://www.paypalsucks.com/ website, and you may think again about how you use that service.

gordon · #8 13-09-11, 16:24

I've been charged £9, maybe US$15, for a single EFT, actually more than I lose in PayPal costs.

You can always estimate the payout conversion charges too. If I buy something in the US that costs US$90, with maybe US$10 for postage, the total will be US$100, but I send US$104 to cover a 4% currency conversion charge that the seller would otherwise get deducted.

You can also choose to do that by pre-paying the currency conversion charges as one of the PayPal options, which I find very useful.

Probably not a lot more to say, but I think the success of the system and the profits it generates shows that it works well, most of the time, for most of the users. My alternative used to be cash in an envelope but that didn't have good track record.

cliff · #9 13-09-11, 18:04

here in Oz I used to pay heaps in bank fees for transfers especially overseas but now I always use Paypal and I accept only Paypal for payment when selling on eBay and have always got a good outcome using it.

Harry Moon · #10 13-09-11, 23:43

They make it so easy it saves all the hassles. As a buyer I pay no fees directly and I've never had to much to grumble about exchange rates but am suprised how high the Aussie dollar has gone up in value over the last 10 years. I still scoop some good items from down under, or shall i say "Snipe".

Marc Montgomery · #11 15-09-11, 13:14

ROB--how so 1.50??? my so-called bank..the Caisse Pop and even the BMO charge a minimum of 25$ for an EMT..

I want to buy something for 300US and the Caisse wants 40$ for an EMT to his US account !!!!! and a query to BMO said over 30$ a postal money gram is only marginally less expensive.

The thing that gets me--although I havent tried it yet.. is that to put money into PP an EMT is required..and I get the impression that I'll get dinged a hefty charge for that from the bank..and then PP will add on its unfair conversion rate to US dollars ..

.so itll end up costing ..i guess..a lot more...and I wonder if this would be the case every time I add money to the account (?!)

Bob Carriere · #12 15-09-11, 13:41

.... have your money taken automatically from your chequing account.

It costs me 0.69 cents to send $138.00 Cdn to the East coast.

I know to be safe you need to create a separate account at the bank but it is worth it. When I receive payments I leave it in the PP account until I buy something.... they draw from that first then the bank account.

I hate the US money conversation rate when the Cdn $$ is worth more but as Harry Moon says ... it is so convenient for both seller and buyer that it is worth the fee.

Think of a few years ago when we use to pay 0,40 cents conversion on every dollars..... and Canadian sellers wanted paid in US money.....

Bob

rob love · #13 15-09-11, 15:34

Marc:
we are not talking about the same EMT. If you bank online and want to send money to anyone else in Canada who also banks on line, you can send an EMT. All I would need is your email address, and I log online to my bank, and send it. I then have to contact you and give you the password. You will get an email within minutes to possibly an hour, it will direct you to a link to collect your money, you log onto your online banking form there. You enter the password I gave you, and the money is in your account. Costs me $1.50 to send it, and you would pay nothing to receive it.

Those EMTs are not able to be sent to someone outside of the country. For that, I use paypal linked to my credit card. When I make a payment to someone out of country by paypal, they tack on their 4% exchange rate difference, then put the total charge to my credit card. As long as I pay it off by the end of the month, I pay no other charges or interest on the purchase. Another option would be Western Union I guess, but they also have some fees involved.

Alex Blair (RIP) · #14 15-09-11, 17:13

I do not like or trust PayPal and some of the electronic money transfers suck..pay big time..That is what I said originally when we were discussing sending payment in support of MLU>.
I don't know who is doing the accounting but assume Hanno and Sean..
Maybe Keith..the money is being sent somewhere but my self I send my contribution directly to Sean Winnington-ball.
He must have some expenses in regards to the care and maintenance of MLU..
I send cash by mail.and it costs me a stamp and an envelope..
I sent it to him last month and have not heard weather he got it or not..but assume he did.
Anyway that is how I pay my bills..cash..

rob love · #15 16-09-11, 03:20

Spoken like a true Luddite Alex. Now you had better head outside and draw a pail of water out of the well for your horse so you can head to work in the morning.

I must admit to being partial to cash for many purchases myself, and prefer it's use for local purchases. Certainly the government looks forward to the day it can replace it with an electronic form so proper taxes can be applied.

Marc Montgomery · #16 16-09-11, 13:25

Ralph and Rob...so if someone bills me... PP automatically withdraws the funds from my credit card if I have nothing in the PP account?

please excuse what may be dumb questions..

also what kind of fees does the other person have to pay to get the money?

(pp sure seems like a huge money maker..fees off the top..excess exchange rates..and fees at the other end. they get you coming and going and in the middle too wow..but really it seems we have extremely few options?)

Bob Carriere · #17 16-09-11, 15:20

They exist to make money from money,,,, it's called free enterprise.

when you buy ans send money the seller pay a fee..... unless you send it as a gift.

You will have to pay Cdn to US conversion fee.

You are better to create a separate small bank chequing account than use your credit card. You might want to consider using a Canadian US fund account to save some of the fees.

No matter what someone will have to pay them for the services they provide.

...and for amounts less than $25.... consider sending cash......I never lost any money yet.

Bob

rob love · #18 16-09-11, 15:32

I actually had to send some loot to someone else on this board in the US last night, so got to see what fees were involved. It was credit card based, on $350 US, so here are the fees I had to pay:

Paypal Exchange rate = 1 cdn $ = 0.987 US dollars (current BofC exchange rate is 1.0163)
Fees: $13.95 US.

Total cost to send $350 US ended up being $368.60 onto my MCard. Remember that the US peso is currently lower than the strong Cdn $ these days, so in reality it was around $20 in exchange and fees.

Now if I was purchasing off ebay, the seller would have been eating the $13.95 fee I believe, while I still would have been paying the 3% on the exchange rate.

Ralph Volkert · #19 16-09-11, 16:27

Hi Marc

I NEVER put money into the Paypal acount. Those funds can be frozen or accessed by PayPal at their discretion, in the event of a problem. Just like if you have a problem with your regular bank. If your bank thinks they have been ripped off they can go in and withdraw or freeze your account. At least with your regular bank you can go in and talk with someone. Paypal not so much.

The reason Paypal offers an account service because some people are leary of using a bank account on line. But if just for Paypal no problem.

I attached a private bank account to Paypal. This is for security purposes. If there is insufficient funds in that acount Paypal will withdraw the funds from your credit card.

I have never had a problem with Paypal and I use it a lot. It is a lot cheaper now that most of my transactions are done through the bank. With your credit card EVERYONE gets to charge fees.

You can send money to anyone registered with paypal they just give you their Paypal email adress.

Ralph Volkert · #20 16-09-11, 16:37

Alex...about sending cash through the mail...technically it is not allowed by Canada post. If they detect the cash they will open your mail take the funds and sell you a money order for whatever is left after the cost is detected from the monies found and send that onward. you will of course be short now. Or if there is not enough money Canada Post will return to sender.

Granted it doesnt happen a lot but it does happen.

Try explaining to your nephew why you sent him a Birthday card with a money order for $1.19!

rob love · #21 16-09-11, 17:01

There are postal employees who make a habit of detecting cash in the mail and forwarding nothing.

sth65pac · #22 16-09-11, 23:00

Only one thing to say: Make sure you have a LONG password. So it cant be stolen.

I had someone try to transfer money from my account. PP investigated & refunded me the money. It was a stressful period though. (Lucky I had a spare $700)
I notified my bank that day so they said it was noted.

I believe my password was hacked. It was 15 keystrokes/letters numbers etc. Significantly more now.
Since then, no issues.