How secure is PayPal?
I am about to buy some VHF Marine Tuner for my kayak expedition up in Alaska, and the guy wants me to pay him via PayPal. He would hold on to the item until I reach him, in early May.
Does PayPal offer proofs of payments and stuff like that?
I don't want to get ripped off.
None.
An artist's depiction of an Extended Unit Death
PayPal has been around for ages and is the default payment method for some sites like eBay, and it's very commonly used for donation links (including for this very site). They're legitimate, if that's your concern, and they'll keep track of transactions and whatnot.
But on the other hand, they tend to have a habit of freezing accounts for no reason if you have a large balance, so I wouldn't put more than a couple thousand dollars in there at a time. I trust my credit card providers against fraudulent charges more than I would PayPal, which is why I ended up closing my old PayPal account (I stopped using it), but I've personally never experienced any issues with it.
The cool way of exchanging money nowadays, however, is through cryptocurrency. Then there will be thousands of people that verify your transaction actually occurred in the block chain, and there are no transfer fees or delays; everything is instant.
PayPal has been around for ages and is the default payment method for some sites like eBay, and it's very commonly used for donation links (including for this very site). They're legitimate, if that's your concern, and they'll keep track of transactions and whatnot.
But on the other hand, they tend to have a habit of freezing accounts for no reason if you have a large balance, so I wouldn't put more than a couple thousand dollars in there at a time. I trust my credit card providers against fraudulent charges more than I would PayPal, which is why I ended up closing my old PayPal account (I stopped using it), but I've personally never experienced any issues with it.
The cool way of exchanging money nowadays, however, is through cryptocurrency. Then there will be thousands of people that verify your transaction actually occurred in the block chain, and there are no transfer fees or delays; everything is instant.
Is it easy to enter the realm of cryptocurrency? I guess the person I'll deal with will have to as well?
So when I create a PayPal account, I will have to send funds to it from my account, rather than simply linking it to my account?
None.
Grand Moderator of the Games Forum
I've never deposited money to my Paypal account. I just have it pull money from my credit card whenever I have to use PP.
I order you to forgive yourself!
You shouldn't have to worry if you use PayPal, the worry is on the vendor's side since payments can be reversed. In other words, if the guy doesn't deliver the goods after you pay him, you should be able to get your money back, but some people reverse the payment anyway and keep the goods...
The barrier of entry with cryptocurrency is a little higher. For example, if you want to get started with Bitcoin, unless you want to deal with
https://localbitcoins.com/ , you will need to register at an exchange such as
https://vaultofsatoshi.com/ . Once registered, you can then transfer funds from your bank to your account and start trading them for bitcoins or any of the other cryptocurrencies they offer. (All this can take a few days to get done.) With crypto though you cannot reverse a payment meaning you have to trust the seller 100%.
If you have a credit or debit card and he accepts paypal you should also be able to pay that way.
Thanks for the help, guys.
None.
You shouldn't have to worry if you use PayPal, the worry is on the vendor's side since payments can be reversed.
This was the correct answer. If you're the buyer, you have about 0% chance of being ripped off.
