Most American restaurant-goers are used to writing a tip on the receipt after they enjoy a sit-down meal, but with a growing number of eateries — like food trucks and pop-up restaurants — that straddle the line between traditional dining and fast food, it’s unclear whether customers are expected to leave a tip or just be on their merry way. That’s why some new payment systems include an extra step to put the idea of tipping in the consumer’s mind. [More]
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One Month After Being Hijacked, Twitter Finally Restores @N Account To Rightful User
By 2.26.14
Several weeks ago, the Internet was abuzz with the story of how hackers had taken advantage of idiocy at Paypal and GoDaddy to hijack developer Naoki Hiroshima’s personal website and hold it hostage until he handed over the keys to his coveted @N Twitter handle. Now comes the good news that Twitter has finally put that account back under the control of the person it originally belonged to. [More]
GoDaddy Admits Maybe It Should Have Helped User With Hijacked Account
By 1.30.14
Earlier this week, developer and long-time Twitter user Naoki Hiroshima lost his coveted, valuable Twitter handle (@N) after hackers took control of his personal website via GoDaddy and held it hostage until he released the account. Last night, GoDaddy finally admitted that maybe it should have listened to Hiroshima when he first contacted the company. [More]
Hacker Hijacks Website In Extortion Attempt, GoDaddy Refuses To Talk To Actual Owner
By 1.29.14
It’s the modern-day bureaucratic nightmare — Someone steals something that belongs to you, and the one party that could easily do something about it refuses to listen to you because its records show that the thief is the rightful owner. According to developer Naoki Hiroshima, someone lusted after his Twitter handle (@N) so badly that they went to great lengths, hijacking his personal website in a (sadly successful) extortion attempt. [More]
PayPal Offers To Donate To Charity On Behalf Of One-Time Quadrillionaire
By 7.18.13
As we heard on Tuesday, after a man mistakenly received a PayPal balance of $92 quadrillion — only to see that error swiftly reversed— he said he donated to a local campaign in a fit of generosity, despite not really being mega rich. In that spirit, PayPal now says it’ll donate on his behalf to the charity or cause of his choice. It’s not going to be quite a quadrillion bucks, of course: “It didn’t have as many zeroes, but it’s a significant donation,” said the one-time quadrillionaire. [via the Daily News] [More]
PayPal Gives Man $92 Quadrillion Windfall, Takes It Away Without An Explanation
By 7.16.13
The kind of lucky windfalls I get are like, finding $1 in a coat pocket I haven’t worn in a long time. But while it would be way more fun to accidentally receive a PayPal balance of $92,233,720,368,547,800, it’d hurt a lot less to have $1 taken away than those quadrillions. [More]
PayPal Will Follow You Into The Dark Of Space In Case You Need To Buy Stuff Out There
By 6.27.13
Space! The final frontier! We’re all so dang excited about going to Mars and stuff that it appears no one has thought about how we’ll be able to buy our stylish space suits and freeze-dried ice cream in the orbiting malls of the future. PayPal is on it, teaming up with the SETI Institute “to help make universal space payments a reality.” [More]
eBay Seller Out $1,300 And Laptop Because USPS Insists Blank Box Is Actually A Signature
By 6.13.13
A woman in California recently sold a laptop computer of hers on eBay for $1,300, but it never arrived at the buyer’s house. The seller had paid the U.S. Postal Service for insurance and delivery confirmation on the package, so she should be able to get her money back and see who signed for the package. Not quite. [More]
Coinstar Lets You Add Coins To Your PayPal Account, For A 10% Cut
By 6.10.13
Sure, after you check for silver quarters, you could roll up the coins in that jar you’ve got on the counter and deposit them in the bank. You could take them to a coin-counting machine at the bank and deposit them in your savings account. You could even dump them in a fountain, making hundreds of wishes in the process. But the folks behind Coinstar’s ubiquitous machines hope that you’ll take your spare change–and maybe a few bills–and deposit it in your PayPal account. [More]
Worst Company In America Round 1: PayPal Vs. Sallie Mae
March 20, 2013
Ready or not, it’s time to start Day 2 of bloodthirsty competition in the Worst Company In America tournament. Kicking things off for today is a match-up between two companies that love processing your payments, but don’t really show the love when you call to complain. [More]
Girls Scouts: We’re Totally Hip To The Internet, But Scouts Can’t Collect Cookie Cash Via PayPal
By 2.6.13 — Updated: 2.7.13
Listen, the Girl Scouts of America are totally down with this whole Internet thing, as well as social media. Which is good, because the organization has stirred up a bit of a social media controversy over a recent clarification that scouts can’t use PayPal to accept payment for their wares, even if it’s for a good cause. That’s a big setback for an 11-year-old who recently started a web site to support the “I Care” program, which she used to accept donations in order to send cookies to soldiers. [More]
PayPal Says It’ll Change Its Fraud Filters So Users Won’t Get Frozen Accounts So Dang Often
By 1.21.13
Frauds and scams are awful and when it comes to your money, of course a service like PayPal is expected to protect customers from such shenanigans. But the company’s infamous process of filtering frauds has also proven difficult for customers trying to prove they actually are who they are in the past. That’s all changing now, says PayPal. [More]
PayPal Blocked Access To My Account After Denying Me A Debit Card
By 1.2.13
Consumerist reader “A.M.” has a small business running a Minecraft server that brings in a bit of money via PayPal. He recently applied for a PayPal/Mastercard debit card, only to be denied. That wasn’t such a big deal; the real problem was his sudden inability to access the money in his PayPal account. [More]
Study: There Are Plenty Of People Who Would Take Out A Walmart Or PayPal Mortgage
By 12.4.12
What’s an average citizen to do when getting a mortgage from a big bank or other financial institution isn’t an option? Perhaps you might consider taking out mortgages from a retailer like Walmart, or even PayPal? A new financial services study says there are plenty of people out there who would be down with a situation like that. [More]
eBay Has A Zero-Tolerance Policy For Scammy Sellers (Who Haven’t Figured Out How To Game The System)
By 11.2.12
Recently we warned eBay buyers that they needed to make sure to complain about possible scams within 45 days or not only are they unable to get their money back, they can’t even leave negative feedback for the seller. We tried to get an explanation from eBay for this seemingly biased policy. Not surprisingly, eBay hasn’t been terribly forthcoming. [More]
Drunk Or Sober, Jeff Goldblum Is Way Too Into PayPal
By 10.29.12
We know — or at least we believe — that actor Jeff “Brundlefly” Goldblum isn’t actually intoxicated in these ads for PayPal. But honestly, they would make more sense if he actually were under the influence. [More]
If You Get Screwed By eBay Seller, Complain Within 45 Days Or Forever Hold Your Peace
By 10.26.12
When you pay for something on eBay but it never arrives, you’d expect that eBay would be on your side and work to get your money back. That might be true, if you plead your case within 45 days of making the purchase. [More]
Will Opting Out Of eBay Arbitration Clause Get My Account Deleted?
By 10.17.12
For weeks, we’ve been reminding eBay customers that they have until Nov. 9 to opt out of a new forced arbitration clause in the website’s user agreement that takes away consumers’ right to band together in a class-action suit. We’ve also been hearing concern from people that their accounts will be closed by eBay if they choose to opt out. [More]
