Are there any good alternatives to Paypal?

[made in china]

That's a good question, I was wondering also.

Maybe there is an implication there that they know us and can track us much more invasively than we think. Maybe they match IP addresses or something, and can search for those on the Internet. I'm glad I use a VPN.

That seems like a lot of work and would definitely be theft. They have no authority to punish people secondhand. I think the only authority they'd have is to close your account and return your money.

 

[Alexx1401]

That seems like a lot of work and would definitely be theft. They have no authority to punish people secondhand. I think the only authority they'd have is to close your account and return your money.

The BIG problem here is them not being a bank. So "can" they do stuff like "fine you"? Not a lawyer but my guess would be yes. If they do what is the person who was ripped off going to do? Since they are not a bank who would you complain too? You could take legal action against them but, then you need a lawyer.

 

[Alexx1401]

Just today I used PayPal for a truck part I sold to someone in CA. I've been with PayPal since 2002. It was always super straightforward and easy.
I was unaware that they are snitches now.
I haven't used them in a while, and I was shocked at how much of a PITA it is to get my funds transferred to my bank account via my registered debit cards. It used to be an easy process, but now they wanted me to perform further registrations, or, I could just leave the funds in PayPal.
Then, CNN just had a story reminding Americans not to leave funds in these apps because they are not FIDC insured, and some people leave significant sums in these apps. I suppose because the apps are now geared towards compelling the user to just leave the funds in them, but supposedly these apps could fail financially if their were to be a run on them with people suddenly removing their funds.

I guess the free ride is over. I won't be using PayPal anymore either, I'm going back to old-school ways of doing everything in person, with cash.

For you the seller, it "sounds" like the places like Zelle and Venmo would be safe. Having just done a VERY cursory look at them it "looks" like you would safely get your money. The one taking the risk is the people sending you money. If the buyer is comfortable with sending the money? Hey why not. Looks so far like the buyer is the only one who is really sticking their neck out here.
As far as PayPal going "broke", VERY real possibility. I don't know who in their right mind would leave any cash with them they would not be comfortable just losing. If they take a hit all of a sudden and had to just shut down no fed agency is going to bail out those people with money in there.

 

[made in china]

The BIG problem here is them not being a bank. So "can" they do stuff like "fine you"? Not a lawyer but my guess would be yes. If they do what is the person who was ripped off going to do? Since they are not a bank who would you complain too? You could take legal action against them but, then you need a lawyer.

I think that comes down to the TOS.

When I first joined PayPal, they didn't really hold your money.
And, they rarely changed their TOS.

Since they "split" from eBay, they have been frequently emailing me (as has everyone else I've been using) "updates" to their TOS.
Of course, like most Americans, I just delete the emails without reading them. They are frequent enough to be annoying.

Probably, what myself and most Americans have done, is allowed PayPal to "notify" us that they now can take our money, and the reasons they could use. When we don't disassociate with PayPal, we basically "agree" to the TOS by staying a member.

 

[Alexx1401]

I think that comes down to the TOS.

When I first joined PayPal, they didn't really hold your money.
And, they rarely changed their TOS.

Since they "split" from eBay, they have been frequently emailing me (as has everyone else I've been using) "updates" to their TOS.
Of course, like most Americans, I just delete the emails without reading them. They are frequent enough to be annoying.

Probably, what myself and most Americans have done, is allowed PayPal to "notify" us that they now can take our money, and the reasons they could use. When we don't disassociate with PayPal, we basically "agree" to the TOS by staying a member.

My guess is you hit it right on the head here. Many comics make jokes about the pages of stuff we all seem to just click yes on without reading. PP probably has done just that. Flooded people with more agreements they don't bother to try to read through. All the more reason to avoid them. Let them got broke going woke.

 

[Bacchus]

For you the seller, it "sounds" like the places like Zelle and Venmo would be safe…The one taking the risk is the people sending you money.

Not true according to the Venmo site:

Common scams on Venmo

In particular:

When You're Selling Something To A Stranger

Details:

• A scammer may ask to provide the item or service without actually paying you legitimate funds
• A scammer may send screenshots of fake emails that make it seem like they've paid you on Venmo when they haven't actually made a payment
• Another common tactic is telling you they've sent you a payment that will only reach your Venmo account when you ship the item and upload the shipping information. But this is fake, and it's not a feature Venmo provides
• A scammer may pay you using stolen credit cards or bank information. If the actual owner of the payment method reports unauthorized activity, the money could be removed from your Venmo account

 

[arakboss]

 

[Alexx1401]

Not true according to the Venmo site:

Common scams on Venmo

In particular:

Damn, well that will keep me from ever bothering with them

 

[made in china]

Venmo is owned by PayPal

 

[Alexx1401]

Venmo is owned by PayPal

That would explain why both SUCK!

 

[GOG]

Well, this is gonna' suck. My health now precludes me from much travel so if I want to sell something it would have to be a Postal money order or face to face.
This is sucking large, I'm dying and I'd like to sell some stuff for extra cash to give my wife.

 

[ma96782]

I think you don't need to be signed up to send money on Zelle but must be to receive payment. I could be wrong, I just started looking into this.

I got a Bank of America account. I can send Zelle money without additional charges to my son's e-mail (he signed up for Zelle). He said that it was easy to get a Zelle account and he is not charged "extra" to get his money out (or sent to his bank account).

BTW.....I use to do "bank to bank transfers" (when he had a BoA account). But, he now has a different bank. Mind you that I once asked if he had an actual checking account.

He gave me "that look".

Rrrrrright. His generation......don't write actual paper checks anymore. LOL......is it because they don't know how to spell or because they can't balance a check book?

Aloha, Mark

 

[GOG]

We're on the right track. The Economic Ninja just put this out less than half an hour ago. It reinforces our misgivings about these systems.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Zelle is easy to do. If your bank supports it it's just some clicks on the banks website to make it active then you can recieve or send $.

How do I get started?

www.zellepay.com

 

[GOG]

I'll look into it. So far it seems live it may be the only decent alternative.

 

[Bacchus]

it would have to be a Postal money order

Does it have to be from the Post Office? Fred Meyer grocery sells money orders pretty cheap.

*** Oops, never mind, I reread your posts and see that the other party is paying by money order.

 

[Bacchus]

His generation......don't write actual paper checks anymore. LOL......is it because they don't know how to spell or because they can't balance a check book?

Aren't some schools doing away with teaching cursive handwriting? Those poor kids won't be able to sign anything, unless it's okay to sign in block letters. Maybe they can sign with an 'X'.

 

[Bacchus]

My health now precludes me from much travel

Are you very remote from. big cities such that your buyers can't come to you? Also, if you are shipping items to people, you might want to investigate shipping costs before you set a price on an item. I'm discouraged by how expensive the Post Office and UPS have become whenever I ship something.

I don't suppose C.O.D. is still a thing any more.

 

[GOG]

We're twenty five miles outside of Grants Pass and around five or six from a little ville that has a private mailbox and shipping store. We go there or UPS can pick up here. USPS won't come down our driveway because you can't see the house from the road. It's actually official but it's just bull to save them time. They won't deliver packages so we wind up going to town around once a week to pick up stuff they should have delivered. (50 miles round trip)
I can get a private box, but it pisses me off having to spend money to pay for a service that the gubmint should be doing.
They're incompetent at everything but collecting money.

 

[Bacchus]

USPS won't come down our driveway because you can't see the house from the road.

You can't put a mailbox at the end of the driveway down by the road?