My father passed away March 5, 2004 at the young age of 90. I love him and I miss him, but at 90 years of age, he beat his family history by a big margin.

Mom is 84 and not doing well, so the end whether it be tomorrow or 10 years from tomorrow is near.

Between thier possesions and mine, there is a hell of a lot of stuff in this house that I will be putting on Ebay, Yahoo, and the local newspapers for sale and removal.

I want to go strictly with money orders, preferably US postal money orders, and/or direct wire transfers to my account for the items I sell electronically, and only cash will work for things I sell locally.

Some people really hate Paypal, some feel it is okay, and some won't pay you in any other way for Ebay sales.

I don't have a business (The knife sales I do are so small that it is considered a hobby by the Wisconsin Dept. of Taxation, but they still tax the income.), so credit cards are out, personal checks take too long to clear, and since the intent is to reduce clutter, I am not going to be doing any trading.

What do you personally like and dislike about Paypal and other than Paypal, how would you like to be able to pay for what you order on electronic auctions?

Thanks for any feedback.

Bountyhunter

Well, here's the Bad, I suppose.

paypalwarning.com
Consumer Alert: Paypal problems
Template Monster battles Paypal problems

...lots more. Google "paypal problems". :-(

Sorry. Can't offer an alternative. If I were going to do this, I'd set up another checking account somewhere and give that to Paypal. Then I'd transfer money out of the account and into my regular checking account as often as necessary. The fact that Paypal can arbitrarily freeze an account, or take money back scares me.

Edit: Be sure to check out the "Wall of Shame" at www.paypalwarning.com. Just story after story of people getting ripped off.

Either Doug or Chris mentioned something about their Displeasure with Paypal, in a Recent Post. I Think its the one about "ETS Credit Card Sales Suspended". (on the Survival Forum, page 4 Right Now, -June 2004). [color:"black"] [/color] [email]groo[/email]

Doug did, and I second the sentiment. PAYPAL took my 100% EBAY rating and trashed it through non payment of my funds to several sellers.

i used ebay for a long time, i only pay by money orders (which if lost your still screwed out of $10 to trace it).

ive heard nothing but bad news from people using paypal, only other options i saw on ebay were:
bidpoint
i think one was called echeck (cant remember now)
direct pay (it comes from their bank account)

hope that helps some.