I have been getting emails pretty regularly now from PayPal asking me to become verified.
The message claims that I am dangerously close to my initial sending (not sPending limit, I checked). The weird thing is, according to their own information, I am not even close to my limit. In fact, I have spent less than 30% of the amount.
So my question is, are these emails real? Is PayPal actually requiring me to link to a bank account?
Because, I will NOT link to a bank account. No way am I providing a bank account number to PayPal. Especially since I can provide a credit card number and use that to make my transactions.
Is anyone else getting these messages, or am I being spammed/scammed by some clever hacker out there wanting to get my bank account information?
I assume PayPal would want to dip into my bank account directly to avoid paying the credit card fee. But that’s too damn bad. I like the extra level of protection my credit card provides.
Any help or info on this would be greatly appreciated.
You should send a customer service email to Paypal, just to verify what they are telling you.
But yes, I’ve had emails when I actually approached my sending limit. Cool thing is, I just signed up for a new account and started over with a new limit.
This is exactly what I plan to do. I really do not like their heavy-handed approach to try to get my bank acct. info.
When I first joined PayPal, and for a while after I joined, I always had to go through an opt out page before I could complete my transaction. “am I sure I don’t want to link to my bank accout?”. Yes, you bastards, now leave me be!
Go directly to paypal.com. Do not click on a link.
Log in there and go to the main My Account page. Look at the Notification box in the sidebar. If there’s an important message for you it should be listed there.
The choice is, give them my bank account number or sign up for the PayPal MasterCard. Makes sense… That 3% fee that they pay out to my credit card company will be theirs. I’m sure that will add up to big bucks.
Too bad. I’ll close my account and open another one until they take that loophole away. Which I’m sure they will.
I opened a small checking account at a bank I already do business with. Because of my other balances the checking account is free regardless of its’ balance. I linked PayPal to that account. The worst that can happen is $50 to $100 gets grabbed. If I need to make a bigger purchase with a bank balance I just transfer some in.
Uhhhh, yeah. That’s why I wrote a couple of lines above that line you quoted. To wit:
See? I grasped the economics of it. Calling them “greedy bastards” wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. I guess if I don’t put a smilie face after everything that is supposed to be taken as humor, folks can’t make that leap. Sorry about that.
This is also a good idea and one worth considering, I guess. I wouldn’t even mind getting their credit card if they weren’t so pushy about it. And they are also being a bit obtuse about the reasoning. I honestly feel that getting messages warning me of hitting my limit are a bit extreme at this point, given that I’m so far away the only possible thing I could do to hit it would be to buy a car.
If paypal would come right out and say “we are changing our policy as of Date X as to how you will be required to use PayPal for your on-line and other transactions. You can either provide us with a bank account number, or you can apply for and use our MasterCard cretic card. These are the only two options, as we are removing third party credit cards as a payment option.”. That’s pretty simple, and they don’t even need to get into the “we are a money-grubbing corporation, and we must increase shareholder value. So, your 3% free ride is over”. (just in case)
That is not only reasonable, it’s honest. The truth is, they can do what they want. As far as I know, eBay owns PayPal (or they are spun off of eBay), but they are the only third party payment method permitted on eBay. Some people still accept checks and credit cards, but almost everyone accepts PayPal, and many sellers ONLY accept PayPal. So they have quite a market there. It is a flat out monopoly, actually. (any legal minds out there know if this can be considered a monopoly if they don’t permit other companies to compete with PayPal as a payment option? )
If I were to start BuddyPay, and charge a 2.5% transaction fee, or better yet, a 2% fee, I’ll bet quite a few sellers would switch. For a buyer, it really doesn’t matter, because the seller has to manage that cost. (I know it can get passed to the buyer, but that’s not always going to happen on an auction… Especially for a small ticket item).
Thanks all for the replies.
To clarify, the situation is that Ebay are perfectly happy to allow transactions to be settled by credit card, checks, or cash on collection, but, if a buyer wants to pay by Paypal, the seller cannot refuse to accept a Paypal payment. Sometimes listings can be seen which state “No Paypal, cash on collection only”. Such listings are in direct violation of Ebay regs. It is, however, permissible to state " Payment by cash on collection preferred".
I have an Ebay shop, and personally I find it a real hassle when people want to pay by any other method than by Paypal. That said, if you are selling a single high value item, I fully understand why you would want to bypass Paypal.
Right, because taking your humorless post at face value is the reader’s fault :dubious: The question wasn’t whether or not you understood why they impose such restrictions, or the economics of such a decision, but rather your latter characterization of their motives. Don’t get all butthurt cause you intended to make a joke that was not written or framed to be understood in that way.
That’s not even considering the fact that your question is easily answered via google. Not sure why you bothered to post other than to find workarounds to a pretty reasonable policy.
Sure… either that, or I forgot an emoticon that everyone but you was smart enough to figure out. Sorry about that. I never blamed the reader. I simply pointed out that you didn’t figure it out. Maybe you are just :o. (that is the “embarrassed” emoticon, just in case you didn’t know)
And your pseudo-snark remark about finding the answer via google is a worthless add-on that further weakens your credibility. Most questions in GQ can be answered via google if one has the time.
There are many reasons folks ask questions in a public forum. I’m sure there are many reasons someone takes the time to answer as you have in both posts (i.e. offering nothing of value to answer the OP), but I am not interested enough to suss them out for you. At least not for free.
Thank you for this clarification, Bones Daley. I didn’t realize that eBay was requiring each seller to offer PayPal to anyone who wants to use PayPal. That means that everyone has to accept PayPal as one of their payment options. I didn’t realize that, although I could have guessed it by the universal acceptance of PayPal by eBay vendors/sellers.
Personally, I find it extremely convienent, and I would not go back to writing checks to purchase a product. But I am a buyer, not a seller, so I have no idea how much that option cuts into your profits. As I understand it, eBay has fees for just about everything, and their virtual monopoly on web-based auctions permits them to do whatever they want to people who want to sell their things via an auction site. The only other viable option for sellers is craigslist, but that has its own issues, like limiting your potential buyers to folks within a driving distance.
I know yahoo has (or had) an auction site similar to ebay’s without the eBay fees, but to be honest, I have no idea if that or any other auction site is still around.
My guess is that niche sites might exist out there to handle one type of product category, but to capture everything under the sun is ebay’s great selling point. It is the one stop shopping destination for folks looking for a deal on something.
What are you even basing that on? Absolutely nothing. More importantly, there was nothing in your OP, or your tone which indicated you were doing anything but being a paranoid cheapskate. And if you are now gonna sit here and claim that you don’t actually think they are greedy, I am not sure that supportable given what you said and your intention to keep trying to get them to foot the bill for the transaction costs in order to enrich yourself.
But by all mean, please point out the part where you were “joking”. Was it when you said:
That part is hilarious. Or was it when you said:
I suppose the “big bucks” comment might have been in jest. The only problem is that it IS BIG BUCKS to Paypal. Why do you think they put limits on these things?
Or maybe the joke was when you said:
That part is hilarious. Especially when you talk about how the joke is on them because you have no desire to stop taking advantage. You are quite the jokester. I don’t know how I missed it.
I disagree. Either way, this question is not something you have to search particularly hard for, nor is it something that is too complex to grasp.
I base it on the fact that no one but you has made a an issue of it. That’s proof enough for me. Calling me names (and incorrect ones, to boot) is not only unnecessary, but it’s not appropriate. “paranoid cheapskate?”. Seriously?
You clearly dont understand the transactions that you claim are all too easy. I will never get more money in my bank account no matter what I do to continue my PayPal account. So, there is no way I can “enrich” myself. Do you not understand this? I’ll try to explain.
PayPal currently pays my credit card company some percentage for the charge on my credit card. Let’s say 3%. If I use their credit card, PayPal is not turning around and giving me this 3%. Similarly, if I give them my bank account information, they are not “enriching” me by sending that 3% transaction fee to my account. If they are, I’d sign up today, and so would the rest of the PayPal community.
The only thing I said I probably would do is change my account to use another credit card. This has nothing to do with being a “cheapskate”. And I personally don’t care if PayPal pays the 3% fee or not. I think said very clearly that I like the double security of having my credit card company manage the transaction so they can dispute it if something goes wrong. It’s another level of security and financial protection anyone who has looked at this for 5 minutes would want to continue. PayPal has the right to try to generate as much revenue as they can. I have the right to protect my financial well being as long as its within the rules of PayPal.
There is no joking here. I’m trying to save you further embarrassment.
You say I’m taking advantage of PayPal? Please. I’m taking advantage of the best deal for me. How that is “enriching” myself is beyond me. Are you implying that I’m skirting the law or doing something illegal?
Finally you add this nugget:
That’s not a backhanded insult is it? Because if it is, you’ve insulted yourself by demonstrating that you don’t have a grasp of whats going on, who benefits from what transactions, or what the best course of action a consumer should take given the diffeent choices.
Perhaps you should do that google search yourself so you can understand the issue completely. Until then, you are just making noise.
No, your credit card company is giving you a portion of that percentage in the form of perks and/or cashback. This is NOT really that complicated, yet you seem to be having problem with it. By having them pay your credit card company, you are being enriched since the credit card company will throw a portion of that fee towards you. For example, my amex gives me 1-3% cashback on purchases. Anytime I am using that card, I am being enriched, often at the merchant’s expense. This is why many gas station now give cash discounts.
No, they are avoiding paying you and your credit card company. That is the benefit for them. They avoid having to pay you to have you as a customer.
It doesn’t matter if you care, that is the reality. Ignoring that doesn’t change anything.
Your bank will do the same exact thing.
How much you want to bet that such things are certainly not within the rules and/or the spirit of the rules Paypal has set out. Likely, they haven’t taken significant steps to close the loophole because most of their customers are decent enough to not try to game the system.
