We get a lot of readers asking us about the rights and wrongs of when you should and shouldn’t show your ID when making a purchase. But it’s a rare occasion when someone writes in to share a story of having an online retailer asking to see ID. [More]
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Paypal Rewards Dollars: Use 'Em In One Go Or Lose 'Em
By 1.20.10
The PayPal plus rewards card earns points which can be traded for vouchers which can be used like cash to buy stuff. You have to be careful, though, and make sure that the price is the same or greater than the voucher amount. Any unused dollars on the voucher get forfeited after the purchase. Tricky! Reads those terms and conditions close, folks. [More]
PayPal Abandons Another Scammed Seller
By 12.8.09
Todd got ripped off by a scammer on an eBay purchase. He made sure to insure the device before shipping it off via the United States Postal Service, but it turns out that an insurance claim won’t help him get PayPal to step up. [More]
PayPal Links Account To Mysterious Email Address, Won't Unlink Or Explain Why
By 10.26.09
PayPal has locked Jessica’s account and won’t release her funds until she pays off the negative balance in her other account. That’s fine, except that she doesn’t have another account. Whatever they linked her to, it’s not hers. Of course, this being PayPal, they won’t give her any information about the other account. She can’t even access it to see what the balance is or who it belongs to.
PayPal Takes Bite Out Of User's Funds, Calls It 'Rolling Reserve'
By 8.11.09
In addition to tacking on some sneaky new fees, PayPal apparently has instituted another off-putting practice on some accounts. According to reader Melissa, the online money changer was taking 20 percent off of her monthly sales and keeping it in reserve in case a customer initiated a chargeback.
Nobody Look At The Paypal Secretly Adding New Fees
By 8.10.09
Starting in June, Paypal started assessing a fee of 2.9% on on purchases marked “goods” or services” to personal accounts. They can do whatever they want, but the problem is they were very quiet about it. Almost sneakily so.
Now You Can Deposit Your Money Directly Into Your Xbox 360
By 8.7.09
If you were sitting there staring at your Xbox 360 thinking, “Ya know, I really wish there were a way I could start getting you to take money directly out of my checking account,” your dreams are realized. Microsoft is now taking PayPal deposits to buy downloadable content.
DealTree Sends Phone Trade In Money To Imaginary PayPal Account
By 6.25.09
What’s going on with DealTree? They handle Nokia’s “Trade-up” program, which reimburses you cash for your old phones. It says clearly on the “how it works” page as well as in their terms and conditions that they’ll mail a paper check to you after confirming your phone’s value. In Paul’s case, they say dumped his money into a PayPal account—and Paul says there’s nothing in his account and PayPal has no record of a transaction.
Hey, Skype, Why Can't I Change My Billing Information?
By 6.9.09
Over the last 1-2 years Skype has gone from being a great alternative to the greedy phone companies, to being worse than AT&T, Time Warner Cable and Comcast combined. Skype’s shady business practices are unlike anything I have experienced with ANY phone or cable company before. And I am saying this as someone who spends $150/year on Skype subscriptions and at least another $50-$75/year on additional Skype out credits.
PayPal Is Very Sorry About (briefly repeat member's situation)
By 5.22.09
Sure, far be it from me as Consumerist tipline czarina to criticize people for having canned responses to e-mails, and especially for mixing up said canned responses, but this was still too amusing not to share.
Bad Luck Facebook Scammer, You Picked A Target Who Reads Consumerist
By 5.21.09
When some lowlife tried to scam Andy the other day through his friend’s hijacked Gmail account, Andy tried to get him to use PayPal, and he came up with a great reason why. “It’s the fastest way to send money,” Andy told the scammer. “Once I deposit the funds, you can print it out of any color printer and it’s real money!” Another reader was so amused by it that she decided to use it on her own Facebook scammer earlier today.
Free iPhone App Improves Paypal And EBay Security
By 4.16.09
We’ve posted before about security keys—those little digital keyfobs that generate expiring security codes over and over and make it incredibly hard for someone to gain unauthorized access to your account. They’re a great idea, and now if you own an iPhone you can install a Verisign app that will work with Paypal and eBay, as well as about two dozen lesser known sites. It’s probably the easiest step you can take to vastly improve security on those accounts.
Worst Company In America: eBay VS GE
By 4.3.09
An internet auction giant, payment processor and ticket broker? Or the parent company of CNBC, retail store card giant, maker of light bulbs and appliances… No, we don’t mean the Sheinhardt Wig Company…
Google Checkout Just As Bad As PayPal
By 3.27.09
Web brokers Google and PayPal don’t believe in human-to-human communication, and one place where you really need that is when you’re troubleshooting financial transactions. An interface designer/developer who used Google Checkout to sell an ebook has just been given a huge serving of suck by the “don’t be evil” company—they closed her account on her without warning and refuse to tell her why the closed it. The $200 in earnings that hadn’t been paid out yet are unretrievable, and she can’t open a new one.
How To Delete Your Online Accounts
By 3.10.09
PC Mag has assembled a list of instructions on how to wipe your account from a long list of websites, including Classmates.com (you’ll have to call), Windows Live ID (it’s complicated), and Friendster (ha ha ha). In many cases, canceling is as straightforward as clicking a link and authorizing the cancellation, but it’s nice to see all the phone numbers and tips collected in one spot.
E-Harmony Gives You 58 Dimensions Of Suck By Billing You For Two Accounts
By 3.3.09
Update: eHarmony has returned the money.
PayPal Charges $81,400,836,908 For $26 Tank Of Gas
By 2.28.09
Juan Zamora fed his 1994 Chevy Camaro $26 worth of gas, a transaction for which PayPal charged his debit card $81,400,836,908. Unsurprisingly, PayPal saw nothing wrong with the charge and demanded that Juan prove that he didn’t actually buy $81.4 billion worth of gas.
