[Question] How safe is PayPal

[Foxy]

I advertised a motorbike on Gumtree and have been contacted via email by a keen buyer. He says that he can only pay via PayPal and will pay all associated PayPal costs. He wants to pay ASAP and will have someone collect the bike because he is away...out of town. Of course I would not allow anyone to collect the bike unless I was 110% sure that payment had been received but I'm not so sure about PayPal fraud? It all sounds a bit suss to me?

[solweb]

It takes 6 business days to go from Paypal into your account with FNB. You could lose on the exchange from dollars to rand and you get hit with bank charges. Not worth the hassle, especially if Paypal turn round and tell you that they have reversed because it was a fraudulent transaction. Too many ifs and buts!

[Foxy]

It takes 6 business days to go from Paypal into your account with FNB. You could lose on the exchange from dollars to rand and you get hit with bank charges. Not worth the hassle, especially if Paypal turn round and tell you that they have reversed because it was a fraudulent transaction. Too many ifs and buts!

Thanks solweb, I agree it's not worth the hassel and I have told 'the buyer' that I'm not interested in PayPal for a purchase of this value.
PS! The bike is here in Oz.
PS!! Last November when I was in SA and purchased a house I opened a non resident account at FNB......geeze that's another story!

[Construction Media]

PayPal is INCREDIBLY safe, because you never have to give your client or buyer your account details!

Yes, FNB is a hassle with their 6-8 working days waiting period, BUT, if you use PayPal in your business, you can accept credit card payments, without having a costly merchant account with a bank.

I've been working as a freelancer for a few years, and I've just launched a company called Construction Media, as well as a site that teaches South Africans about online business, the Internet Business College, and I can tell you that getting PayPal is a huge boost for South African businesses - which most will realise once they understand how it makes them a global payer!

I can understand not wanting to accept a single purchase via PayPal, and face the waiting period, but if you're talking business, you need to get it. Simple as that.

[Perform Computers]

I always use PayPal to pay for my overseas purchases. Never had an issue with them.

[Martinco]

I He says that he can only pay via PayPal and will pay all associated PayPal costs. He wants to pay ASAP and will have someone collect the bike because he is away...out of town. It all sounds a bit suss to me?

Just be careful.........this is a scam !!!! You can Google the keywords of the email.

[AndyD]

BEWARE there's a known scam with foreign buyers/ out of town using paypal and you end up with nothing. I'll look for a link and post back when I find one.

I see Martinco beat me to it. Here's the link anyway.

[Cat]

We've recently added paypal to our business and although we have not yet had the opportunity to se it in action - getting it to work took me 4 months. After chatting to PayPal direct and numerous FNB consultants - the only way to get the account linked was to order a (3rd) new card and get it linked up. Now I am waiting to see if/when it works and whether it was worth the hassle.

[AndyD]

4 months
You must have the patience of Job himself.

Was the problem with teething troubles or lack of ability on the side of the bank. Fingers crossed, I hope it proves to be worth it for you

[Cat]

@ANdyD - I had been under the impression it would be a quick and simple process. I activated an account and tried linking it with my FNB account as is the norm. I had error messages and constant 're-assurance' from PayPal that whatever account I was trying to link was not a valid account. I tried from my personal cheque account after the business one wouldn't work.
What made me laugh even more was when I called the FNB PayPal helpline the consultant had no clue what I was saying and urged me to contact PayPal who subsequently reverted me back to FNB.
After that I figured online and telephonic assistance would not help me and physically went into the bank and sat for 20minutes while they figured out the problem. 7 days later I got a new card (3rd one by the way) which linked immediately. Now I sit and wait for clients to use it - most of which use our online credit card facility anyway.

[IanF]

@ANdyD - I had been under the impression it would be a quick and simple process. I activated an account and tried linking it with my FNB account as is the norm.

Hi Cat
Have you figured out the charges on Paypal yet? We just had enquiry from the UK who wanted to use Paypal, we said just use the credit card option, so we will see.
Who else has setup Paypal on their online store and does it bring in extra sales?

[Cat]

Hiya IanF,

I haven't yet no but my concern is that these charges will mess up the margins somewhat. Our credit card facility affords us a charge of 4.5% on all transactions so this has been built into all products (most clients pay by card whether online or at our premises) so that we have accounted for. As for PayPal I am going to take this as a hit and miss until we start getting pruchases (if we do at all).
I found that offering card payment option doubled our sales online - PayPal I am yet to see anything for so I will reserve judgement for now.

[AndrewD]

Do you need to have FNB to get PayPall? I would like to get it for online purchases.

[Dave A]

As long as you're not using your PayPal account to receive money, you don't need an FNB account. All you need is a valid credit card.