Does anyone here have a paypal account? How do you create one, and what are the pros and cons?

I'm thinking of applying for one but a bit scared this may get abused (as in cheating cases)

I did and i kena once.. You have got to becareful. Do not click any link from your email. The email address will be almost similiar to the admin from paypal.
Once you clicked the link, it will direct you to a page that is very similiar to paypal's page. Once you keyed in ur username and password, it will give error and then asked u to key in again... it's then i noticed that there is a slight difference in the url, but it's too late.

Even when i closed my paypal acc, my cc still gets to be used by some other ppl. And when i reported, the bank has the cheek to pusing me and told me to pay part of the amount... in the end, i just pay the balance and cancel the cc..

So serious?
I was asked to create a paypal account when I purchased my collectible Kamen Riders figures online (from Honolulu), and I also use it when the other online merchant asked for it as payment mode.
Now I leave it idle, don't know how to close it, any pointer?

Ok, I signed up for paypal but everytime when I click continue to pay the merchant, it keeps telling my I have insufficient funds. I called the bank and was told I have more than enough funds.

Exactly how do you use paypal? I know that when I want to make a purchase, I call up the credit card bank and inform them first, then wait for the invoice from the merchandiser, Upon receiving, I proceeded to make payment but got this stupid error message over and over.

Am I doing something wrong? Missing a step perhaps?

I can't remember exactly but I think after tagging a credit card to your paypal account, you will need a confirmation code that comes in the credit card statement at the end of the month to activate the card.

Just a warning to users of Paypal.

Please be very careful using Paypal. There are scams out there with people pretending to be from paypal saying your account info needs updating and requests you to resend your credit card info. These people are not from Paypal. They are trying to steal your credit card info and charge stuff on it pretending to be you.

The reason I know is because I got an email from Paypal saying they need me to update my info and I DON'T HAVE A PAYPAL ACCOUNT!

Just somethig to consider when using your credit card online.

Ryoga...My assumption is that you have just recently opened a new PayPal account, right? So, if it was...PayPal would give you a 'Credit' about USD100 only UNTIL you received the 4 digit code which will appear in your credit card statement which was used when you registered into PayPal.Therefore until such time, you're limited to those funds even though your credit limit may be Platinum standards. Once received of the code, go back to PayPal site and follow instructions..you won't go wrong, just like others have said...Don't click via email links, bookmark the site and enter directly from it.

Note: The bank cannot detect nor reveal the code, in case you're planning to utilize your PayPal account before the statement arrives.

Hope that helps :)

Thanks everyone, and yar, very well aware of such scams. I have received such emails before and normally I disregard - reason being any transaction activity is linked to my email, hence anyhting happens, I will already know. urthermore, I've bookmarked the site to my account.

Brutus, the day I signed up for paypal, the bank called and gave me the 4 digit code. But so far I haven't seen where in paypal asking me for the code.

Dear Ryoga,

Go to your account and there will some something to click to ACTIVATE your account. The code is for activation. Once activated, your credit card will give u a call.... well.... that's what my credit card did at least, to justify the paypal account agian on the credit card side.

I did not experience the "USD 100" as Brutus said.....what Paypal did is that they charge USD 1 to my credit card. my credit card statement will indicate the payment to Paypal and at that same statement will have the activation code. You need to copy that and key in to activate your account. Once activated, Paypal will refund your USD1 back. The procedure is just security purpose to ensure you are the correct card holder.

As Twong said, do not entertain any "Paypal request" that drop to your email. Do everything on your Paypal account page and if anything, there's a number there for you to call Paypal company for customer service.

Other than that, I suggest using Paypal for credit card purchases on the Internet. It's much secured unless you do something stupid.

Just to elaborate further, once you login to your Paypal account, you should be able to see on the right side of the screen, under "Notifications", a link to "Confirm my debit or credit card". That's where you key in your 4 digit code.

That's weird ... I am looking at my account now, doesn't have any "notification" notice. In fact, I went to profile, then credit/debit card, and I see my CC info there but there is no link to click on to activate except for the edit/remove link

if it that hard, just buy the paypal kredit from trusted buyer.. I never owned a CC on my own. Just rely on my trusted seller.. You pay them in RM, they transfer in USD.. I dont know how much the CC company will charge the forex.. As far as I check, the seller usually charge a bit less than current rate..

Did u recieve an email regarding when u sign up? there should be instructions there.. I can't remember coz long time ady, if i'm not mistaken, there's a link there u can click to go to the activation page. But u have to be careful and check that everything is ok. You can call up your credit card company to notify your credit card linked to Paypal. That's what I did, and you can request the bank to call u up for justification if the transaction is more than X amount of USD.

I think I'm going to add another CC card in and remove the earlier card. Paypal says everythig is ok, CC bank says everything is ok, but payment still won't go through :blink:

Update : something interesting for everyone who plans to apply for a paypal account in Malaysia. Don't bother as their service SUCKS!!!!!

1. After successfully linking my second card and verifying it, the first payment to the merchant went smooth. After that, I kept getting the same message like below:

"Sorry, your payment won't go through. To make it work, you'll need to add money to your account and pay with your PayPal balance. ..."

I thought it was weird since there should be no limit, and paypal was suppose to bill my CC. So I wrote to them and got this useless reply:

- Check with the CC Bank on my credit standing (done that)
- Wait a few days as this is a form of security measure agreed upon with the governing country (apparently each country have their own rules, and I have waited for almost 2 weeks now).
- The merchant is blacklisted or has some fraudulent claim made against them (not possible with the merchant in question as he came highly recommended as well as now the merchant is pissed that paypal could insinuate such things - his own paypal account is working just fine)

Then I got this in my email

To ensure the integrity of our network, PayPal may take security measures, which may affect some accounts in good standing. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.

PayPal employs complex statistical models to identify patterns of behavior. This is similar to the way banks and credit card companies identify patterns of behavior that are out of the ordinary when approving individual transactions. When our system does not allow a certain funding source for a transaction, it is merely an indication that the individual transaction fits a pattern we have observed in the past to have a high risk of failure.

--In that case you may have a try to make the payment at a later time, but it is not guaranteed. (WTH ..... then what's the point of having a paypal account???)

--Another option for you is to add another credit card to your PayPal account and make payments with the new card.

--Or else you may also choose to receive payments from others to your PayPal balance first. Once you have enough balance in your PayPal account, you may use the balance to make the payment and it certainly will not be denied by system.


2. I checked with some friends who had used paypal before and they all said they only used the damn thing once - no problem. (My first attempt with each card was indeed successful, and it was the subsequent attempts to make payments that got this message)

Basically, as non-US citizens, we fall under the restricted currency group hence we get to enjoy all those super tight security features which makes it almost impractical for many non-US residents to use paypal. Their customer service sucks big time as well. Ask question but its like they only gives formatted replies - no help whatsoever.

Finally all I want to say is ... screw paypal. No thanks to them I had to explain like hell to a few merchants why I can't pay them using this crap system and may need to resort to International Money Orders if the do not accept Malaysian CCs. I have removed all my CC card in my account and still trying to figure out how to terminate my account.

:angry:

I used Paypal to make more than one payment in the past. All went through successfully. I suppose the problem is because fake CC is very common in Malaysia so they put extreme caution when dealing with us.

Were you making a number of transactions over a short period of time? Perhaps that triggered their security alert, tagging your card as possibly stolen. It could be just a temporary freeze until they get verification from the CC company that the transactions are genuine.

Hi Alpha7, how long ago was that? Seems like the scenario may changed as they had a notification from Bank Negara posted at my account dated Oct 2009 regarding restricting currency. Here's my case:

First CC card
- successfully paid for the Battlestar Galactica Accurization set. 3 days later tried to pay the second merchant and got that message. At first, I thought I keyed in the 4 digit code wrongly but if that had been the case, the first payment should not have gotten through. Check with CC bank and found that my credit standing is still good.

Second card
- thinking the first card may have problems, I entered a second card (VISA) and verified the account. Payment went through successfully for second merchant. But when I tried paying the third merchant, got that message again. And again I checked with the CC Bank and found no problems from their end. In fact, I had contacted the bank earlier to inform them of my intended purchase and they were on a standby for payment instructions from paypal. After getting that message, I decided this time to write to paypal and did some internet research.

- try googling that message and you will find so many non_US paypal customers facing the same thing. When I got the reply, it sort of confirmed my suspicion - really tight security protocol. Usually I don't mind if such protocol requires some kind of verification steps at my end, but paypal has their own rules. Its up to them whether to let you proceed or not. And their last suggestion - "add another card", yar, at that rate, I'd be applying for like 15 different CC cards just to get paypal to work.

As such, the poor merchants will be left waiting for payment and I can't do anything with paypal to pay them.

I did consider looking to buy some paypal points to facilitate payment, but its risky. In fact, I might as well go with International Money Order which is safer.

All in all, there were only 2 attempts made with each card. One successful, the other not .... :angry: Someone also told me I need to have a paypal account for at least 1 year before I can make regular payments ... :wacko: don't know how true this statement is but I'm not willing to own a paypal account and keep it dormant for 1 year

Bro... if you sign up on Paypal, u purchasing something cheap on your first time using paypal. But when u buy something very much expensive during the second time of your purchase, Paypal will detect it as something very unusual and will probably stop the transaction. This is a security measure. To get it thru, just call them up and ask what can be done. For my case, I have no problem. I also upgraded to premium account (FOC if i'm not mistaken) when I first activate it. Everything went smooth ever since and .... no complain from my side.

Well, I finally got a personalized reply instead of their auto formatted replies. You may have a point there flylice80. Here's their email to me today:

Dear [my name here],

Hello, my name is Zita. I will be happy to assist you with your question
regarding your PayPal account.

I understand you wonder why you can't make payments with PayPal.

After checking your account information, we found that your credit card
has been verified and you can use your credit card to pay. But when you
tried several times to pay, you failed.

Now please let me explain the reasons to you.

To ensure the integrity of our network, PayPal may take security
measures, which may affect some accounts in good standing. We regret any
inconvenience may have caused.

PayPal employs complex statistical models to identify patterns of
behavior. This is similar to the way banks and credit card companies
identify patterns of behavior those are abnormal when verifying
individual transactions. When our system rejects a certain funding
source for a transaction, it is merely an indication that the individual
transaction fits a pattern may cause a high risk of failure.

In addition, I would like to recommend you not to pay at this time.
Please take another try after 3 to 4 days with your credit card.

You may contact your seller and explain the reason why you can not pay
him now. Hope he can understand your situation and let you pay him at a
later time.

I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your
understanding. Please feel free to say if you need further assistance.

It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing PayPal.

Sincerely,
Zita
PayPal, an eBay Company

Bro,

That is perfectly normal. I recieved the exactly same email when I first activated. Just wait a few days, or probably a week.