For the (realistically) cautious, I offer this advice: Set up a secondary (or tertiary/quadrant) account to your principle account for online transactions for vendors such as PayPal that really push a checking authorization. Limit the funds available to what you are trying to move, with a little wiggle. Make sure the conditions of your account provide protection to "unauthorized transactions" but realize that even then you may have to battle to protect your credit in the event of a larceny.
Just make your exposure is minimal, and you will be fine. If you tie your pay-pal (or other online pay-service) to your principal checking, it is most likely you won't be victimized, but it may happen. Summary: if you want to take extra measures, open an account in another bank for your online transactions and don't tie it to your principle repository. Banks make it easy to protect yourself if you investigate an automatic shutdown on withdrawals. From the seller's side, be wary that such protections make it really really tough to pursue non-payers when they challenge a charge. Unfortunately from a respectable merchant's perspective, it's _very_ difficult to recover contested transactions, and that is a shame, because it is what makes merchant fees so astronomical that credit purchases kill the retail vendor in service fees and man-hours on recovery. Michael Hang the thieves. On Dec 1, 2006, at 5:33 PM, Mark Cassino wrote: > Paypal acts as the middle man and they are the only ones that know > your > account numbers etc. Similarly, when someone wants to pay you they > give > their info to paypal, you never see it. > > As a consumer, I try to use paypal vs direct online credit cards > whenever possible. I figure that confining my data to the fewest > sources > makes sense, so I try to keep as many transactions flowing through > paypal vs a bunch of independent store credit card clearing areas. > > If you are truly paranoid read the TOS closely. To get a paypal > account > you _have to_ give them access to your bank account. Both so they can > pay you is via direct deposit, they also can debit your account to > make > payments on your behalf. They way it works is they make a small > deposit > to your account (a few cents) and then withdraw it to verify that they > have access. > > I haven't looked at the TOS closely in several years but they used to > give PayPal the right to just go into your account and take what they > think they are owed should you wind up in a disagreement with them. > I've > talked with folks who have great anxiety over that, but I've never > talked to anyone who ever had a problem with it. > > The only risk I ever saw was if someone I sold something to used a > fraudulent credit card or other scam to pay for it. Possibly Paypal > could grab that money back out of my account and leave me holding the > bag. I don't do anything of such magnitude to warrant worries, and > paypal has access only to my checking account, not an account with > substantial balances. > > The other thing with paypal is the fees - the seller pays the paypal > fees. The few times I've sold substantial commercial photo licenses, > I've just asked for a check and send an invoice, because the paypal > fees > can be notable on larger dollar (>1000) transactions. Unfortunately, I > haven;t had to deal with that problem much. > > - MCC > > David J Brooks wrote: >> Hi All. >> >> I have had a nunmber of clients ask if i take paypal. At this time >> only cash or cheque. >> >> I am just setting up for online banking,i;m paranoid still:-),but >> unsure whats involved with paypal. >> >> How do people access my account. I don;t want my visa or bank account >> numbers out there for the taking. >> >> Can those that accept paypal give me an idea of what to do/expect. >> >> Dave, sir paranoid, Brooks >> >> Equine Photography in York Region >> > > > -- > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > Mark Cassino Photography > Kalamazoo > www.markcassino.com > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
