I can't disagree with much that deltone has said, but I happen to be one of the people that got stung by PayPal security and would caution you about their nasty little penchant for putting a block on the use of the card without mentioning it or contacting you.
It's all well and good to have it available to access your PayPal balance without the normal withdrawal difficulties but just don't find yourself (like me) in a position where you needed to access a large amount of cash from the account without a backup.
I found myself fumbling to come up with an alternate form of payment for goods (in the offices of a major supplier) when I learned that security had pulled the plug on mine several days earlier without even an email to warn me.
PayPal security is a third party that oversees the activity of many bank cards but they have express instructions from PayPal not to contact their customers in Canada (by phone or email).
PayPal Security's reason for pulling the plug - I had made several large purchases the previous week and it was done as a precautionary measure.
I use it exclusively to pay my eBay fees once I had them switched to USD from CAD. Remember, you will also suffer PayPal's crummy exchange rate if you use the card in Canada for purchases in CAD.
Bill
It's all well and good to have it available to access your PayPal balance without the normal withdrawal difficulties but just don't find yourself (like me) in a position where you needed to access a large amount of cash from the account without a backup.
I found myself fumbling to come up with an alternate form of payment for goods (in the offices of a major supplier) when I learned that security had pulled the plug on mine several days earlier without even an email to warn me.
PayPal security is a third party that oversees the activity of many bank cards but they have express instructions from PayPal not to contact their customers in Canada (by phone or email).
PayPal Security's reason for pulling the plug - I had made several large purchases the previous week and it was done as a precautionary measure.
I use it exclusively to pay my eBay fees once I had them switched to USD from CAD. Remember, you will also suffer PayPal's crummy exchange rate if you use the card in Canada for purchases in CAD.
Bill
Todd, you've made these comments before and it appears, then, that PayPal security and my PayPal rep have out-and-out lied to me about PayPal's third party security's ability to call Canadian customers when they put a freeze on a card. I know full well what I was told and that fact that you may or may not have received calls from them is a non-issue for me.
From my past experience (and if that is really the case), it then appears that MasterCard's exchange rate is really no better than PayPal's. Thanks, but I much prefer the advantageous rate I get from TD Waterhouse over either of those.
quote
"This is why I swipe the paypal card on our own Terminal in our office to get the funds into our Business account faster"
Yes, but, for the life of me, I can't see how that would benefit the vast majority of PS'ers that don't have their own merchant accounts.
Todd, the original post was asking for opinions on the value of getting the PayPal debit card - good or bad. Generally I have only found it useful to me to pay my eBay fees after the episode that I had. That was my posting.
From my past experience (and if that is really the case), it then appears that MasterCard's exchange rate is really no better than PayPal's. Thanks, but I much prefer the advantageous rate I get from TD Waterhouse over either of those.
quote
"This is why I swipe the paypal card on our own Terminal in our office to get the funds into our Business account faster"
Yes, but, for the life of me, I can't see how that would benefit the vast majority of PS'ers that don't have their own merchant accounts.
Todd, the original post was asking for opinions on the value of getting the PayPal debit card - good or bad. Generally I have only found it useful to me to pay my eBay fees after the episode that I had. That was my posting.
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