Is a paypal account useful when on the road?
 

I opened a paypal account to use with Ebay when selling stuff to help pay for my escape and was wondering if it is any use when on the road. I like to keep my accounts simple so will close it unless somebody can give me a good use for it when travelling.
I would also like recommendations for prepaid visa cards, are they all the same or do some have lower charges or other benefits others do not, I am in the UK, for the time being!

Use of Paypal.
 

Hey man, I've been on the road for 7 months now.

Paypal is a great way to pay for parts or pieces that you might need while on the road.

It is also a great way to transfer money to other people.

A few recent examples: 2 days ago my friend Tom was in Argentina and his shock blew out a second time, after a recent rebuild. He threw up a post on the HUBB and ADV, and I threw up one on my ride reports on both sites. In less then 10 hours, a member on ADV had offered his lightly used stock DR65O shock for an undeniably great price.

Tom doesn't have a paypal account, so I sent the money to the man in the US, and the shock is on it's way. Tom gave me the money. Simple as that.

Next. We met a guy in Colombia that bought a US registered bike, that happens to be registered in my home states (Washington). I helped him get a new title for his bike, in his name, with a US address (my house). To transfer the title, buy new registration, etc, it cost $200. He sent me the money via Paypal from his Iphone in the hostal lobby. I then sent it to my dad. DONE.

Also, when my Dad wanted to give me money while on a road trip of his own, he simply went on line, and sent me money to my paypal account. I used paypal to transfer the money to my bank, and had access inside of 24 hours. You can even get a Paypal Debit card (endorsed by visa) and skip the entire bank transfer part. ( I have no idea of charges involved with use of the Paypal Debit card, though it is essentially prepaid).

I recommend keeping it your account. It is a fast and effective means of accepting money on the road, as well as a quick way to sent money or pay things.

No reason to close it. It simple sits in a suspended state anyway, and costs you nothing to keep it open.

--Alex

well yes PayPal can be very handy... BUT.. yeah a big BUT.. !!!

be aware, that your account can be frozen out of nowhere, at any time, for no reason... and you will have a heck of a job to get access again, which can be impossible to full fill PayPals requirement if you are on the road..

on the other hand, if you only want to be able to pay some stuff and don't keep any dosh on there you may OK... still you are in the risky position.

had a PayPal account in the past, but got fed up and sick of it, with there rigorous policy's and non existing option for talking to a human being to resolve any issue... turned my back to this greedy company, never use them again. They froze my account again and again... well they may hold a Bank status.. but don't behave like a serious Bank... rather like a black hole in the financial universe..

I know you want to keep your accounts 'simple' but keeping PayPal while you are on the road should cost you "Zero." So, I say, what's the harm in keeping it. I used it one time to have some stuff shipped to my friends house to have waiting for me when I got home from New Zealand.

I agree that there is no harm in keeping it open, but I have to say that I hate Paypal. when it works it is great, but I can't tell you how many times my account has been frozen/blocked/rendered unusable because of this security concern or that concern, I think this is especially a problem if you are travelling in Eastern Europe, etc. Don't ever assume that you will be able to use it.

INGDirect Checking account has a pay anyone electronically feature with no fees... I had a family member loan me money to buy a car (the dog doesn't ride on the V-Strom very well) and I use my ING Checking account to pay them back electronically each month.... That may be a viable alternative to paypal and the black hole they create....

Almost every time I've tried to make a payment from my paypal account while in a foreign country, my account has been suspended.

They look at where your request originates and see that it is not your usual country, and suspend the account to prevent fraud.

It's recoverable, but still a pain.

Make sure you have your bank card and bank account details with you as you need them for the security re-set procedure.

Same experience here. And it took days to get through the recovery process.

...........shu

Thanks to everybody who has replied, I thought the account would come in handy if my other account was stopped, which has happened despite Nationwide telling me they wouldn't. It appears it might not be much use when I am abroad so I will look for another back up.

a very wise decision !

make sure you DO NOT have to relay on PayPal at all or you will be F***ed in no time.. rather stick to the traditional way of handling your pennies... in the real world PP is useless, where real services change from hand to hand and not electronic.. use cash in different currencies, bank card and "pre-pay" credit cards which you do top up as needed, or some one else can top it up by transferring money to that sub-account tight to the pre-pay CC.. and you are set... keep it simple..

you can apply even online for a "pre-pay VISA card", with no credit or debts check.. very handy for long term wacky traverses without regular salary and/or bad records too... ;)
Still gives you all the advantages to pay for any item on the internet for mail order stuff you may need, and to be able to redraw local cash at any ATM machine world wide as well, which gives you a safer and better exchange rate without being ripped off by this exchange counter Mafia.

(a pre-pay VISA cost me only 2,90-Euros a month as accounting fee.. and a low %-fee for every transaction)
Important as well is, that in case of a scamp or loss of the card you may only lose the amount, that's actually on the card and not open all of your funds to be at risk...

I have no issues with PayPal at all.
 

I've received over 50 payments to my PayPal account, and have sent at least 5 more, all since August 3rd, and all in South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru).

I've never had my account suspended, and never had my payments stopped, never have I not received a payment, nor have I had my account frozen.

I do have verified PayPal account versus non-verified, but I'm not sure it that makes the difference.

Still saying I'd keep it at least as an alternative.

--Alex

Lucky you.. congratulation...
Looks like you are a US-passport holder... which can make all a big difference for the paypal policy in case of not being such assy strict to freeze people's account on a frequent base... may be making a US-passport a bit more trustful to them compare to the rest of the world... which wouldn't be a surprising behaviour....
have a look at the following map... which "may" explaining the odd view of the high officials at paypal... :rofl: but who knows... they may are not the only ones... ;)

"the world according to the US"
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ding-u-s-59710 :doh:

Most complains coming from NON-US residents/citizens passport holders anyway... looks like another murky 2nd-class non-trusting policy of paypal, which makes it even worse to me... and dose confirm, or at least supporting my suspicion and not trusting paypal at all.. regarding my own and many other folks bad experiences reports with paypal..... which put paypal in to a dodgy line, of... similar like the Bulgarian money exchange Mafia... to me..

Yes definitely agree with keeping the existing PP account open if you got one, you never know, I'm just saying, do not relay on it, or open a new one for being on the road... which can give you a big backfire and blowback on your trip...

I have had problems with my account being suspended, I had to send off bank account records, and copy of passport by fax to get it up and running again, a pain, but not difficult when not on the road.

Also, I have heard on a consumer programme on BBC Radio 4 about people selling in person, and then the buyers claiming a fraudulent transaction many months later, and paypal withdrawing money from the sellers BANK ACCOUNT without notice. Not great!

But on the whole it is useful.

Nahh........no conspiracy here, I think. I'm from the US and it's happened to me twice. I think it has more to do with where you are when you make the request. I was in Russia heading for Europe, trying to pay for Euro green card insurance when they froze my account.

Similar to lists kept by banks of Credit Card fraud. My bank told me not to even try using my credit card in Turkey or Russia. They said they have experienced so much fraud there that they deny all transactions automatically.


...........shu

I don't think you know what you are talking about, I am a US passport holder and most of my bank and credit card accounts are in the US.