Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Preferred method of online payment

Bought some powder and primers online recently and paying via PayPal was a major pain. But it’s my only payment app I currently have. They suggested Zelle.

I know PayPal isn’t the greatest and was wondering what the brain trust here prefers.

Thanks in advance.

Many of the virtual payment systems, such as Venmo, Zelle, Paypal, CashApp, and so on, are generally secure in their design. The problems arise when humans start interacting with them and make mistakes in judgement. They are zero trust systems, which means you cannot trust them to protect you from yourself. If you can be diligent and methodical, and not least of all, be smart about the decisions you make regarding whom you send money to and under what conditions, they can be a very effective way to conduct commerce on a personal level.

Debit card for everything here. No probs yet. Very choosy with my dealings though.

Virtually everyone I know has had their credit cards/bank accounts hacked, as have I. Now there's a pain in the ass for you. On the other hand I don't know anyone who's been hacked through PayPal. Quite possibly an anomaly, granted.

Latest adventure: $800 disappearance from checking that funded a spa day and numerous Door Dash meals in San Diego while I huddled in the rain in Maryland. Haven't sussed out how it happened, but it didn't happen through PayPal. My bank (Truist) made things right and the nice lady there allowed as how this is now the 2nd most common form of theft in America now behind retail theft.

I guess we Boomers are to blame for that too, since we begat succeeding generations to walk/talk/breathe digital competency and reliance.

From what I've heard, beware of any site that only takes Zelle.

I also recently read that Zelle is ripe for fraud.

If it is a business website that only takes Zelle then absolutely scam red flag worthy.

If just some horse trading among individuals, then I could understand using it. Of course, thats all with buyer beware, due diligence, etc.

I think both of those members left.

A credit card number can be stolen, usually by someone hacking a retail system, by a waitstaff or store clerks with a card reader, or by a reader overlay placed on a legitimate scanner. But, there’s pretty reliable recourse for all of that through your bank, and in addition you can make a fraud complaint against a retailer that takes your money and doesn’t deliver. The other common methods like Zelle and PP F&F don’t offer that. Once the money’s gone, it’s gone. Regular PP is better I hear.

I've been hearing about people that have had their Pay Pal accounts shut down by Pay Pal when buyers have bought any gun related equipment like scopes or gun parts. Supposedly Pay Pal is red flagging companies that sell gun related items and if you try to order from one of these companies Pay Pal will close down your account.

I don't have Pay Pal and was just wondering if anybody here has experienced this.

A dedicated Discover Card is hard to beat, as they have a no-hassle/no-obligation fraud policy.

No-fee, and just call'em up and tell'em there's a problem - and that's the end of it.

Use Pay-Pal for sites I don't trust to have the card number/info.




GR

Nope, nothing like that from my end, and I buy a lot of gun crap - like all of it - on line anymore, and use PP whenever I can. When employing PP F&F for a private sale I'm not ignorant enough to fill in the space asking what the payment's for. I think the people who are honest and write "AR-15" or somesuch are the ones getting caught out.

Have been using PayPal for many years with zero problems, and they're the company we use to handle credit-card payments on our website, www.riflesand recipes.com--which obviously involves hunting/shooting books, and our on-line quarterly magazine, RIFLE LOONY NEWS. have had PP cancel payments for stuff that wasn't ordered or satisfactory, especially several for computer-related stuff.

Have never encountered any hassles when using PayPal to either receive or send funds

Did you get the powder and primers you purchased online?

Did you get the powder and primers you purchased online?[/quote
I'd be surprized if the O.P. receives the powder and primers.There are so many fraudulent companies out there and if they don't take a credit card it's a real bad sign.If you pay with Zelle you will not get your money back.

Lots of online sellers use PayPal for credit card sales. I would think it’s a safe as any other method and I don’t hesitate to use it that way.

I have two credit cards, one a Costco Visa I use only at Costco, the other a Capital One Visa I use for everything else, and I mean everything. I carry a couple hundred in cash and only use it when I have to which is probably once every couple of months. Every month I pay off my credit cards. I’ve only had one instance in all these years of someone getting my number and doing a fraudulent purchase. I don’t know what triggered it, but Capital One was on the phone to me immediately, before the sale went through, and someone was disappointed. I seem to be able to get everything I need from known, established, legitimate businesses and I sure as hell won’t do business with an online outfit that won’t take my credit card. I have a Pay Pal account I needed for something several years ago, but never use it. Knock on wood, I have been fortunate, I guess.

I’m on my third debit card in six months here….
Bank told me NO debit card at restaurants and always choose “credit” at the gas pump so your pin isn’t hacked.

Have not received it yet. What prompted this post/question was PayPal deliberately changing my purchase from friends and family to goods and services. I backed out of the transaction the first time when I noticed the switch. Tried again the next day and I’ll be damned if it didn’t do it again, charging me $5 and change for the transaction.

That delays the money being given to the vendor about ten days. Vendor says no worries, I’ll ship when the $ comes in.

Which vendor?

I have had several friends that have had their accounts locked. It was money they never got backed, put them behind in their bills etc. This was all nearly 5-10 years ago though. PayPal is very anti gun and even buying brass or reloading supplies would get you shut down. If PayPal finds out they lock your account. You cannot get Pay Pal off your account either. They all had to start new accounts and any funds in their account was lost. When I got married 12 years ago, I left my old account with PayPal on it and have not allowed any other account like that to have access to my account. They have too much control over my personal life and funds and they act based on their beleifs, regardless of legal transactions or not. Screw them.