Something you may not know about Paypal (paypal.com)

Member Name: jennikitten

Product:	paypal.com
Date:	23/02/09 (121 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Send and transfer money easily to anyone with an email address

Disadvantages: See review

Unlike the majority, I rarely use Paypal for ebay purposes (and never as a seller), so ebay fees aren't really an issue for me. I thought it would be interesting to come at it from a slightly different angle and talk about what I use Paypal for.

I've had a Paypal account since 2003. Around that time I was very into webdesign, and my webhost had a deal (which they are still running I think) that referring someone got you $75, or 10% of whatever they spent for life. I managed to rack up a few hundred in referrals, and this was paid out into my Paypal account. Occasionally I pay for some of hosting through it still today, as it's quick and easy. I also used to do banner advertising on my website for a few $ a month, and Paypal was/is a quick and easy way to transfer money from anywhere in the world.

As I had money coming into my account from various sources, I didn't need to attach a debit or credit card to my account, which is great for security and monitoring my spending. Obviously not many people are in a position to do this, but it's good if you can.

If I'm buying on ebay I use my Paypal account to pay for my goods as it's the fastest way. It's particularly useful for the brilliant etsy.com (check it out if you haven't already - fantastic handmade goods with everything from jewellery to reusable nappies) as most of the sellers are American, and it's much cheaper, quicker and easier than sending cheques etc.

Recently one of my work friends had their email account hacked into, and needed to change their Paypal details. They got through almost straight away on the phones and were asked a series of in depth security questions, including certain digits on the card attached to the account. This is always good to know when money is involved.

In my experience Paypal can barely be faulted as for me it has a lot of good features and you can track payments easily, send amounts in different currencies etc. However, I did read that a few years back, people were trying to raise money for Hurricane Katrina via Paypal donations...apparently a fortune was raised but Paypal blocked the account(s?) because it looked suspicious - I never did find out whether it got sorted out in the end, but last thing I read was that it hadn't.

Various people looked into Paypal terms and conditions after this and found, shockingly, that Paypal has the right to suspend accounts and effectively take the money in them if it chooses to do so. Because of this I would be very wary of how much money you keep in it at any one time and avoid doing things that may look suspicious.

For this reason I've knocked a star off, though in my opinion of using Paypal for almost 7 years, I've never had a problem (though I only use it every couple of months or so now, admittedly).

Summary: Use cautiously and don't take your account for granted