I used to use paypal for everything but it occurred to me that I haven't used it since 2018. What niche does it support that direct payments don't? When I think of paypal, I think of delays.
For buying stuff online it removes the need to fiddle around with CCs (+ trusting individual websites with CC info) and lets you checkout quickly. It's also great if you get scammed out of your money somehow... Their chargeback system is stupidly easy and is infamous for always siding with the buyer.
It sucks when you're on the other side of the transaction, though. Used to run a Minecraft server as a teenager, and they gave me a huge amount of grief between indisputable chargebacks and locking my account once for KYC purposes.
Websites don't keep CC info, and they haven't ever since PCI DSS has been a thing.
The problem is that there's also a lot of inertia. For every "shortcut" user, there are hundreds if not thousands of users who don't know about and use sub-par systems (such as PayPal) instead.
Shitty companies like PayPal (or various banks which still charge insane fees for wire/ACH transfers) rely on that.
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For me, PayPal is only a route in, as a fallback for those who really can't use anything else. If you decide to use it to pay me (despite my warnings and alternative suggestions), I make it very clear that you are on the hook for any issues arising from it - PayPal money is only considered paid when it hits my real bank account - if they seize the money beforehand, it's as if you haven't paid me and it will be up to you to help me resolve the situation. That's how people should be using this scum.
Similarly, if I pay a supplier via PayPal and they refuse to deliver the goods, the supplier is getting their ass sued for goods/services non-rendered. The fact they use a crooked payment processor (despite my advice) isn't my fault at the end of the day.
Can you elaborate what shortcuts are you referring to in this context?
But I can call American Express, be instantly connected to an agent who at least pretends to care, doesn't sound like they're overworked, and will gladly put in the chargeback request for me. I can also do this online if I'm feeling less social that day.
You're right about PayPal helping themselves to bank debits. I have a small eBay business and back when they dealt directly with PayPal, I would have a separate account to receive the funds and as soon as they hit I would transfer the money out. It's just part of the OPSEC that's required when dealing with our new megacorp overlords.
The email the bank sent me to prove 'I did it.' -- something very close to 'piratearrgghhhh34398903@yahoo.com' The fucking scammers taunted me by literally calling themselves pirates in the invoice. The one upside of paypal is the customer basically always wins to the point you're almost relying on the good faith of the customer not to take the money back.