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PayPal alternatives?

Dave2000

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spain
After recent health issues I have found that living in the campo (countryside), and some distance from town have found access to the bank to sort transfers and anything to do with paying bills a little awkward. I can of course call on friends but as I have been 'out of action' since the beginning of September last year and don't have any more tests until June/July to see if I get my driving licence back I don't want to lean on friends too much as they have been so helpful, I went back to using PayPal who I have never had trouble with before.

It seems since my return to using them to send and receive money apart from getting my pants pulled down at every transaction, they have terrible customer service. Is there a decent alternative that people use? Apart from members who may use PayPal for buying and selling 'stuff' and gifting friends and family, I want to hear from sellers/breakers as well.

A glance on the 'net' seems to show PayPal is at the bottom of every review list, it seems they are not regulated by banking rules so are pretty much a runaway company that does as they please.

EDIT: More searching found 'Venmo' which is an alternative to PayPal, then you find they are a subsidiary of PayPal, now why would the 'we are the king of money transfers' PayPal need a subsidiary if they were that good? It seems the word is getting around about how bad they are, and to sustain their turnover they are creating other companies in an effort to offset the bad reputation they have. It has been noted that 'Venmo' have had a considerable amount of fraud incidents as well?

Jeez it is a minefield out there!

Your thoughts please?

Regards

Dave
 
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I think PayPal are regulated in the jurisdictions they operate in, but to what extent I don't know.

As a buyer and seller they have worked well for me. Once you have exhausted the automated help systems people are there to help. Mostly my experience here has been OK, except for a recent purchase of a SIM card from Vodafone. I paid £10 to Vodafone, that was clear. It didn't arrive. I complained to VF using paypal's tier 1 resolution service. A payment company (not VF) wrote back to me and said, sorry not their problem and I should contact VF !!!! After failing to convince them, I escalated it PayPal to resolve. PP wrote back saying they had been in touch and were told the item was sent because there was a tracking number. Great I thought, give me the number then. It transpired PP didn't really have one and neither did the payment company. I persevered and pressed for a refund. PP offered a £10 credit (not refund) to use on my next purchase using PP and closed the case. I appealed and they said they could do no more because I bought a 'service' and not 'Goods' !!!! Again they closed the case. Again I emailed and after explaining that what they said was piffle, I got a proper refund.
 
Thanks for that Mark, but you have made my point, if something goes wrong then it goes wrong in such a way that you have to jump through hoop after hoop, complaint after complaint and finally after spending ages on the computer/phone you get somewhere. I recently used them to make a purchase from one of the traders here on this site, despite getting an assurance that I had sent the correct amount of GBP, it not only cost me a small fortune via the exchange rate the seller did not get the correct amount! I found myself embarrassed and even sent screen dumps to the seller so he could see I was not a 'messer' despite him not asking for them I felt the need to do so such is my make up. I sent a further amount and he said close enough, but I got the feeling he was letting me off a couple of quid as I have made purchases before from him in the past and there have never been any issues.

Further, I have money in my PayPal account for something someone purchased from me and I cannot get it transferred to my bank, the 'Your bank account cannot be verified' excuse is wearing a little thin, I have banked here for 17 years, and have the same address and bank during that time. I inquired via email and have yet to get a reply after three weeks!

I have been reading up on them and it seems they are not guided by bank regulations because they are not a bank, they are a means to transfer money and that's that! I will see how things go, and if need be I will pay with a credit or debit card, and use them as a last resort, some eBay sellers will only sell via PayPal, but rumour has it that eBay may be dropping PayPal as well?

Stay mate.

Regards

Dave
 
In the UK...

You're better off paying direct with a credit card if you can, rather than via paypal. If you're paying over £100, you are covered by the credit card company if there is a problem (called a section 75 claim). Even if the item is much more than that, pay £100.01 on the card and you are covered.

I think the law is about to change (or maybe has just changed?) so that credit card transactions to paypal are covered by this too, so that will improve the situation where Paypal dont want to help.

Debit cards are covered by a different scheme (chargeback I think its called) but I dont think its as strong as the credit card scheme.

Bank transfers must be avoided at all costs as you have no protection!

Personally I've found ebay / paypal to be alright (sometimes, eventually) if there is a problem, but like all tech companies they dont really want to employ people to speak on telephones.
 
@karl2000 Oh that's scary, I thought it was the eBay dropping PayPal, well that means two big companies with crap backup!

Regards

Dave
 
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As far as I am aware, they have both been in the same bed forever, havent they ?
When I have had problems with sellers on eBay, gone through their official procedure and they have found in my favour, my Paypal account gets credited. So ebay must authorise PayPal to refund ??
 
@Tractionman I do know years ago it was eBay on it's own and you had to have a CC on their site then I remember many years PayPal was linked up, but it was only recently that eBay was talking about parting ways with PayPal?

Just had a root around, and it seems eBay bought out PayPal on 2002, and then split the business in 2015.


And then this: eBay sellers can no longer use PayPal under new terms - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]

The state of play now as I understand it is you can purchase stuff on eBay using a few different forms including PayPal?


I thought I was going mad, but it seems I am getting better. :icon-biggrin:

Regards

Dave
 
eBay split from PayPal which is why eBay want your bank details now. PayPal is or was great for me for years until I had cause to use their help with a fraudulent transaction. An item I bought arrived as something completely different but PayPal refused to refund me until I sent the incorrect item back (to Asia) at my cost! Eventually they offered to pay the return costs but totally ignored the fact there was a proven fraudulent issue with a seller. Told them to take their account.... you know the rest. As @karl2000 stated your better off using a credit card which I now do for everything bought over the Web.
 
Dave I don’t know if your living in Spain would stop you but could you open a Starling bank account? Starling Bank: Award-winning bank accounts - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]

Although just a bank they make transferring money and paying online incredibly easy and secure. They also have very good customer service - you can talk to an actual person pretty easily! Also fully regulated.

Online payments are still via debit/credit card or bank transfer but it’s the latter that Starling make easy. Also very easy to ping people money as the app simply works as an app should.

I’ve pretty much stopped using PayPal due to the aforementioned issues and now just use Starling.
 
Dave, you are getting better ! There are options to click on now, when paying for something bought off ebay.

Mick, I've never given any separate bank details to ebay because of a split, I am still running the same account I started with Paypal/ebay around 12/15years ago.
 
@Tractionman sorry didn't clarify. It's for sellers, they automatically deduct seller fees and pay auction residue direct to your bank account. I could set up an auction until I parted with my details. If you've been with them a while your probably one of the trusted sellers :thumbup:
 
Just found out I need to be over 16 years old......just managed that however, I need to live at a UK address. They accept all nationalities but not residence in another country.

Thanks for the thought though.

Regards

Dave
 
Rovolute is another online bank, both here in the UK and also in EU.

Is Google pay an option?
 
Revolut seems to have all the answers, worn out now so will have a look over the next couple of days. :thumbup:

It seems that Google pay has quite a limited number of banks, and very few of them are what you would call mainstream?

Thanks for that.

Regards

Dave
 
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