Chuck Harris wrote:
Unrevealed Source wrote:

4) Use only Paypal, with a credit card, to pay for your purchases.


That brings to mind a question: Is there any way to stop paypal from
insisting on using your linked bank account as its first choice?

Don't give them an account number in the first place.

The reason I ask, is I accidentally forgot to check "more payment options",
and didn't notice until after paypal finalized the transaction. Paypal
attempted to overdraw my account, and I got charged a $25 overdraft fee by
my bank. The idiots at paypal were going to retry this 2 more times before
quitting, and using my "backup" credit card. If I hadn't noticed, this
transaction
would have cost me $75 in overdraft fees. There was no way I could cancel
the payment, and switch to a credit card.

I complained to paypal, because I thought they were supposed to check the
balance on the account before they tried to draw funds, but they ignored
me completely.

-Chuck

A few years ago I listened to a radio show called 'The Troubleshooter'
done by a guy named Tom Martino, and he's still going today. One thing
he always harped on, hard, was 'Never give anyone access to your bank
account beyond the checks you write.' Not health clubs, insurance
companies, utilities, car payments, rent, paypals, not anyone. My first
wife allowed the insurance company to automatically deduct our /monthly/
premium from our checking account and two days after she'd set that up
they took six months' worth and we were bouncing checks. We had to
close that account and I don't do business with that insurance company
any more. I'm also no longer married to her but that wasn't
precipitated by the bank fiasco.

Hardly a month goes by without hearing about something similar. It
might be difficult to not give Paypal your account info, especially if
you sell on eBay, but I'll never do it. I've considered setting up a
special account just for Paypal and keeping the balance very low but the
monthly low balance service charges and that I'll get dinged just like
Chuck for overdrafts just doesn't make it worth it.

Until banks are more responsive to consumers and allow limits on such
transactions (and I'm not holding my breath ;-) I don't engage in such
transactions.

Tom Martino is still at it,
http://troubleshooter.com/

W8LNA

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 18:13:36 -0700, Don Bowey
wrote:

By the way.... Top Posting is the mark of, at least, a non-observant
newsgroup newby.

Don

------------ REPLY SEPARATOR ------------

So is failure to trim, Don.

Mr Bill

On 7/13/06 9:24 AM, in article ,
"Bill Turner" wrote:

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 18:13:36 -0700, Don Bowey
wrote:

By the way.... Top Posting is the mark of, at least, a non-observant
newsgroup newby.

Don

------------ REPLY SEPARATOR ------------

So is failure to trim, Don.

Mr Bill

I agree that trimming is sometimes a good idea.

But as you have done, one can trim too much such that the "real" thread is
lost. All you left was the afterthought.

Also, too often, particularly on s.e.d., I see people trimming to enhance
their position. It's a judgment call whether and what, to trim.

Don

gwatts wrote:
Chuck Harris wrote:
Unrevealed Source wrote:

4) Use only Paypal, with a credit card, to pay for your purchases.


That brings to mind a question: Is there any way to stop paypal from
insisting on using your linked bank account as its first choice?

Don't give them an account number in the first place.

Not practical, paypal cuts you off after you have made an accumulated
$2000 in payments. The only way they will let you exceed that limit is
if you tie a bank account to your paypal account.

Further, ebay encourages sellers not to sell to unconfirmed addresses.
The only way to confirm an address is to link a credit card, or confirmed
paypal account to your ebay account.

....

A few years ago I listened to a radio show called 'The Troubleshooter'
done by a guy named Tom Martino, and he's still going today. One thing
he always harped on, hard, was 'Never give anyone access to your bank
account beyond the checks you write.'

I agree with him. That is why I opened this account just for paypal. I
only keep $50 in the account, hence the problem.

Not health clubs, insurance
companies, utilities, car payments, rent, paypals, not anyone. My first
wife allowed the insurance company to automatically deduct our /monthly/
premium from our checking account and two days after she'd set that up
they took six months' worth and we were bouncing checks. We had to
close that account and I don't do business with that insurance company
any more. I'm also no longer married to her but that wasn't
precipitated by the bank fiasco.

Hardly a month goes by without hearing about something similar. It
might be difficult to not give Paypal your account info, especially if
you sell on eBay, but I'll never do it. I've considered setting up a
special account just for Paypal and keeping the balance very low but the
monthly low balance service charges

That is exactly what I did. Credit unions charge no service fees, and
have a $50 minimum for startup.

-Chuck

Don Bowey wrote:

By the way.... Top Posting is the mark of, at least, a non-observant
newsgroup newby.

Don
------------ REPLY SEPARATOR ------------

So is failure to trim, Don.

Mr Bill

I agree that trimming is sometimes a good idea.

But as you have done, one can trim too much such that the "real" thread is
lost. All you left was the afterthought.

Also, too often, particularly on s.e.d., I see people trimming to enhance
their position. It's a judgment call whether and what, to trim.

He trimmed exactly the right amount. He was only commenting on your comment
about top posting.

Personally, I have found it better to allow others to do things the way they
want to. They are going to anyway. So, I tend to avoid making comments about
others grammar, spelling, and top/bottom/or sideways posting habits.

If the post offends me, I tend to ignore it.

-Chuck

Chuck Harris wrote:
gwatts wrote:

Chuck Harris wrote:

Unrevealed Source wrote:

4) Use only Paypal, with a credit card, to pay for your purchases.

That brings to mind a question: Is there any way to stop paypal from
insisting on using your linked bank account as its first choice?

Don't give them an account number in the first place.

Not practical, paypal cuts you off after you have made an accumulated
$2000 in payments. The only way they will let you exceed that limit is
if you tie a bank account to your paypal account.

It comes down to weighing practicality versus prudence. I've closed old
and opened new paypal accounts when I get too close to the limit, even
on the same credit card, and that limit was $10k the last time I opened
a new one.

Further, ebay encourages sellers not to sell to unconfirmed addresses.
The only way to confirm an address is to link a credit card, or confirmed
paypal account to your ebay account.

I've never had a seller bring up the 'verified' issue even when they say
they'll only ship to a verified address, maybe because I contact the
'must be verified' sellers personally in addition to the automatic
post-auction contact. Like paypal, they're mostly interested in the
money and will bend their rules a bit if it looks legit.

...I opened this account just for paypal. I
only keep $50 in the account, hence the problem.

I'm sorry it hasn't worked out better for you and I hope it gets better,
but my experience makes me cynical and it's not that much more trouble
doing what I do now. The again, I don't sell often and I don't take
paypal payments when I do. That may have to change, and I'll have to do
the special account business, and watch it like a hawk on bunnies.

That is exactly what I did. Credit unions charge no service fees, and
have a $50 minimum for startup.

No local credit union available for me.

73 and the best of luck to you,
W8LNA

gwatts wrote in
:


It comes down to weighing practicality versus prudence. I've closed
old and opened new paypal accounts when I get too close to the limit,
even on the same credit card, and that limit was $10k the last time I
opened a new one.


How? When I tried that, they told me the card belonged to a previous
account, and would not let me open a new one. [That was the first thing I
tried when I got close to $2k.]

SamSez wrote:
gwatts wrote in
:

It comes down to weighing practicality versus prudence. I've closed
old and opened new paypal accounts when I get too close to the limit,
even on the same credit card, and that limit was $10k the last time I
opened a new one.


How? When I tried that, they told me the card belonged to a previous
account, and would not let me open a new one. [That was the first thing I
tried when I got close to $2k.]

My experience exactly. I was perfectly happy just using a CC with paypal,
but then I ran out of dough, and had to link a bank account.

And I am happy with that arrangement, but I only want to use a CC for my
payments, and they insist on making my linked account be my primary source,
with the CC my secondary... the cause of my overdraft problem.

-Chuck

I've made the same mistake once or twice myself, Chuck. It doesn't matter a
whole lot to me, since I pay off the credit card in full anyway, but I do
like to have that last bit of protection in case something goes really wrong
(which hasn't happened yet, but still....) and I also like to have the
one-month float.

I don't think there is a way to make the credit card the default payment
option; it's one of those annoyances in an otherwise good service. It's
curious why they didn't try the backup credit card right away. That's good
to know.


"Chuck Harris" wrote in message
...
Unrevealed Source wrote:

4) Use only Paypal, with a credit card, to pay for your purchases.

That brings to mind a question: Is there any way to stop paypal from
insisting on using your linked bank account as its first choice?

The reason I ask, is I accidentally forgot to check "more payment
options",
and didn't notice until after paypal finalized the transaction. Paypal
attempted to overdraw my account, and I got charged a $25 overdraft fee by
my bank. The idiots at paypal were going to retry this 2 more times
before
quitting, and using my "backup" credit card. If I hadn't noticed, this
transaction
would have cost me $75 in overdraft fees. There was no way I could cancel
the payment, and switch to a credit card.

I complained to paypal, because I thought they were supposed to check the
balance on the account before they tried to draw funds, but they ignored
me completely.

-Chuck

"Unrevealed Source" wrote in
:

I agree with all negative comments regarding RadioMart, but I think
most people in the hobby already know about him and have him filtered
out of their eBay searches. He caters to the newbies.

However, I disagree that eBay is a bad place to buy gear. It is
definitely the largest collection of radio and related equipment
available, and with careful buying it is possible to avoid being
taken. I have had a few attempts to rip me off, but Paypal is your
best friend when it comes to getting your money back. EBay knows it
can't afford to alienate buyers with a bad reputation and so it
protects sellers pretty well. And the nice thing about eBay is that
if a particular seller seems shady or uncooperative, just walk away.
Another one just like it will always come up.

Exactly. I have several pieces of ham equipment that I bought on eBay
and I got what I paid for every time. The only real problems have been a
couple of people who mistook a customs invoice for a declaration of
replacement value for transport loss. In one case the difference was
large enough to need correction.

But I have, looking around here, a keyer, paddle, microphone, HF rig,
antenna tuner, audio DSP filter, artificial ground, Noise canceller,
speech processor, flashlight and reading light--all acquired via eBay.
And that's just my desktop. Around the room, a portable air conditioner,
another HF rig, digital TV receiver, HDTV VCR, DVD player, stereo, HDTV
set, and VHF-UHF handheld. In my bedroom there is an old S38B
Hallicrafters. All from eBay.

The trick, you see, is to evaluate the listing (and the lister's
feedback) to ensure that the item is what you want. Then don't bid
anything more than you're actually willing to pay for the item. Take
shipping into account. This means you will lose a lot of auctions. But
you should not care, since you will lose them to people willing to pay
more than YOU think the item is worth.

Now, a fair amount of that stuff was new when I bought it and came from
dealers who happen to operate eBay stores. But a lot of it was second-
hand as well.


--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667