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.

so... what is the conclusion than for the wacky traveller ?

PayPal is no good for changing location if you want to pay for stuff... will be frozen until you get back home and go through all sort of paper crap... :nono:

CreditCard are not accepted (depending on the bank) in Turkey and Russia... may even elsewhere... until you cross the border to a neighbouring country ? :confused2:

What is the point of using the electronic payments in the 1st place than ? doh

at least we can turn the time wheel back and using the old cash in piles again... :innocent:

I think you've got it, Spooky: cash is king.

Once, newly arrived in Beyneu, Russia, from Uzbekistan, we had a hotel take and hold a $20 USD bill as collateral overnight until we could get to a bank and buy some rubles. No problem for them, no problem for us. It just took us a little while using hand signals to get it figured out.

I still carry my credit card, I have a Paypal account, and I still carry a cell phone. And when they work, it makes life easy; when they don't, you figure out a different way to get things done.


Isn't that why we go out and ride in 'foreign' places, anyway?

........shu

ohh yea in definitely... :funmeteryes:

The creative bit comes when trying to find new parts of the bike to hide the cash in!! Credit card companies, they can want an itinerary of where one is travelling or they also will freeze one's card account. Oh, the fun....

much as I dislike some of paypal's policies. in most instances paypal remains the safest with the lease amount of hassles to send/receive funds at a distance.

this is especially true for sending $$$ to folks at a distance you have never done business with. always fund paypal with your credit card if there is any question of folks you are dealing with.

if anything goes wrong, you credit company's clout is equal to paypal. ALL your funds will be yanked back if credit card co sides with you. which it almost always does. since credit card co is looking out for you, unlike paypal, who is primarily looking out for paypal's interest first.

paypal is not your friend ... their policies are to protect paypal .. plain and simple. but once you figure how to stay within their policies, odds are you will not have issues.

out of 400+ paypal transactions... I've NEVER had my funds blocked for any reason. I've never lost ANY $$$ when sending to a verified paypal account paid with a credit card.

what verified means is paypal sent a few cents to your bank account. then you've got to access your bank to find out what that amount is. 5cents or 22cents or what ever. then amount has to be input into verification form on paypal.

what this does is verify who you say you are... it's NOT possible to open a bank account anywhere without showing legal forms of ID.

Well, figuring out their policies is much of the battle, isn't it? I've them them freeze an account for months and never even found out why. Just for curiousity, how many of your 400 transactions took place outside of your home jurisdiction, particularly Eastern Europe, etc.?

most of my transaction were done on Candlepower forums. when I was active into Arc Flashlight mods. Aprox 1/3 of those transactions were overseas from all points in Asia, UK, France, Malaysia, HK, Canada, South Africa, etc. etc.

most of those transactions were incoming funds from other flashlight nuts. amounts typically were $55 to $350+ for high end flashlights. Amazing how active marketplace is on Candlepower forums.

and yes... a major part of dealing with paypal is knowing exactly what their policies are. LOTS of folks on CPF warning others of pitfalls and how to avoid.

please keep in mind a HUGE advantage of dealing with folks on specialized forums is .... folks that's got large number of posts, unlike myself being a noob on HUBB. a huge amount of trust is established by the report generated by being part of the family.

that's a HUGE part of the reason for my being active on HUBB. plans are to do a RTW ... support from HUBB community cannot help but be good for all.

A little balance?
 

Just wanted to chime in to say that I've used, and use, PayPal extensively with no problems.

I'm registered in the UK, have used paypal all over Europe, in Russia, Australia, the States, Morocco and on and on... no issues.

However, I'm also a pragmatist on the road and I always make sure I have several options. But PayPal is no good for paying for things 'on the road' in any case - I've not seen many petrol stations with 'accept paypal' stickers in their windows ;-)

What it IS good for is transferring money easily and quickly to anyone with a email address - great for sorting stuff overseas if you're on the road and need to get money somewhere quickly. It's the modern day equivalent of Western Union.

On the road I have.

Option 1 - Pre-paid Master Card in Euros and one in US$
Option 2 - Pre-paid Visa Card in Sterling £
Option 3 - Cash (which on the whole I try to avoid

As an ultimate back up I have my UK registered Debit Cards - but I bury them away.

I try to avoid using online banking in internet cafe's and that's where I find paypal to be of most use - I can move money 'one step removed' from my bank account and keep a firewall between possibly unsafe computers and me.... the other thing I like about paypal is I can do everything via text thus removing the need to do any finance on a potentially dodgy internet connection. I can top up all my pre-paid cards and move money into bank accounts that I can access without ever touching a computer - genius - and secure.

Balance is always the key.

m

this smacks of not knowing how to cover your ass with paypal. again... paypal's primary concern is to protect itself first. then sides whoever follows the rules.

who was in the right has NOTHING to do with who PayPal sides with in any dispute. for instance in above scenario, unless you've got written proof that person received paid for item. then far as Paypal is concern, buyer never received item.

paypal will then freeze your funds and send funds back to buyer. it's imperative to KNOW what paypal considers proof of delivery. for lower amount, it's an electronic tracking number. get a signed receipt that item was picked up in person, in good condition.

for items over $XXX dollars, it may require a signature as proof of delivery or what ever. then you've got crooked buyers that will claim items was not as advertised. they received a rock instead of that nice Iphone 4s or what ever.

then you have crooked sellers that will ship with tracking number with signature a ROCK, instead of that new iphone 4s.

this is why one takes LOTS of detailed pic's with mailing receipts. and then seller will probably still lose.

...its good option
 

been on the road for almost 9 years.
use paypal frequently
had a few times when its been frozen but always managed to get it sorted within hours..not days.

at least they do have some kind of security - which is good isnt it?
I find it invaluable - but of course not my only or main way of dealing with money!

also use credit card and visa delta.
always use online banking and so can pay/move/transfer $ about ...when there is some there to do that with!!!!

sometimes things will be frozen but I never really mind this as it shows security being implemented.
id rather have a few hours/days inconvienience than $$$ taken from my account to fraud! which has happend only twice in 9 years and has always been resolved to my benefit within hours of me being aware.

make sure you set up all your online passwords and access and use something like password safe or the equivalent for macs....before you leave home! make sure you can pay for any of your credit card usage online via your bank account...and make sure you set up the ability to transfer money from Paypal into your bank account also before you leave home as they will need to verify your first transaction and this is definitely easier to do whilst you are still at home........and so on.

all very do-able. and I would say that Paypal is only an added benefit.

cheers

opps....forgot to add....
 

opps.....but forgot to add this...

ALWAYS have cash on you! local currency and $ USD. for the majority of countries the US $ is still good.
we found however that russia does like the Euro - not sure if it still does now though with the issues the euro is having!

make sure you have a few 'safe' places to put your cash too :-)

cheers

some more balance.

I've just spent the last three days unfreezing my joint bank account with Santander because I had the gaul to set up a new payment to a new person and transfer some money to them!

Not just paypal. But as Lisa points out - better to have security and deal with that than deal with all your money going walkies when you're on the road.

I just got mine from the post office it has no monthly fee and I can easily top it up. However it does not have a credit build facility. Orange also have a pre-paid credit card but you have to pay each month for the card.

Non-US passport holder here:
I use PayPal frequently both to send and receive money - I find it very useful, despite the many complaints I've read from others.

Because of these complaints, I created a new savings account just for connecting to PayPal that I only keep a little money in. That way if there are any problems, PayPal can only screw with that and nothing else.

As some folks have said, PayPal costs you nothing if you don't use it. I say keep it open for emergency transfers, but don't depend on it and have other methods as backup.