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by bougiefever 2724 days ago
Every chance I get, I tell people not to use PayPal. They have done this repeatedly, and the people who are affected have absolutely no recourse unless they happen to own a popular newspaper. PayPal has been shamed into doing the right thing, and that seems to be the only recourse. From reports I've heard, their internal system doesn't exist, and they aren't a bank, so there is no legal recourse either.
1 comments

I wouldn't use ebay if I couldn't use paypal. I don't want to use my CC for any online xacts if I don't need to. I'd rather use paypal to protect myself or just shop at a site I trust (e.g. Amazon).

People who receive monies via PP need to protect themselves by assuming PP could freeze their account at any time. That means keeping the minimum amount of $$ possible under PP's control. I know there are regs to that but you need to protect yourself.

Some of the banks and some 3rd party companies are now offering a system to digitally generate "one-time" use card numbers that are automatically destroyed after a successful transaction.
I've seen virtual CC numbers for one time use here in the USA but not sure if they're still available. It's still a hassle to setup, configure, use, etc, which is its fall down. Simplicity is PP's strength, IMO, which is why it's got staying power.
They're definitely still available, there are even companies offering card generation API as a service (google Marqeta). I agree with you on simplicity, but one clear advantage to the temporary card approach is that it's automatically revoked without you having to take further action, whereas paypal still offers merchants the ability to automatically bill you on a recurring basis.