[nomnomnom]

But that's not "making sure" at all - you're still at the mercy of others. Just because you pay them doesn't mean they can't discontinue the product, for example.

Also, PayPal seems to have a horrid history of freezing accounts nilly-willy.. sure, their API might not go anywhere (as long as PayPal doesn't ;).. but what's the use when your access to it might go away any moment?

[Domenic_S]

"Making sure" may have been too strong of a phrase; what I'm talking about is minimizing risk. Sometimes you can form relationships or partnerships with the 3rd party, sometimes you can shovel them money, and at all times you should do your best to make sure you're not using a 3rd party to compete with itself.