I Need Your Help Re. Purchasing Online.

I've had a PayPal account. I never put any money in it, but I finally took the plunge. Morning of November 3, I put 'add funds' of $100. from my local bank checking account. Today it's still processing. "3-to-5 business days" so I guess they are going to wait till the very absolute last minute for it to go through. If it does. I will NEVER do this again. Who has time for this kind of s***?
Then I went up to a Wallgreens to buy a 'GreenDot' card. God that was confusing. I made the decision not to hassle with such wastefull nonsense. The clerk needed to put my amount on it there at the cash register, and I asked could I refill it online at home in my jammies, and she said no I had to come back up there and buy yet another one for around five bucks to purchas again. WTF?
Should I join 'LifeLock?' Is it as ID protecting as they say? And I can use my VISA debit/credit card directly from my checking account funds, no matter who I purchas from online?

reply to post by Saucerwench


Why would you add money to PayPal?

ATF transfers take a few days - not just with PayPal.

If your goal is to pay without releasing your CC# to possibly dubious people, you can pay with PayPal and NOT transfer funds just by using your credit/debit card as a cc/atm transaction through PayPal. This goes for every company that accepts PayPal.

I own and operate an eBay store - ATF transfers to and from ALWAYS take a long time. If you are making online purchases or something smaller than large funds transfers, you should use your credit card/debit card instead of a bank wire.

Also, 11/03 was a Thursday. 3-5BD means Mon-Fri. It's only been 3 business days (not counting the day you made the deposit)

reply to post by Saucerwench


Just link your paypal account to your bank account then you dont have to bother loading money onto it, whatever you spend just comes out of your bank

Originally posted by davespanners
reply to post by Saucerwench

 

Just link your paypal account to your bank account then you dont have to bother loading money onto it, whatever you spend just comes out of your bank

This works too!

OMG I feel like such a dum dum. I very much appreciate your answers, I had NO idea. I assumed that PayPal was supposed to be my safe place from which to purchase, but it needed money in it first.
I'm all alone in my abode and have to figure stuff out on my own. I'm not a techno savvy youngster. Nor real bright it seems. Thanks so far. I'll go and make that purchase then and see what happens.

I am probably not allowed to mention
other sites but there are sites out there
where PayPal is not needed. You sign
up and give your card # - from that time
only its one click shopping. Its the only
way I go and I do trust the site. I wouldn't
do this with a site I was unsure of.

Use a secure (( https: )) connection whenever you use your card on line. That's good so that no one intercepts your information!

I've been using PayPal for years and I never once had an issue - I had linked my bank account, my debit card, and several credit cards for backup funding and instant payments.

I like PayPal best for receiving payments Sell something on ebay, require a paypal payment - then get the paypal debit card - they'll give you 1.5% cashback on every purchase


Also, recently I received gift cards (man what a rip off, don't buy them, but thats another story) - the gift cards had limitations on how I could use them, so I linked them to my PayPal - and it worked perfectly - I used my PayPal debit to make the purchases and it came right out of the gift card.

About LifeLock:

They're fraudulent as hell. Better read this:

LifeLock Will Pay $12 Million to Settle Charges by the FTC and 35 States

Before I sign up with some outfit that makes claims that sound too good, I always do a quick Google search (go to Google and type "complaints lifelock"--or whoever/whatever the entity is). You'll learn a lot of fascinating stuff....

Paypal screwed me royally and I refuse to use their service ever again. They've created a monopoly and are basically running an unregulated bank. They froze my account for reasons still unknown, and they held the funds in it which was nearly $1000 for 6 months, just bc they could per the T&C. I submitted all info they requested in a timely manner and was still denied. I called and they said I wasn't allowed to speak to anyone making decisions on my account. I went online and found that former employees have come forward telling how paypal is doing this to lots of people, and that once it happens hardly anyone gets access to their accounts and they always hold the money for 6 months even if there's no reason. This was a nightmare and basically destroyed my business and only source of income at the time. I never even did anything wrong. Apparently I sold something to a person on eBay who was doing shady things that had absolutely nothing to do with me, but bc he was under investigation I was added in to the mix. This happened in 2005... I don't know if they've changed how they operate but I've heard that they're still doing this to people.