*sam* Posted Jan 26, 2008, 11:40 pm	Just to let you know PayPal transactions, although working fine, are currently returning an 'error' code to the DW server and therefore I have been having to manually sign off subscriptions today. Apologies for any delays: I'll keep checking my PayPal account as often as I can for new subs. Hopefully they will sort it out soon.
Capt. Zeppo Posted Jan 27, 2008, 4:49 am	Hi Sam, While we're on the subject of PayPal transactions... This may be a stupid question, but is the web page for Subscriptions by PayPal a secure page? I was about to subscribe by credit card on the PayPal page (I don't have a PayPal account) and while I was filling out the info I noticed the page didn't seem to have any of the usual signs of being secure to my layman's eyes (i.e., the url starting with "https" or the little padlock icon or whatnot). Call me paranoid, but I got cold feet about the process and backed out.
*sam* Posted Jan 27, 2008, 9:06 am	Hmm, I never noticed that. Because paypal opens inside a frame, you don't see the padlock. If you right-click the paypal logo and choose 'open in a new window' you'll see it properly. I should probably make a second link for that.
Mad Mike Posted Jan 28, 2008, 12:00 pm	good luck with paypal.. I strongly suggest you get your own merchant account as well. www.nopaypal.com
*sam* Posted Jan 28, 2008, 4:50 pm	Yeah, I was a bit concerned about the anti-paypal lobby before mike, but my thinking on this is that any service as large as paypal is going to have its detractors, it would be impossible not to. Paypal is much cheaper than having a proper merchant account. And since I'm not shipping any physical goods, I think damaging disagreements with customers are much less likely than for people who are. Also that site is somewhat a veiled advert for someone else ;-) Anyway... a payment went thru as normal this morning so hopefully it's ok again...
Nekojin Posted Jan 28, 2008, 8:41 pm	There are a couple of different sites that are devoted to PayPal horror stories. Take them with a grain of salt. 1.) The sites are devoted to bashing PayPal. They generally remove comments that are even vaguely positive about PayPal. 2.) They don't generally check the validity of the claims - anyone saying anything bad about PayPal that is even REMOTELY plausible stays up. 3.) They don't remove the horror stories even in cases where everything gets cleared up, nor do they post (or, in some cases,  even allow the posting of) "final resolution" messages. Don't get me wrong - PayPal has done some scummy things to a few people. But those sites make it seem like an inevitable epidemic, instead of the occasional problem. I've known two people who have had PayPal accounts frozen. The first was dealing in bootleg software, and had his account frozen because he was getting complaints about the "quality" of his merchandise. So he pretty much had it coming (I don't agree that PayPal should be able to take the money, but I also don't agree that he's entitled to it in the first place). The second was my girlfriend's company, a multi-million dollar corporation, who had their PayPal account frozen because of a series of transactions with overseas companies. The matter was resolved and the account was reopened after a few days, once it was clearly established that all of the companies involved were legitimate companies. Edit: Oh yeah. If you ever do have to deal with PayPal customer service for anything more complicated than an account address change, be prepared to deal with some of the densest, most obtuse customer service people on the planet. You'll get your problem resolved, but it won't be fun.
Joram Posted Feb 3, 2008, 4:42 pm	I work in the credit card industry which of course has their share of horror stories I have some very trusted sources that describe some PayPal horror stories. But in reality, PayPal is no better or worse than any other payment method. In fact, it is quite an innovative player in the payment industry. So as long as you don't feel a false sense of security using it, and take your normal precautions as you would with any financial account, then by all means you should use whatever company treats you best.