alternatives to paypal

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72Dinger

72Dinger

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Hey all - if you have paid attention to the news cycle you have probably read about certain policies + behaviors by Paypal that are leading people to abandon the platform. Basically, they can keep you from accessing your money, and even "fine" you, if you violate they're terms of service, which extend beyond criminality to include "disinformation", etc. I canceled my account, which I had had for over 15 years, after some inexplicably poor service a few months ago.

I'd like to use this thread to discuss some alternatives and maybe even arrive at a few standards that we can use for transactions on this board.

I've tried Zelle with a recent transaction, and while it might be promising, it has limits to transactions that vary bank-to-bank and are not clearly posted.

Lets not make this into a political discussion even though I realize that many have political motivations for seeking alternative payment processing providers. Having some alternative providers is certainly useful regardless of how you feel about paypal.
 
72Dinger said:
Hey all - if you have paid attention to the news cycle you have probably read about certain policies + behaviors by Paypal that are leading people to abandon the platform. Basically, they can keep you from accessing your money, and even "fine" you, if you violate they're terms of service, which extend beyond criminality to include "disinformation", etc. I canceled my account, which I had had for over 15 years, after some inexplicably poor service a few months ago.

I'd like to use this thread to discuss some alternatives and maybe even arrive at a few standards that we can use for transactions on this board.

I've tried Zelle with a recent transaction, and while it might be promising, it has limits to transactions that vary bank-to-bank and are not clearly posted.

Lets not make this into a political discussion even though I realize that many have political motivations for seeking alternative payment processing providers. Having some alternative providers is certainly useful regardless of how you feel about paypal.
Click to expand...
Yeah, a $2500 fine for badmouthing
Paypal
 
I would like to find something else as well. The problem with Zelle and Venmo is that there is no protection for the person sending the money, like there is with Paypal goods and services. They would work fine for family members or people you know and trust, but other than that, I definitely wouldn't use either for people I don't know.
 
Venmo is owned by PayPal... you can get buyer protection through Vemmo but it requires several things to be in place such as the seller having a business/ commercial profile... so that fails the ease of use test. Venmo also has the "up to 180 days" they can hold disputed funds.

Most of the others are niche so finding someone who has the same one is problematic I'd think. Outside of PayPal the other Peer-to-Peer exchange apps offer no buyer protection.

CashApp
GooglePay
Wise

OP poses an interesting question. PP seems to have a monopoly wouldn't you say?
 
WV64Signet said:
PP seems to have a monopoly wouldn't you say?
Click to expand...

Yes, which is why they can and have acted with impunity. I'm not aware of a direct competitor, all the other providers operate in a different space.

Some of this is because PayPal "invented" the industry, and was widely adopted because they were coupled with eBay for a long time.
 
72Dinger said:
Yes, which is why they can and have acted with impunity. I'm not aware of a direct competitor, all the other providers operate in a different space.

Some of this is because PayPal "invented" the industry, and was widely adopted because they were coupled with eBay for a long time.
Click to expand...

Agree...it wasn't something anyone else was interested in taking the leap on. Good for them I guess.

You can get protection with Mastercard/Visa but you'd need that commercial storefront. I think that on here it demonstrates how that buy/sell rating becomes super important. Maybe switch it up as well where buyers can get rated as well as the seller.
 
It's not as convenient, but wiring the $$$ via Moneygram works, and is fast.
 
Up here I just use the banks etransfer service (no protection) but you can't use it for US purchases. A bank wire is great for large sums and again no protection. Paypal has been pretty good for me but they can have a heavy hand if things go wrong. I spent a lot of time trying to get an account unfrozen because of a silly issue. I'm not considering other platforms.
 
The ability to rate buyers and sellers on the forum could assuage some of the concerns regarding lack of protection from other providers. Small sums I'm not terribly concerned about. I'd like to think we're a high trust group here.
 
The REAL answer is, that we as people should demand that banks and other money/ credit outfits go back to banking and handling money and leave politics OUT!! No bank, credit card, Paypal like company, or any other firm that handles money should LEGALLY be able to **** with your (our) money in these manners. The latest is the CC companies reclassifying arms sales so the feds can track them or they can ban them.
 
Brooks James said:
Yeah, a $2500 fine for badmouthing
Paypal
Click to expand...
Not necessarily badmouthing PayPal but using PayPal to support a cause they deem as misinformation or goes against their beliefs like sending money to support the Canadian Truckers last year.


Alan
 
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I'm not seeing alternative providers that offer equivalent services...I think most of us use F+F to avoid fees, and probably are transacting less than $200 at a time? Does that seem like the typical use-case?

Zelle seems best for small transactions, no fees, but no protection. These are direct ACH (bank-account to bank-account) transactions.
Venmo is a similar service, higher profile...but owned by paypal.

Cashapp is a popular service that I need to read more about...but its own by Jack Dorsey (lol).

Wise.com seems to be feature-rich, and very upfront about fees. It might be a solution for large purchases.
 
Gab pay is an option, also. And the good old USPS money order is what I’m going to be requesting going forward. When business have to start politicizing their products and services, they have gone too far, IMHO.
 
I cash app small transactions
PayPal and Fleabay for larger amounts, (even tho it pisses me off), because of the protection. I learned the hard way
 
Check or money order, man. You can't hide from this though. All the banks are going woke and pushing for that social credit score and all digital currency.

You can't stop The Man.
 
jos51700 said:
Check or money order, man. You can't hide from this though. All the banks are going woke and pushing for that social credit score and all digital currency.

You can't stop The Man.
Click to expand...
When they try and put a chip in me, I'm heading for the hills
 
I really like zelle for payments.

Can't stand paypal, but, sort of a necessary evil if you sell things. The only time it is efficient is for international sales and access to a quick and simple internal postage app (even that they sort of screwed up recently).
 
At this point what appears to be the case is that for a peer-to-peer sale (not through an internet storefront) the only option that provides "buyer protection" is PayPal. Everything else whether electronic or paper is a mixture of common sense on the reliability and reputation of the seller, and confidence in the general goodness of mankind that they will deliver the item on what is essentially a handshake deal.

A bit of reading indicates that the "misinformation" portion of the End User Agreement has been in place for a year or more (??) and the $2,500 was a new occurrence with unclear relationship to the previous misinformation statement. Am I getting that right?
 
A lot of people selling stopped accepting any PP payments designated as goods/purchases. The $600 threshold for tax reporting, not PP's fault, and the stuff that goes with it drove many to say F&F only.

As mentioned if you know the seller and they have a good rep, then OK. If not, same as always, watch how you proceed.
 
I ran into an issue with paypal recently and my account is frozen. First time in 20 years.
Also thinking of shutting down paypal, but then i have no way to sell or buy internationally.

Most American options are not supported in Canada.
 
crackedback said:
A lot of people selling stopped accepting any PP payments designated as goods/purchases. The $600 threshold for tax reporting, not PP's fault, and the stuff that goes with it drove many to say F&F only.

As mentioned if you know the seller and they have a good rep, then OK. If not, same as always, watch how you proceed.
Click to expand...

The unblinking eye of Sauron wants its tax revenue.

Good luck y'all
 
USPS money orders were mentioned earlier...they are a safe means of transferring payments up to $1k USD, if you don't mind the hassle + extended time for your transaction to take place. Again, there is no protection for the transaction of goods, only the fund transfer is secure. Int'l money orders are limited to $700 USD.

Fees are based on the money order dollar amount:
$0.01 to $500.00 - $1.65
$500.01 to $1,000.00 - $2.20
Postal Military Money Orders (issued by military facilities) - $0.55
 
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