PayPal’s doing its part
May 28, 2009
Fighting the good fight against credit card debt:
I was checking out my Etsy purchase and switched to the credit card option because I never use debit when avoidable when this screen popped up. The novelty was enough to make me stop and read it.
I was sure that it was because PP makes more on bank account funded payments than credit cards, and assumed that the sellers would assume that cost, but it looks like they charge the merchant the same fees:
Which probably does mean that, assuming PayPal is subject to the same merchant transaction fees that individual merchants pay, they’re eating the cost. No wonder they encourage the buyer to use their bank accounts! But how nice of them to remind us that interest charges aren’t desirable.
I have a friend that once upon a time had his PayPal account hacked into. His bank account was connected and he ran into major issues getting the money back.
I once fell for a PayPal phishing eamil, but realized my mistake within 30 seconds. I immediately went into my account, deleted my info, and changed my password. I will NEVER link my bank account to PayPal. It’s not safe, and a credit card provides a higher level of protection.
Cents in the City: That’s awful. I’m always careful about my linkage and accounts, but I feel like you can always be more cautious with all the identity theft and hackerage going on.