Quote - Lately I've been feeling less comfortable about using credit cards online. Is Paypal a safe alternative? Have your experieces with the service been trouble free? Would you recommend it? Is there anything better?

Yes.  You can actually have your credit card associated with Pay Pal, so when you use Pay Pal it's taken off of your credit card.

Also, never, ever, ever, respond to an email from Pay Pal asking  you to click a link to verify your information! Those are always scams! Pay Pal will never send you an email like that. And they encourage you to type in their address in the address bar or use one of your trusted bookmarks, and never hyperlinks in emails.

EDIT:  Oops, I see Jumpy has addressed the issue of "Pay Pal" fraudulant emails.

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi