Credit Cards & PayPal

[Sundowner]

A couple of days ago my bank phoned and advised me that my Credit Card had been compromised. They had already cancelled the card and new ones are on the way.
This is the third time inside a year that it's happened to me/us. The first time we were in Los Angeles, trying to deal with a bank over the phone, and in the middle of the night in Australia.
Just a week before Christmas, some Singaporian bunch got at our accounts and the bank stopped the cards then too. Just when we needed them the most.
This time it was a bunch of grubs in Pretoria, South Africa, who ripped us off, using Ethiopian Airlines as the front. All this, despite me being accused of being overly security conscious.
You can imagine, I'm pretty sick of it and I've decided to change they way we do things when buying on line. Apart from several direct debit accounts we have here in Australia, for everyday living, I have several overseas accounts where parts vendors have my card details. 3 in the UK and 4 in the USofA. I believe its one of those O/S vendors who is the weak link here and is being careless with their customers information.
So, I've decided that from now on, I will not have accounts with these Vendors, but will instead, check out using PayPal wherever possible, and where its not possible, I'll make an international phone call to convey the details.
I'm pleased to say that the 3 main companies that I deal with in the UK, (for SPRINT parts) all have PayPal facilities. The Yanks, on the other hand, (for T Ford bits) seem reluctant to have that option on their check out pages. Just 3 out of 10 that I frequent, do.
My advice is to be careful of trusting your credit card details to a vendor. Even if that vendor appears to be bullet proof, I know for sure that not all of them are.
Cheers,
Rob

[Sundowner]

In support of PayPal is this post on a Model T Ford forum I frequent. It was made by one of the few PayPal equipped vendors. John Regan who owns a company in Chicago, called "Fun Projects".

I started with paypal more than 10 years ago and they are a very security minded company. Way more than the average. The fact is that if you pay with your credit card enough times one of those people will either out right steal your info or just be careless enough with your info to allow someone near them to steal it from them. The neat thing about paypal is that when you purchase something and use paypal the vendor never has your credit card numbers, ever. For all of the purchases you guys have made at my website, I have NONE of your credit card info so I can't lose it by never having had it in the first place. They also process ALL credit cards and Fun Projects site can take your order and you can pay by credit card but you will be connected to paypal when you do that even if you don't join paypal since they also work for us to process all charge plates OR paypal direct payments. You DO NOT have to join paypal to use your credit card at Fun Projects site but I STILL will not have your credit card info after the sale since paypal is the processing center. It just adds a whole extra layer of protection for your credit card since only paypal has that info if you do want the charge to go to your credit card company rather than from paypal funds. Their rates for credit card sales for small business is the best one can hope to get and there are no minimum sales charge amounts or monthly service fees or any crap like that. I pay a simple fee per sale and that is all It is less than half of the typical "merchant services" fees that other credit card processing companies charge. I get sales calls all the time from companies telling me how much they can save me on credit card processing. I reply that I am using paypal - they don't try to sell me and quickly hang up. They don't even try to compete. That will probably change someday when paypal gets sold to a company that will then "cash in" and raise all the prices and the party will be over and I will be back on the street looking for a better "new deal". Good deals don't last as sooner or later somebody gets greedy.

Cheers,
Rob

[Carledo]

I have not been as unlucky (or victimised) as badly as you, Rob, but my wife's debit card has been cloned once and used to pay for a very expensive hotel bill in Cardiff before she sussed it!
Like you, I am a big fan of Paypal, I moan like everyone else, about the 2% they charge vendors, but really I don't mind that much, they have to make money somehow and anything free is worth what you pay for it! And it's no different to all the major credit cards.
We have a static caravan we let out to holidaymakers and encourage them to pay with Paypal too, for the security and peace of mind it offers.
I can't imagine why Paypal is so ubiquitous in this country, yet less common in the US, where the idea originated.

Steve

[Sundowner]

I can't imagine why Paypal is so ubiquitous in this country, yet less common in the US, where the idea originated.

Steve

Me neither Steve,
Maybe its because of its links with eBay.
I remember that at one stage, eBay was trying to make it so you HAD to use PayPal for payments.......and no other method. A massive number of people were pretty p'd off with that idea.
Rob

[trackerjack]

The fraudsters attack when you are vulnerable.
We had hired a villa in Corfu and the cleaner asked for our mothers maiden name blah blah and we just put down a load of tosh that was not true but just across the water is Albania...............and what are they famous for?

[soe8m]

????????

Jeroen

gerechten-albanië.jpg (103.95 KiB) Viewed 3209 times

[xvivalve]

Is that 'a badly packed kebab'?

I avoid PayPal like the plague for receiving payments. I gave them benefit of the doubt first time, but twice now I've been paid only for the recipient, who declined to pay for insured postage, has claimed they never received the item. They then open a dispute with PayPal who reimburse them as I am unable to prove delivery, despite the fact that I can demonstrate the purchaser declined the opportunity to pay for signed for postage. Thankfully, both times were for small value items and I had proof of posting so could make the claim from Royal Mail, something else the purchaser refused to do themselves. In both cases, both eBay and PayPal kept the commissions they had charged me.

[sprint95m]

Thankfully, both times were for small value items and I had proof of posting so could make the claim from Royal Mail, something else the purchaser refused to do themselves.

Under the Distant Selling regulations isn't it only the sender who can make the claim?



I think, twice I have been sent replacements by ebay sellers, without question, when items had failed to arrive.
Three or four times now I have had to start disputes, once was over a Dolomite heater assembly which I had won for 99 pence.

I do notice that some sellers state in their listings that they have no responsibility for non-delivery. This is illegal.
If I see that, I leave it be and move on. Not that I buy that much from ebay anyway.




Ian.

[xvivalve]

No, so long as the proof of posting is submitted as part of the claim, either sender or recipient can make the claim.

[James467]

Paypal and eBay fees are becoming obscene.

£80 eBay sale has an £8 final value fee and a £2.92 Paypal fee because I MUST accept Paypal.

So its £11 to sell an £80 item.