Although I have to admit that you are right and paypal IS a big scam (which is why I don't use it), the fact that they make you pay for a "FREE" transfer is not something I would hold against them, as, after all, it IS just buisness .

And at this point, I think it's good practice to say my motto: If you don't like it, leave it.

i totally aggree, if you can live without it then live without it and stop complaining, they need to feed themselves and theres families, you agreed to a service and i think you have no right to complain.

I have not had a paypal account yet as I'm not old enough nor do I have an income. Two months until I do. My mother has one though. The problems that we keep on having are that they lose her passwords. She uses the same password for every single account on anything that she owns and yet, they say it's wrong when she types it in and has to reset it. This has happened about ten times. I know that they charge a fee to use it on Ebay. It's like 2 dollars and the such.... It's kind-of dumb to do that since you could send a money order instead of using paypal for most orders.... I don't really know, I know what you're saying though.

I've heard from only 3 people in my life that have had negative experience like this with Paypal...this poor soul included. I'm not going to saint them or anything or imply they're the best thing since sliced bread, but I have to tell you, I use their service VERY regularly and I have NEVER, ever ever ever had a single problem with them. I'm aware of the fees they charge, I suppose that's because I'm a bit anal about reading the fine print....so I went in with my eyes opened. I DO agree that they could be a bit more forward with that information...like it should be on the side of every page (I'm not kidding) so folks don't have to poke around to figure out where their money is going....and I therefore have some level of sympathy for the well intentioned who sign up, get an account, start using it and then get literally blindsided with fees they had no idea existed. (I could also do with a LOT less of them trying to push a high interest credit card on me..but they are indeed a business). It's a legitimate complaint and I think you have a case to press it with them. Give 'em Hell!

That said, when you do...they will likely respond favorably. I recently got ripped off by a rogue 3rd world e-bayer that Paypal should have been on to a LONG time ago....and cut them off at their financial knees...and I opened a complaint with them. 25 minutes later, no questions, no forms, no nothing...the money was not just back in my acct...they transferred it to my bank (no fee) and sent an apology and went after the sum*BLEEP* with guns blazing. Their e-bay store was closed that day and that was that (not before the d*ckhead tried to put up negative feedback). So again...I have to lean in favor of these folks as far as business practices...they walk the talk.

So...send them a note...explaining you were unaware of the fee involved when you chose your upgrade plan..and see if they don't cut you a deal and give you half the money back or something. I'd be interested to see how you make out.

I hear a loooooot of ripoff stories from Paypal, but I still think its the best thing out there. It's easy and cheap - you don't have to pay for credit card service, which can be really, really expensive. I'd rather take my chances.

I agree with panda, it's not that bad a deal. They have a right to tell you when they are going to charge you, though. But they do have to make a profit, so that we can have pretty much free accounts. You say the only way to receive your money was if you upgraded, well, they shouldn't force you to pay like that, in that respect you were pretty much screwed. But if they let you know what they plan on doing, taking money for transfers, then that's fair as long as you know about it. If they explicitly say they don't, but they did, that's either a scam or you didn't read the fine print.

As elevenmill said, the money you were charged to change your paypal plan and process a $200 payment was a little over 3%, seriously thats good value. They probably do have to pay someone somewhere and therefore they need to get their money from somewhere, like everyone does, you get charged a little bit for the convenience. Its not a rip off. If it was a poor deal, they would charge $20 or more for their service..

The only annoying thing must be that they didn't advertise clearly or tell you when the transaction was about to go through of the cost you would get. Now you know, remember for the future!

This post has been edited by Jimmy: Mar 20 2007, 02:06 PM

You don't need a credit card to use paypal. It happens to be one of the options. If you need a credit card but can't get one for lack of good credit then get a paid credit card. I'm in Canada and Money mart offers master cards that you load up with cash. But really, you don't have to get a credit card to use paypal. Just check the website and see all the latest services. Pretty good if you ask me. I don't mind paying 2.9% plus .50 cents or whatever for the service and to receive payment from someone overseas who is using a credit card. Compare with having to pay my bank monthly fees then again to use an automated machine and limited to x# of transactions and on and on, now that's a rip off.

But who cares what do you mean buisness is buisness? That is lieing and shoudl be iliegal? But ok. They can scam people if they want I do no have Paypal