Thinking of setting up a PayPal account, so as to flog bikey bits thru the STW classifieds.

What's the general opinion of PayPal?

Any negative experiences, things to be aware of?

Ta muchly!

They charge a commission and aren't a charity. Some folk seem to disagree with that business model.

I have no problem with paying a commission.

I've read that the customer service is bad and their T&C's put the punter at a distinct disadvantage.

druidh, what's been your experience?

I use them all the time, have done for years. Never, ever had a problem with them. As above, I have no issue with paying them for a useful service.

I use them all the time.
btw, what do they charge for? They never seem to charge me anything.

Not had any problems. Charges seem high, probably because they seem to have a monopoly.

I use them quite a bit, and never had a problem, but I always feel a bit uneasy about it – you give them access to your bank account, but it's not clear who they really ARE. Who do you turn to if things go wrong?

Charges are high because of the convenience factor. Bank transfers are free, but for most people they still take a few days and there's no consumer protection which there is with paypal.

Just think of it like any other service you have to pay extra for.

What Samuri said really. I've used them quite a bit for ebay, STW Classifieds and other stuff. I've yet to have any sort of problem with them. I guess that means I've no idea what their Customer Services is like as I've never had to use them.

I'm a bit iffy about giving them my bank account details…

Really? Ever written anyone a cheque?

I'm a bit iffy about giving them my bank account details…

Why??

druidh, I have had cheques altered, but have recovered the money quickly through my bank.

Paypal is not registered as a bank, so the same safeguards and regulations would not apply.

Which 3rd party would you approach to resolve issues with Paypal?

My point is – every time you give someone a cheque, you're giving them your bank details. But hey- if you're that paranoid, no one is forcing you to use them.

Its safe enough giving them your bank details, the real risk is in your not securing your login to Paypal. If its hacked (by someone installing somthing on your computer or hacking into your email account) then your are at risk of having a lot of your money used to fund someone else purchases, this has happened to people in the past but i think it has mostly been resolved as banks see it as similar to having your card cloned (i think).

Plenty of posts on here about how Paypal is skewed towards protecting the buyer from bad sellers, but i dont see that as a problem as im always trying to be a good seller. You are (as always) at risk of a dodgy buyer trying to fleece you but that is the case wether you use paypal, bank transfer, cheque etc. so i see that more as a risk in selling on the internet than anything attributed to paypal.

They'll freeze your account, denying you access to your money until you've jumped through a load of ridiculous hoops.

They'll tell you your account has been fraudulently accessed, then change their minds when asked to elaborate.

They'll charge you quite a lot to accept payment from people using cards.

But they are a business, so that's OK.

I am probably wrong but isnt paypal registered as a bank in Luxembourg. As this is in the EU wouldnt you have the same protection and rights as if they were a bank or credit company in the UK.

I'm having an issue with them at the moment that I can 'fund' my account from my bank account but not withdraw money from paypal into it…for no apparent reason.

Customer service is pretty dire.

We use them for our website, selling mountain bike parts. They're secure and if anything over-protective, hence some of the problems others' have been mentioning. But I'd rather have it that way than no protection at all.

There is a fee involved with receiving funds, typically 3.4% plus £0.20 per transaction, which is okay if you're selling a few items but if you start shifting larger volumes you might want to looking at options with a flat rate monthly subscription.

Darwinius, overprotective could be worse, although they seem far too opaque when it comes to justifying/explaining their actions.

No problems here, You can start off just using your debit and/or credit card to pay for stuff, but after a certain amount of time or usage they will ask you to get verified which means you have a direct link to your bank account. If you start off down the debit/credit card route, you have to remember that anytime the details of your card changes (ie issue number), you have to change those details in your Paypal account (that caught me out once, and it took me a few brain cells to fathom out why my account wasn't working).

With regards to receiving money, I'm not sure how easy it is to get that money transfered into your bank account. I generally buy and sell so haven't needed to transfer money from paypal to my personal bank account yet.

they used to be impossible to deal with but i have found they have improved recently.

send stuff insured and recorded and you'll be fine.

I've used them for several years with no problems though that equally means I can't comment on their customer service.

When you set up the link to your bank account it's a Direct Debit so the usual DD protection applies.

I used them for the classifieds loads (twice today in fact) for both buying and selling. If done as personal payment and DD from a bank account, there are no fees (though you will get charged if you transfer less than £50 to your account – I tend to just use the balance to buy stuff so not really an issue)

Brother sold a Nintendo Wii, someone received and signed for it and then Paypal clawed money back from his Credit Card as the card that had been used was cloned or stolen. He disputed it with Egg card and they took money back from Paypal. Quickly followed by him closing his Paypal account down.

The long and short of it is – Paypal protection is not all it's cracked up to be certainly from a sellers POV.

As per Chapking above, I had my account frozen after an apparantly unauthorised (by me) debit. They accepted that it was fraudulent and reimbursed me, but refused to offer any advice on how this might have occured, or indeed how it might be prevented in the future.
Coincidentally, I received an email from them (perhaps?) asking me if I wish to 'double lock' my account with an 'SMS Security Key' as my account has previously been 'taken over', as they term it.
Anyone any thoughts on this?

Everyone got that "double lock" email. Looks like it could be a useful extra safeguard.

After you have had an account for several years without any issues, 100% feedback and then decide to sell some stuff, if the end price is over £50, they will take the payment from the buyer, but withold it from you. They take their fees straight away however. You then have to buy postage and send your valuable goods off in good faith before you even see a penny. If the buyer is satisfied and chooses the option to leave feedback, Paypal will then release the money to you. If they choose not to leave feedback, you will wait 45 days! If the buyer has an issue, you won't get the money until the matter is resolved. You won't get your postage back and will have to pay the buyer's return postage.

Go ahead, get a Paypal account, but how many people agree to sell stuff and then send out goods before they have got their payment?

Paypal have recently adopted this policy to save them any inconvenience in the event of a problem.

If my experiences and those of a few other people I know are anything to go by, you'll have a long and protracted load of aggro if things go wrong. Not worth the 4% fees!

If you sell on ebay you will pay a further 10% fees to sell any item. As a seller, if you get a total wingnut buyer, you can't even give them negative feedback now.

Stick to cash is my advice.

If you are going to pay for something, use a credit card where you'll get insurance with your purchases.