How does PayPal work these days??

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by coopmv, Jun 9, 2018.

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  1. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I have had a PayPal account for well over ten years. The account was initially set up to pay for my auction wins as eBay sellers did not accept credit card. My PayPal account is linked to my checking account as well as my Amex credit card. At any rate, I bought some small item on eBay two days ago but I forgot my eBay login password and was routed to PayPal login, which I logged in to reset my eBay login password (though this feature may disappear soon since eBay has already announced severing future tie with PayPal). At any rate, I clicked on Amex card, entered card number and security code, thinking the item would be charged to my Amex card which is already linked to my PayPal account. Lo and Behold, I logged into my checking account this morning and noticed tPayPal has debited my checking account. What exactly is going on? No doubt PayPal would prefer to get cash from my checking account since it does not have to pay Amex any fee. But I prefer to use credit card since I can earn reward points.

    I logged into PayPal to set my credit card to be the preferred payment option. But when I clicked on my checking account, it says it already is my preferred payment option. What the heck is going on? How can both be my preferred payment option. Can I delete the link to the bank? As I vaguely remember a bank account was required when I first set up my PayPal account but that was well over ten years ago.

    Can some frequent PayPal users shed some light on this?
     
  2. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialist™

    Location:
    B.C.
    :shrug: Sorry coop I'm no help here as I always pay with my PP balance. When you log into PP doesn't it show your method of choice for payment? Have you phoned PP for an explanation? If there's something wrong with my account trying to bully me into using my checking acct. I'd remove it in a second.
     
  3. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    First of all, I see no reasons to keep a cash balance in my PP account. As of now, I have both a checking account and a CC linked to my PP account. What bothers me is that when I last checked a few days ago after that last purchase via PP I mentioned in my first post, I saw both checking account and CC as my preferred payment method. This is just quite bizarre as preferred payment method should be limited only to one form of payment. When I tried to delete the checking account, I got the message that I could not delete as a transaction was happening. But then the vendor had already received the payment at that point. Perhaps PP really did not allow me to delete my checking account. I would think after the split of PP from eBay, eBay customers should be able to pay directly with CC but isn't it true you could always pay with CC on eBay from day one? Why would eBay turn away business by insisting customers paying with PP, which eBay used to own?
     
  4. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialist™

    Location:
    B.C.
    That is unusual all right and I agree. IIRC the checking account and money orders were the only means when eBay was in its infancy at least from up here. :shrug: Perhaps a phone call to eBay directly. Restructuring of companies these days sure is a strange animal.
     
  5. Myke

    Myke Trying Not To Spook The Horse

    I know I'm repeating myself here, but then so is the OP, as this subject was posted in another thread recently, and largely went ignored, which is why I'm sure OP started a dedicated thread to get more attention, and hopefully an answer.

    Pay Pal has been goofy lately. I started a thread on the Goods & Services / Gift choices not being there recently, when I went there to pay a forum member, for a classifieds purchase.
    Then we have the also-recent mix up for anyone trying to use PP for an Import CDs purchase. This one I read about on other sites as well as experiencing it myself.
    @coopmv 's problem adds a third in the list.

    I know "goofy" isn't a technical term, but I'm pointing out that Pay Pal's been troublesome lately. Best to proceed slowly when using it these days.
    .
     
  6. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I have never phoned eBay or Amazon (IIRC). The funny thing about these eCommerce giants is they conduct their biz entirely online and they probably use only bots to answer any phone calls. Do they ever put a human on the other end of the line to answer questions? :shrug:
     
  7. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialist™

    Location:
    B.C.
    Yes, they have humans to answer questions... at least they used to when I called them regarding an issue years ago. Give it try at 1-866-540-3229
     
  8. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I am not a millennial. My understanding is millennials are heavy users of Venmo, a peer-to-peer app over the wireless where the millennials transfer cash to each other. Venmo will be a more and more dominant payment app for PP, which also recently bought out iZettle to compete with Square in the small merchant space as small merchants tend to avoid CC due to the transaction fees. I am still a predominantly CC user. Retirees of the earlier generations tend to be all-cash but I am all CC and if the merchant does not accept CC's, he does not get my biz, plain and simple. I just love those reward points and in the mean time, I get to use the free money until the CC bill is due ...

    Why PayPal bought a European start-up with IPO plans for $2.2 billion
     
  9. Myke

    Myke Trying Not To Spook The Horse

    Turning 60 in November here. Retired 5 years now. All my transactions are credit cards too. No cell phone, therefore no apps. Hope to be gone from this life before my plastic becomes extinct.
    Hell, my electricity provider, and my landlord just recently began online payments, bringing them up to speed in my check-free / paperless life.
     
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  10. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Is this a PayPal number or eBay number?

    I really don't want to bash either, as my original small investment in eBay shares in my IRA account has turned into a large amount of money ...
     
  11. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialist™

    Location:
    B.C.
    Ebay #
     
  12. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Thanks. I would think eBay no longer has any vested interests in steering customers to PP payment since it no longer owns PP.
     
    Dave likes this.
  13. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Thanks!
     
    Dave likes this.
  14. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialist™

    Location:
    B.C.
    :agree: you're welcome coop and I would agree.
     
  15. R. Totale

    R. Totale The Voice of Reason

    I usually have a PP balance and also have a couple of cards linked to my account. Every time I log onto PP to make a payment it asks me which payment source to use. This is actually a great improvement over the way it used to work, where they enforced draining out the PP balance before going to a card. It changed to this better way sometime in the last couple of years.
     
  16. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I wonder if I can delete the link to my checking account. I tried to make the deletion after the last purchase was debited against my linked checking account but PP would not allow it. It gave me the message a transaction was going on and that is just not true as the transaction completed a day earlier. I thought there was a kind of bait and switch going on ... :confused:
     
  17. googlymoogly

    googlymoogly Forum Resident

    I've had several problems lately where Paypal wouldn't forward my shipping address to the buyer, for some reason.
     
  18. googlymoogly

    googlymoogly Forum Resident

    I bought an eBay item last year, and the seller not only misrepresented what it was, but charged me for 2-day priority shipping, while actually sending it via media mail. I got a pretty helpful PP rep when I called to lodge a complaint against the seller, and they actually processed my claim quickly, too.
     
    Dave likes this.
  19. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    PP is definitely expanding onto the CC turf. BJ's, the warehouse club mainly found in the northeast where I shop, emailed me about PP will be accepted starting next month. I like my CC reward points and PP is really like a debit card, which I hate ...

    It is always better to use someone else's money for free.
     
    googlymoogly likes this.
  20. R. Totale

    R. Totale The Voice of Reason

    Got me, never been worried about it. If you can't delete it outright, pick one of the many banks around you which offer free checking, set up the bank account with some nominal amount, link PP to it, then remove your old account. Close the new checking account or just leave it sit.
     
  21. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I have never paid any monthly fees for my checking account or per check since I have always maintained the required minimum balance. I am just confused by the mechanism of PP payment option. It seems that PP wants to make it difficult for me to use my CC. I will give this another try next month to see if this unexpected switch happens again ...
     
  22. Dave Garrett

    Dave Garrett Senior Member

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    IIRC, unless things have changed PP requires you to have a checking account linked to your PP account. I have a credit union account with the bare minimum balance in it that I use for this purpose, as I will not give PP access to my main checking account. If you are an eBay seller and get involved in a dispute with a buyer, PP can and will claw back funds from your linked checking account if the balance in your PP account is not sufficient to cover the disputed amount, and they don't have to ask you before doing so.
     
  23. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    PP and eBay have gone their separate way over a year ago and the special tie-in is supposed to be sunset soon as well. I set up my PP in the early 2000's when I bid on eBay auctions quite often and do vaguely remember having a checking account linked to my PP account was a requirement. So that message that I could not delete my linked checking account because some transaction was pending, which was untrue and indeed very deceptive. Why can't PP just come straight out and pop that message that a linked checking account is required?

    What I am miffed about is I had already entered my CC #, security code and expiration date (the same card is also linked to PP) at eBay checkout but was rerouted to PP as I forgot my eBay PW and as such I landed in PP in order to reset my eBay PW. Somehow, the transaction went through and my checking account was debited while my CC was totally ignored. I simply could not understand this sequence of events.
     
  24. Dave Garrett

    Dave Garrett Senior Member

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    Yeah, that is an odd sequence of events. I can't say that I've ever had an issue when it comes to selecting a specific payment source for a PayPal transaction.

    The issues surrounding a linked checking account go beyond eBay and have to do with PayPal not being subject to the same regulations that govern banks and credit card companies, so they can get away with things that would land a bank or a CC company in hot water quickly. There are lots of discussions about this out there, this is just the first one I happened to run across:

    Should you link Paypal to your main checking account? | Money Cone

    But this makes it seem like linking a bank account is optional, so it's entirely possible this requirement changed with one of the numerous updates to their terms and conditions that have occurred:

    why should-i-link-a-bank-account-or-a-card-to-my-paypal-account
     
  25. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    What I found to be really strange is when I clicked on my linked CC or my linked checking account on my PP login, each indicates it is the preferred payment option. This simply makes no sense to me. There should only be one preferred payment option at any given time until it is changed.
     
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