Paypal: The Darkness that Lies Within.
Paypal is a widespread internet banking service. You can send money to almost anyone in the world, instantaneously, with only their email account. Millions of people have become consumed with PayPal's many functions, accessibility, and security? But what else lies behind PayPal's mysterious curtains? What are their pros? What are their cons? Why should you choose to use Paypal over other, more globally acceptable, programs like Moneybookers and E-Gold? And most importantly, why have thousands of people online had negative experiences with Paypal? These are but few questions that we must consider before committing our time, effort, and money to this service.
Paypal has quite a few upsides: They are free to use, accessible to almost anyone in the world who owns a computer with internet access, you can use both savings and checking accounts to verify your paypal account, and they have fundamentally rewarding features for auctions, marketers, and your average give-me-a-website person who wishes to slap a "Donate Now" button on their website.
Auction Tools
Paypal provides many cool features, such as their incorporation of EBay into their marketing revenue. You can now use paypal when trading on EBay and Paypal will protect all your money, 100% of it. Not only that, but Paypal is the #1 means of selling and buying products on EBay, and is preferred by most buyers! What's more, is that the fees for paying or selling through Paypal are much lower compared with using your credit card. You also will get paid instantly! No wait for your payment, which makes you and your customers happy, providing more time for you to send or receive the product. Paypal is also very compatible when it comes to payments on EBay. If you are a seller, you don?t need to be paid by another user of Paypal. The buyer can actually use credit cards, debit cards, bank accounts, and others, but you will still receive your money through Paypal!
Merchant Services
Merchant tools are necessary for anyone owning a website. They help you make your website more user-friendly if you're selling things. The features offered are numerous! Here are a few: Shopping Carts; those "Buy it Now" buttons you see quite often on professional websites; Donations and Gift Vouchers are amongst many features used by even big corporations; and my favourite: Subscription and Recurring Payments. These, if you aren?t aware, are fully automated. All someone does is click on a button "Subscribe now" and they will be sent to Paypal.com, where they will pay for the first period of their subscription. Then, automatically, every periodical payment (weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually and annually) will be automatically sent to you from their account. This feature is very useful for things like newsletters, or member fees.
Banker Compatibility
Bankers need not worry! Paypal offers many useful tools. Adding a bank account is one of the first steps of a new account and it makes more features accessible. Adding a bank account allows you to send money from your bank account to other users of Paypal, to buy things using the money you have in the bank; or, to top up your Paypal account itself. Nearly all forms of bank accounts can be used from nearly all countries, as long as the bank account is not already in use by another paypal account (this is a security feature).
Security Features
Security features are not an issue. The website is covered with High-grade Encryption (AES 256bit certificate), so that no hackers can steal your password by any other means than simply guessing it. For this reason, and because you are dealing with money and sensitive details, a tricky password is required. Regarding protection from bad customers, stolen credit cards, etc., Paypal has been decreasingly generous in offering protection for either the buyer or the seller. Generally, PayPal's offers of "excellent seller protection", "fighting charge-backs", and others are genuine; but, if you are unlucky enough, you may be the one who gets the raw end of the deal. Phishing and Spoofing is also a big deal; however, this is not PayPal's concern since it cannot really do anything to protect its users from it. So, be careful! Disregard any emails which say they would like you to pay something or receive money through Paypal? they are fake!
Negative Reaction
Paypal has many ex-customers and disgruntled customers. Some are even so furious as to create websites outlining exactly why Paypal is bad. A website, like paypalsucks.com, would be the best example. Do not think that the shortcomings of Paypal are only experienced by a small few. It is widely known, even by those who regularly use the service, that Paypal can quickly go from an easy way to transfer money to a disastrous way to lose it. Amongst the most known errors of Paypal is there customer service. It is great for smaller issues that are easily solved. But when you really need it, for example, your account has been hacked and you've lost money somehow, or something major, they can be slow to respond and unhelpful. Also, another problem is getting your account "locked". This can happen for many reasons, so many that it is not worth writing. When your account is locked you cannot send or receive money usually for 180 days. This is one of those instances where PayPal's customer service is not helpful at all. They will undergo their own "inspection" and will usually tell you that they have reviewed your case and have decided that your account remained locked, even if you have the correct documentation and enough reasoning for it to be unlocked. Also, there have been instances where small businesses have been paid using a fake credit card and when Paypal found out, even though it wasn't the sellers fault, the account is flagged, the money taken, and the account locked.