PayPal confuse me

Hello.

I've been trying to link a credit card to my PayPal and never understood what card statement meant. then when I found out, it just sounded so ridiculous... I know it's for security reasons, but if someone has all your card details, which you need to link a card, they don't even have to link it to paypal, they can withdraw it from where ever they want! So this only blocks people from getting their paypal money, and no credit card fraud'ist would give money...
So, I believe this is a crappy system to make people think they're more secure, while it's just a blockage for the legit people...
What do you people think?

Paypal doesnt give out your card information. They need the information so that when you make a paypal payment they can withdraw the funds from your card, not whoever you are sendign the money to. It protects you because you have to verify any payments made through paypal, so even if someone gets your paypal ID, and tries to use it to buy stuff online, all you have to do is deny the charge through paypal.com and your card is never charged. Credit cards are much less secure, as anyone that gets your card info, such as a dishonest cashier, can make charges to your card which you then have to prove you didint make.

I think you can link a bank account to paypal instead of a credit card, right? If you are *really* worried, you could open an account for this purpose and limit the amount of funds available.

But I wouldn't bother, as abachler points out, it's bulletproof that way: the whole point of pay pal is so that you don't have to give out your card info. They must have about a trillion users by now; if someone breaches their security, it will probably be part of international newscasts, so you'll find out about it right away.

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Credit cards are much less secure, as anyone that gets your card info, such as a dishonest cashier, can make charges to your card which you then have to prove you didint make.

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Thats not true. Credit card numbers are not secret. If someone uses your card for fraudulent transaction it is the banks liability unless there is a signature. Some cards come with digital signing systems, which while more secure, are bad for consumers as it makes them liable for fraud.

I know that PayPal is good that way, but all the hassle with having you go get your card statement and stuff... It's useless!

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Originally Posted by Akkernight

I know that PayPal is good that way, but all the hassle with having you go get your card statement and stuff... It's useless!

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Sure, but think what a favour you will be doing for you mom, long term, by setting this up, since that will save her the hassle in the future ;)

Anyway, I concur, the whole paypal setup is *extremely* patronizing and un-user friendly; they are clearly working within a "our customers are probably morons, with low self-esteem" paradigm. Grit your teeth.

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Originally Posted by Akkernight

I know that PayPal is good that way, but all the hassle with having you go get your card statement and stuff... It's useless!

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Then use 100 ton stone wheels. They cant even be stolen. You have to choose between security and convenience, you cant have both.

I think paypal offers both security and convenience. I wish it was a standard for all online transactions. But then again using paypal as a facade for all transactions might lead to exploitation by external means and offer a huge risk.

Whoever's doing security must get paid in women and ambrosia.

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Originally Posted by indigo0086

Whoever's doing security must get paid in women and ambrosia.

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Spoken like a true security professional Here to Deceive, Inveigle, Obfuscate Since 1945.

Having used PayPal since 2002, I can say that once you get past the initial confirmation silliness, PayPal is quite easy to use.