Every time I log into Paypal, it informs me that I have a limit of X amount of dollars I can send before I have to verify myself. Verification means giving them the routing information to my bank account. I really, really don’t want to flash my bank account number online unless it is fantastically safe, and Paypal’s boast of “military strength” security tells me nothing, except that Paypal is apparently a branch of the armed services. I’d like a more neutral appraisal. Does anyone here know if Paypal’s security is good? Or do you take a bad chance giving them private financial information?
I am a verified member and have been for a long time. I’ve had absolutely no problems.
Your concern is understandable. I hesitated at first. Ebay owns Paypal now and that was reassuring.
Just don’t give out any information to an email request until you have checked to be sure that it actually is from Paypal.
Anecdotally, I’d say pretty good. I have moved about $8,000USD thru my PP acct in the last few years, and never had a security problem. Had plenty of annoying “security check” things happen - have to re-verify my card, and so on, but that’s for my benefit as much as theirs, and a small price to pay for the convenience of using PayPal.
There are several sites out there (paypalsucks.com?) who have an axe to grind about how PP ripped them off. I suspect they were just in the worng place at the wrong time, so I guess it could happen to you. I think it’s safest to keep your bal pretty low, so if they do “steal” your money, your life is not destoryed (as some people’s apparently were).
Abby
I’ve been using PayPal since it started up and have had no problems. If you are really worried, open a separate bank account to only use for PayPal transactions, and keep a minimum amount of money in it.
The transmission method is probably quite safe but many people have reported problems with Paypal: http://www.paypalsucks.com/
I like the idea of a separate bank account with limited funds. We have designated a separate credit card for all internet purchases as well. It limits our exposure if the card number is stolen. It also makes it easier to keep an eye on electronic charges.
I rarely keep money in my paypal account & I almost never use my paypal funds to pay for something, but use my credit card through paypal, that way I can dispute it at the bank. If you want to read more, I suggest:
http://paypalwarning.com/
Just remember to never respond to emails asking for your Paypal (or eBay) account name and password. They will not ask you for this information. I have seen elaborate web sites set up to look just like Paypal and eBay. I forget the URL’s, but they were similar to ebayservice.com or something like that. The scammers then send a flood of spam telling everyone that they need accounts and passwords for maintenance or that they want you to change your password. If you follow their instructions, you have just given away your account info.
The clones I saw didn’t last long, but I’m sure it was long enough to scam a lot of account information.
I’d go with the separate account, specially if your bank offers cheapo no-charges checking accounts. Then keep that account at a balance only adequate for what you really are likely to transact that way.
The transmission is safe - I believe it’s part of the FEDWIRE and ACH systems that banks use a bejillion times each day to shuffle money around.
I’m not 100% positive on that as I’m not in that particular segment of the bank.
More importantly, it’s safe because we make it so! 
You mean when you type your data into a web page and it uploads to the server? The sucurity of the data in transport is extremely safe. You should worry much more about letting a waiter at a restaurant see your credit card. It’s safe enough that for all practical purposes, you can consider it encoded with an unbreakable cipher.