PayPal Review

www.paypal.com

Overall 3.76 of 5 view all 17 reviews

AnnaBanana
Oak Park, IL

A safe little place to leave something valuable!

practical, Ebay buyer and seller, an online bill-payer, budget conscious, loving this product

Pros

A safe place for something of value, convenient transfer of funds

JAN

2009

I don't know how many Louisa May Alcott fans we have here but if you loved "Little Women", you may remember the mail box that Laurie gave the girls. It was part way between his house and theirs and provided a safe place where they could leave letters, notes, and small gifts for each other.

Well, that's what PayPal is like ... a safe place halfway between you and someone else where you can leave money for each other. I opened my PayPal account years ago but used it mostly to pay money to people I bought merchandise from on E-Bay. (PayPal's dispute option offers great protection to E-Bay buyers.) Recently I began receiving payments also and it has worked out just as well. In fact, PayPal offers an ideal venue for receiving small payments (such as rewards for surveys, etc.) and other types of income. You can either leave the money you receive in PayPal or transfer it to your checking account. This is not an immediate transfer -- for some reason, it takes two or three days to show up in your bank account -- but that sure beats the two or three weeks it might take me to go over and deposit a paper check coupled with another three or four days for the funds to become available.

PayPal is safe too although here (as in any Internet place) care must be taken. I have received a couple of "phishing" e-mails over the years alerting me that something was wrong with my PayPal account and that I should offer up my personal information again in the special link thoughtfully provided to me by some hacker. I promptly deleted these phishing e-mails and directly accessed the PayPal site where, of course, it turned out there was nothing wrong with my account. (I have to note also that I have on occasion received "phishing" e-mails from my own bank, which I also ignored.)

Nothing is perfect and I am sure PayPal isn't either but so far it has worked out for me. It is a safe place to put something of value and ... just like that mailbox that Laurie built for Jo and her sisters ... PayPal doesn't cost anything but a little mutual trust.

Last edited on Jan 07, 2009

PayPal is recommended by AnnaBanana

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Comments about AnnaBanana’s Review

Good explanation. I have a sister who sells books on Ebay and uses PayPal all the time. She feels perfectly safe with it too, and hasn't had any problems at all.

I get those "phishing" e-mails ALL the time.

I love PayPal and really would not have such an easy time without it.

I have a paypal account. It is so convenient for the buyer and seller. I have a store on Etsy.com and paypal is the only payment I accept. I have not had a problem with paypal. Thanks for the helpful review. ;-) ~Krista Lynn

In response to joyjoy's comment from Jan 8, 2009 at 2:01PM:

You're thinking of phish@amazon.com

In response to joyjoy's comment from Jan 8, 2009 at 2:01PM:

How have you been doing lately?

In response to joyjoy's comment from Jan 8, 2009 at 2:01PM:

Thanks! I always have to visit the site to get it. I know there is one that has that first name on the email . . . of course it will come to me in the middle of the night when I have absolutely no use for it!

In response to joyjoy's comment from Jan 8, 2009 at 2:01PM:

Thanks, JoyJoy. It has been a while since I got one from PayPal but phishing scams for other places seem to happen every week. I can't believe there are people who still open them up!

In response to LisaCarey's comment from Jan 8, 2009 at 10:10AM:

The address is spoof@paypal.com. I have lost count of how many I've sent.

I set up my PayPal account years ago to receive payments but it is great for making payments. I always send phishing mails to spoof@paypal.com

In response to LisaCarey's comment from Jan 8, 2009 at 10:10AM:

Thanks for the tip, Lisa. There is another place where I have been forwarding all possible scams and phishers to but if I ever get one from PayPal again, i'll follow your advice. Have a great day! 79 in January, WOW! We were back to snow and ice again yesterday!

In response to LisaCarey's comment from Jan 8, 2009 at 10:10AM:

We use Paypal for our small business transactions and it's wonderful all my accounting is right there in front of me. If you get the debit card you even earn money back on your purchases which helps to offset those sometimes pesky charges on paypal. but I really enjoy it . As for the phishing scams -- do not open, and do not delete until you forward it to paypal, i think the adderss is phishing@paypal.com. They can use the embedded information in the message to try to stop them. It really does help. THEN delete them. Everyone should do it with all phishing messages.

Great day here -- it's going to be 79, I feel so sorry for those in the cold. Ok, off to work have a great day AnnaB

In response to PattyTherre's comment from Jan 7, 2009 at 7:24PM:

Oh so THAT'S where they are getting money from! I wondered how the heck anyone was getting any money out of this all. Yah, the personal accounts sound like the best bet!

Paypal's personal account is great but I had a business account and they took a ton of fees out of everything I was sent when I sold on ebay. I am content now with the personal account which doesn't take fees out.

I used to buy money orders to pay for my Ebay auctions, but now I only use PayPal. It's just soooooo much easier and a safe way to pay. :)

The extent to which PayPal has become an almost indispensable part of online life is amazing. Whoever came up with the idea must be a very rich person right now. By the way, I really liked the analogy.

Another great review, Anna!

In response to GigiandAdonai's comment from Jan 7, 2009 at 9:56AM:

Thanks, Gigi! I see you survived that basketball tournament last night!

Thanks for reviewing this Ms. Anna. I have heard so many people refer to PayPal and was clueless. I really do need to get out more ;+) I hope you are having a great day! ~Gigi