Paypal is so bad, we hatesss it! (Gollum voice)

I hope Paypal dies a slow, agonizing death, because they deserve it. There is an article linked below, but first my current tale of woe:

I've been downloading Paypal monthly PDF account statements, every month, for over seven years now (I've been a user since 2009). However, with the most recent web site update, the menu choice for downloading statements is gone. The Help instructions state that the menu choice is still there, but it's not. It's not me or my browser, I've confirmed in the "community" section of Paypal that others have had the same problem. They just screwed up an extremely basic web site function with their last update.

However, you cannot report this problem online. Absolutely not. To report a problem you must select from a restrictive list of items, there is no other option for anything not already on their list. To find the the phone contact number, you actually must log out, it is completely inaccessible when logged in. Then, they grossly mislead you on the phone queue wait time (I was told over one hour, when in fact it was a minute or less, which resulted in my first call being disconnected and I had to start all over again). When I finally got through, the operator had no knowledge of the problem, and said someone would send me an October statement by email in a few days.

None of these problems are emergencies, of course, but clear signs of a company that really does not care at all about its customers.

Beyond their horrible customer service, there is this:

The Looming Existential Crisis for PayPal

"A $1000 payment to a merchant using PayPal costs over $29. The same payment using a tokenized dollar riding the Ethereum platform today costs less than 20 cents. Not quite free, but a savings of over 99%. How’s that for disruption? Or an existential crisis for the $100b Wall Street darling that makes 90% of its revenues from transaction fees?"
[note: Intuit Quickbooks payments costs $1 flat fee for an ACH transaction]

"Being in the online payments business today is similar to being in the pager business in the 90s. "

"With PayPal stock trading near all time highs and up 50% in the last 12 months, now is the time to sell." [note: it's still up, but not 50% as of today's date]

I love PayPal - great for Invoicing & collecting fees - 2 1/2% for fees - no big deal - add it to the bill.

I am 60 years old and just tech savy enough to get my self in trouble. Have a couple transaction on e-bay. Bought Nike 9 iron and paid with AMEX to see how e-bay works. Then listed an item (BOZO lunchbox, circa 1963). Sold for $53.00. Buyer said he sent payment via paypal, which I do believe he did. I did not have paypal set up at the time and was able to add it later and I have an active account, but his payment never came through. Do I need to ask him to resubmit or is this something I need to do on my end with paypal. Have some other items to list on e-bay so I would like to figure this out.


Thanks in advance for any responses.

If your PayPal account was not active at the time the payment was sent then more than likely it bounced back to the payer. Contact the payer and Paypal and resubmit payment.

I have received payments on PayPal and never had an issue.

I am 60 years old and just tech savy enough to get my self in trouble. Have a couple transaction on e-bay. Bought Nike 9 iron and paid with AMEX to see how e-bay works. Then listed an item (BOZO lunchbox, circa 1963). Sold for $53.00. Buyer said he sent payment via paypal, which I do believe he did. I did not have paypal set up at the time and was able to add it later and I have an active account, but his payment never came through. Do I need to ask him to resubmit or is this something I need to do on my end with paypal. Have some other items to list on e-bay so I would like to figure this out.


Thanks in advance for any responses.

PayPal may have put a 21 day old on your funds. They do that with sellers who are just starting out. Before 21 days, they will release funds if you shipped via eBay or PayPal shipping, or customer gives you feedback.

Paypal's policies, especially for sellers of items, are totally skewed in favor of protecting Paypal. A buyer reporting not received or not as described can cause your funds to be held up, you have no control.

Paypal does successfully provide a valuable service most of the time, it's especially helpful if you have international customers. Like I said, I've used it since at least 2009, for both items and services, domestic and international. But it doesn't care about its customers, and it's over-priced, that was the point of my OP.

I even owned Paypal stock for a while some 15 or 20 years ago, but I certainly wouldn't buy it now (although I wouldn't be surprised if some fund I invest in owns it).

I've used PayPal as a seller for many years and have not had an issue. A small business setting up a website can easily add PayPal for eccomerce with little overhead. My biggest gripe about them is their relationship with eBay. Even though I don't think eBay owns them anymore, sellers have little protection against fraudulent buyers.