I've used PayPal quite a bit on both paying and receiving. No problems thus far, but I try to limit my usage to only known entities.

Hark produces some very good material by the way, and I would not hesitate to buy from them via paypal.

Just like anything else on the internet, if you use it without regard to scams and/or who you're sending money to you can end up with a loss. Use your best judgement when purchasing things on the internet, period. I have used paypal since its inception and have never had any problems for the past 5 or 6 years and over 300 transactions.

Things to consider...

1. Don't or try not to keep a balance in your paypal account.
2.If you link your paypal account to your bank account open a seperate checking account for this. Use that seperate account to transfer money back and forth from your main account. Try to keep this account at a zero balance also until you need to send money via paypal.
3. Be smart. If the company/person seems odd or you're just not to sure then don't make the transaction.
4. Send only an amount that you're comfortable with.

Hope that helps.

I just got money credited back to my paypal account from a sale gone bad. They also pay around 4% interest (which is pretty darned good these days). My Paypal experiences have been pretty good.

Whatever you do though, don't respond to an email purportedly from Paypal asking you to verify your account. It is a known and very common scam. It may look like Paypal correspondance, but it isn't.

There is an option for credit cards now - we've had others express anti-paypal sentiments. We've never had a problem with them, but now there is an option for people who just want to submit CCs directly and/or want to order more than one title in a single pass..

Thanks.

K

I have never worried about PayPal sucking money out of my bank account without permission, that would be a very expensive disaster for them.

Past problems included a one-week outage(!) where they did not notify either customers or merchants. Only a message when trying to get transactions through, to the effect of "PayPal is down temporarily, please try again later."

Last week I made a PayPal purchase on eBay. I completed the payment and got a confirmation that said "You have sent a secure payment of $52.90 USD ($48.40 USD PayPal balance + $4.50 USD coupon ) to your seller, tracksnow."

Well, they didn't get the money. After waiting for a day to make sure I hadn't been charged, I redid the confirmed payment and it came through OK.

Over the last two weeks alone, I have gotten their "Try later!" page at least 5 or 6 times.

I think it is beyond clear that they don't have competent IT people.

Compare that with Visa/Mastercard, where they test new software and hardware on a separate test network for something like one year before switching over, then keeping the old system running on standby for several weeks before removing it.

I think PayPal is trying to run a major payment system on computers held together with chewing gum and baling wire.

Someday there will be merchants with pitchforks outside PayPal's headquarters...