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?

I have used PayPal for quite some time..never had any problems out of them at all. Just remember tho, PayPal will never send you any notes asking for your info...get anything like that from someone claiming to be PayPal, delete it.

It's perfectly safe. I've never had money stolen from me, or lost money via paypal.
in fact, I used it to pay for Poser 7.

I use it all the time and never had a problem

  The only worry tends to be on the merchant side..... there have been some serious but infrequent, issues. Lou.

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.

I've never personaly had any problems as a buyer or seller nor have i heard any first hand accounts of problems.

Even so, I would say read their TOS very carefuly. They are not a financial institution like a bank or credit card so they are not responsible or liable for many things that financial institutions are.

been using paypal for a few years now, never any problems, but same with using credit card online, haven't had any problems.
Most creditcards offer you additional protection when purchasing online where you're not responsible for the charges if someone steals your info. I made sure my creditcard has that.

I very much appreciate the responses from everyone. If you ever take time to read the back pages of your newspaper, then I'm sure you're familiar with the stories that have been surfacing lately regarding government sponsored Mideastern and Chinese hackers making tentative forays into western banking databases. Seems they may have plans for a massive attack. That scares me. We could all be wiped out financially in a heartbeat.

I've heard of paypal issues on the merchants end.  Specifically, they delivered the "goods" but because they were not physical goods, the buyer simply told paypal that they had not recieved them and paypal took the money back from the merchant.  

You can avoid this by getting confirmation that the merchandise was sent, and I've seen advice to the effect of send anything paid for through paypay through the post not the internet.

Personally I've never had any problems, but I've never sold anything either.

No problem here too.Suggest you to choose option Secure .Paypal phone you just after this (so you know it is Paypall)and you can confirm your  info choosen option on your phone.You do it only one time but it is not necessary for using Paypal

I'm both a merchant and a customer with Paypal - and have been for many years - and have never, ever had issue with their safety standards.

I've been using Paypal for a few years now and I've never had a single issue. To be honest, I wouldn't know what to do without it!

Hi. I also have been using paypal and have never had an issue with them. I did have a problem with an ebay order where I received burn copies of the software I ordered. I paid through paypal, and upon learning that what I paid for was not the legal versions of the software, the people at paypal where great with helping find the SOB and getting my money back. David

Attached Link: The Paypal security key

Usable on Ebay too.

I don't trust paypal but, that's just me. I tried using them & didn't like it.

Quote - I very much appreciate the responses from everyone. If you ever take time to read the back pages of your newspaper, then I'm sure you're familiar with the stories that have been surfacing lately regarding government sponsored Mideastern and Chinese hackers making tentative forays into western banking databases. Seems they may have plans for a massive attack. That scares me. We could all be wiped out financially in a heartbeat.

If your money is in the bank,

You'd only be wiped out if you have more than 100,000 dollars sitting in the bank. Less than that is insured.

1 proviso
If you sell anything that can be deemed adult by nature depending on what it is, even if ya wanted to buy from sex shop knickers for ya wife, and paypal find out they will terminate your account.
Paypal safee but make sure the stuff ya sell dont get ya account shaged.

Someone once hired me to create some poser comics for them and paid me using Paypal.  Over 6 months later Paypal grabbed $500.00 I had in my Paypal account because it turned out the guy used a stolen credit card to put my payment money into his Paypal account.  They also demanded I give them an additional $500.00 that I had withdrawn but I told Paypal to go fuck themselves because it was the credit card company's problem, not mine (or theirs for that matter).  As far as I'm concerned if they can't figure out a stolen credit card has been used for over 6 months then it's tough luck.

DO NOT LEAVE MONEY IN YOUR PAYPAL ACCOUNT!!!

Farside, that's exactly the sort of thing, along with the increasing risks of account hacking, that worries me. Maybe I'm just turning into a paranoid. Thanks for the information.
In future, I'm convinced that the only safe method of payment is going to be a snail mail U.S. postal money order. I think DAZ and Rendo both accept those as payment, God help me.
But I'll sure sleep better at night.

I use Paypal all the time. I bought $1200 Western show saddle at Ebay and it was fantastic Also, I use it for Poser stuff. Safe as anything else, I guess.

Paypal -- It depends on whether you are a systems person or a loner. From a systems point of view, Paypal is screwing their merchants on a regular basis (and yes, I have read firsthand accounts) the same way Wal-Mart does. Whatever benefit they give you was extorted from someone else. They have a political and moral agenda that is antithetical to art and humanity. The fact that they make your train run on time is small potatoes, in that context. I closed my PayPal account nearly five years ago.

As for being "safer" if the godless boogie-wonks ping your bank: Where do you suppose PayPal keeps their money? And if they suffer, do you really think they aren't going to share the pain?

M

I've never had problems with using it.

BEWARE though. The amount of spoof e-mails you'll get saying there is a problem with your account-click here to log in, or congratulations you won item xxxx now click here to pay etc are increasing, and if your not careful can catch you out.

I have heard from merchants at ebay that Paypal is a pain in the butt and charges a lot. I also have gotten many spoof emails and forwarded them to Paypal. Some Poser sites only take Paypal, that's the problem.