27/2/2008 - Jason goes Gunning for PayPal

THE TRUTH ABOUT PAYPAL!

by Jason Houston, eBay abuse victim since 1999

18 Reasons to Avoid the “Pitfalls of PayPal”!

THE TRUTH ABOUT PAYPAL!

eBay encourages everybody to sign up for PayPal. But is PAYPAL really as safe and secure as eBay wants you to believe?  Every page insists it is “convenient”, “protected”, and a lot of other worthless promises. They claim 90% of eBay users accept PayPal. Yet, look through any category on eBay and you’ll see user after user emphatically stating they do not and will not accept PayPal as a legitimate form of payment for goods and services.

Why?

1. PayPal will not disclose their costs without first signing up.

2. PayPal’s convoluted costs are ambiguously buried under legalese, impossible to

    reconcile.

3. PayPal does not stand behind their worthless promises and warranties.

4. PayPal’s Customer Service is limited to generic, empty form replies.

5. PayPal’s hidden seller’s costs are astronomical.

6. PayPal blocks access to an account once a dispute has been filed.

7. PayPal uses phony email addresses that do not respond.

8. PayPal does not publish toll-free telephone lines for fraud victims.

9. PayPal does not publish email support for problems.

10. PayPal does not admit responsibility for their errors and omissions.

11. PayPal’s flimsy security systems are easily invaded by hackers.

12. PayPal leaves credit card holders vulnerable to fraudulent use of their cards.

13. PayPal offers only 3 chargebacks per year to defrauded customers.

14. PayPal sellers rarely understand the true dynamics behind PayPal.

15. PayPal purports to offer a claim form for victims, but does not make it

      publicly accessible.

16. Paypal’s hollow warranties have so many hidden qualifications, exclusions,

      limitations and deductibles that virtually nothing is protected.

17. PayPal is nothing more than another form of Internet-based consumer fraud.

18. PayPal is a tax on people who never learned math.

If the above sounds eerily familiar, it should: Paypal is wholly owned by eBay, Inc. Like everything eBay claims is some kind of user “protection”, Paypal is as worthless as eBay’s own customer support. Clicking on Contact PayPal Customer Service on their website only returns “Page Not Found”.

The biggest problem with PayPal is that it acts like a bank, but it isn't regulated like one. PayPal offers none of the protections that even the worst of legitimate banks offer, and it isn't required to maintain any of the security, customer service or dispute resolution options that are required of honest banks. At the same time, while PayPal holds large amounts of their customers' money, they make millions off daily financial transactions, and even offers credit and debit cards.

So why isn't it considered a bank? As far as the federal government is concerned, PayPal isn't a bank because it doesn't call itself a bank.

What can be done? Until the federal government becomes genuinely serious about Internet fraud, NOTHING can be done. Like eBay itself, PayPal is a private company and is not subject to usury laws, rules of disclosure, the use of plain language or any of the other afore-mentioned protections that currently regulate financial institutions.

For more information on the negligible value of using PayPal, to go Google and enter ‘Problems with Paypal’, ‘Paypal sucks’, and/or ‘Complaints against Paypal’ and check the returns.

c. 2007 BNP Media