Ha! ha!

Oh OK, not been in that situation before, last time I sold a lot of gear I did it with banker's drafts.

Well, I don't expect them to do it for nothing, but they do seem to be going a bit too far. Not even the banks charge as much as they do, and they are proper banks with all the regulatory and auditing flim-flam that paypal aren't subject to.

For payments up to =A31500 paypal charge 3.4% +20p, considering that the buyer can pay by credit card for which paypal have to pay out at least a couple of percent to the card company I'm not exactly outraged at their charges, though I would like to see them lower when the buyer doesn't use a credit card because a direct debit doesn't cost them as much. Of course if they did vary the charge to more accurately cover the way the buyer pays then people would scream that they couldn't predict the charges!.

What I do disagree with is that paypal are now accepting echeques and don't let me refuse them without refusing the instant payment methods, defeating the big reason for using them. I've just got one for an expensive item I sold and it's going to take 7 days to clear during which paypal recommends I don't send the goods, this is a waste of my time and pissing off the seller who thinks paypal equates to instant. I think they're going to harm themselves by making people take these slow things when their big plus is their speed.

This would be the regulatory regime that lets them charge =A350 to cover their "costs" of sending an automated letter?, I really wouldn't hold the banks up as a shining example of how paypal should operate 8-).

Greg

It has its downsides, but on the plus side it's hard to lose all your cash due to a mistake at the bank, but paypal are under no obligation to take the kind of precautions banks have to, and indeed tend to moan at you if you have more than £1000 in the account (or so I'm told) because if they screw up, you can lose the cash with no comeback. A friend of mine got regular emails to that effect, they said if his account was accidentally deleted they'd take no responsibility for him being able to get his money.

All schemes have their downsides, banks protect you more than paypal, who are just a money transfer agency against which you have very little means of protection.

I know someone who would disagree with you, they lost hundreds from their current account due to a faulty cash machine, it took them a year to get it back and they are still out of pocket due to legal costs that the bank won't pay.

Personally I transfer any amount over =A350 out of paypal and into my current for safety, it only takes seconds so why keep lots of cash in paypal? unless it's a futile attempt at keeping the tax man in the dark, they have access to paypal so you can't hide it there!.

Banks refuse to provide any means of instant payment to rival paypal, and no on-line banking is not instant it takes several days to complete a transfer. There is a mechanism that's used by solicitors for conveyancing but it costs =A350 a time so not exactly suitable for day to day use 8-). Greg

There are always exceptions in any human-run system, and I did say it's *hard* not impossible. There is much more protection from a bank than from a money transfer system like Western Union or Paypal.

Banks are slower but safer, paypal is faster, less safe and rather costly!

On or around Sat, 07 Jul 2007 09:18:36 +0100, Dougal enlightened us thusly:

well, I hadn't seen it. I love the heckling from the crowd...

"I'm so glad I got this on camera" "we'll get 200 quid for this on a Saturday teatime"

And a Debit Card payment is about 50p I think.

Not strictly true. Inter-bank transfers take several days but intra-bank ones are instant.

So if everyone on ebay switched to the same bank we would have an instant alternative to paypal, I can't see it happening myself 8-).

Actually it must depend on the bank, I've had transfers from people with the same bank and they've taken the usual few days so Yorkshire Bank doesn't seem to provide it.

Greg

That´s because Yorkshire are the worst bankers on earth - which considering the competition takes some doing.

Steve

The only real gripe I have with them is the same as with all the 'old' banks, that they won't open on a Saturday, I guess you've had had experiences?. Greg.

Don´t EVER use them as a business bank...

Steve

Well if it's owt like getting money out of a Yorkshireman then I guess they aren't supposed to open and would purely be interested in deposits only. :-)

Lee D

Well, they do say a Yorkshireman is a Scotsman stripped of his generosity. I should know. :-)

Martin