Originally Posted by honu
Thanks for the reply, ohbahsan! Now here's another question: given the somewhat troubled reputation Paypal has, do you think it would be possible to substitute my current MasterCard with a Citibank virtual account (with a lower available balance), or do they want a real CC #?
As a 3 year Paypal user, who has run many, many thousands of $$$ through Paypal, I can assure you Paypal won't put false charges on your CC. Here are situation where you might have some troubles with Paypal:
A) You sell something, a customer pays for it with a CC, then later disputes the purchase with their CC.
B) Buyers open several Paypal disputes over items you sold them.
C) You change your address and forget to update your Paypal account, Paypal tries to contact you, finds out you don't live at the address you gave them, so freeze your account (happened to me).
D) You send money back and forth between the same members.
E) You purchase several very large $$$ items on Ebay with descriptions that don't look authentic offering lots of Ebay points, and someone at Paypal notices.
Basically, you don't have any risk with Paypal unless you engage in certain activity. Sellers have far more risk than buyers.
Having said that, I am a Paypal accepting seller who has had some issues with Paypal, but they have all been resolved appropriately. My last glitch required me to send them faxes proving my ID - they responded to my faxes and unlocked my account within 3 hours of when I sent them!