posted on October 28, 2001 10:08:36 PM newIf you open a Premier or Business Account after October 11, 2001, you authorize PayPal to debit your bank account linked to that PayPal account for the amount that you owe PayPal on transactions which were not covered by the Seller Protection Policy and which were not recoverable from your PayPal balance.
Many thanks to Mrpotatoheadd for pointing out the above change in PayPal's TOU. It needs its own thread.
After PayPal and Damon repeated "PayPal will never make electronic transfers from your bank account without your explicit permission" like a broken record for so long, they conveniently forgot to point out the above on October 11, 2001.
This was the same day they went out of their way to let everyone know "To reduce the costs associated with credit card processing, the ability to receive credit card funded payments will become a feature reserved for Premier and Business accounts."
Whoops. Since 80 percent of PayPal's users have personal accounts, they should have mentioned that in order to receive credit card payments, you would be giving PayPal carte blanche to access your bank account.
Now this is where Damon or the PayPal cheeries point out the "conditions" when PayPal will do so. Ha, ha. Whatever! Wouldn't it be fun fighting PayPal to get back money they took from your own bank account!
posted on October 29, 2001 08:39:10 AM new
I am really suprised that the PayPal representive did not post this policy change here and on other forums to keep PayPal customers updated on the new changes that took effect. I find that strange since I am always reading about updates, site down, and other notices concerning information for those who are PayPal account holders. I don't know, maybe I just missed it.
posted on October 29, 2001 12:34:45 PM new
This comment makes me believe it is if you open a business or premier account after 11 October. Does that grandfather the people who signed up previously? I have enough problems with me getting into my checking account and I do not like it one bit if Paypal thinks they can get into mine without my permission. What next? rummaging through my underwear drawer? geesch
posted on October 29, 2001 04:28:14 PM new
This is really nothing new! In the past if I made a 100 dollar purchase, and only had 80 dollars in my paypal acct. they automatically pull 20 from my bank and send the 100. I think it's great I don't have to worry if I'm a little short, the deal still goes through.
posted on October 29, 2001 04:29:05 PM new
It is very easy to go to your bank and let them know that there are to be NO electronic withdrawals from your account.
How is PayPal going to deal with that little tidbit?
posted on October 29, 2001 08:09:49 PM new
Just to let everyone know, alot of the banks do charge a fee to put a no electronic withdrawals on a checking account. My bank charged $20.00. Call and find out if the bank charges a fee.
paypaldamon,
Maybe you could cut and paste the site for me. I missed it and just went there and looked and could not fine it. Thanks in advance.
posted on October 29, 2001 09:02:29 PM new
The situation with bank account debits absolutely cries out for federal legislation establishing ground rules and consumer control over access. People are right to want to do anything that errs to the side of caution without that. The needed protections simply aren't there, and some insurance policy is not a subsitiute for a statutory protection like the $50 loss limit on credit cards. The consumer has far more leverage in the latter.
PayPal has always been a market-share grab in search of a business model, and I'm sure they'd love to drop credit/debit card transactions from their site altogether if they could. The root problem of fees for credit/debit cards being too high is out of PayPal's control, but trying to end-run it with these cheaper direct debits treads over consumers that could be allied with them if they tried a different approach.
Short of an outright boycott, the best defensive measure might be to set up with some Internet-only bank like Netbank with little or no minimum-balance requirement to avoid fees and use that. Ditto with eBay. But let your congressman know.
