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Things I Didn’t Like About PayPal

Back in 2006, I heard about PayPal for the first time and was pretty curious to know what it was all about. It turns out PayPal is nothing but a way to make payment or get paid over the Internet. In 2007, I created my own PayPal account and started using it for receiving small payments from my clients. Small payments were mostly for writing content for my offshore clients. I was never worried about the limitations as my monthly PayPal receipts never exceeded $500 threshold until the end of 2008.

In 2009, I started getting more business from my clients and my dependency on PayPal grew bigger. I figured that I couldn’t withdraw more than $500 to my bank account unless I removed the limitations from my PayPal profile. And back then, unfortunately, the only way PayPal would allow users to remove the limitations form their PayPal profiles was through adding a credit card.

As a matter of fact, I didn’t have a credit card as I never needed one. I felt I needed to apply for a credit card just because it would help me remove the PayPal restrictions on withdrawing funds higher than $500. It’s crazy but by asking you to add a credit card to your PayPal account, PayPal essentially wanted you to verify your true identity so it makes sure you’re a verified PayPal user.

To get around the issue, I had to open multiple PayPal accounts to receive money from my clients but it was quite awkward. But, I kept on doing it until I got myself a credit card.

Applying for a credit card wasn’t really that easy for me. My bank (HDFC) was rather skeptical about offering me a credit card as I couldn’t comply with their requirements. When both of my attempts to get a credit card yielded no results, I was forced to go for a credit card against a collateral deposit.

Finally, I got my first credit card (with a credit limit of 9000 rupees) and added it to my PayPal account to verify my account. I felt like I’d achieved a milestone!

Today, PayPal doesn’t want you to add your credit card anymore. Rather, it sends two small deposits to your account and you need to check the statements of accounts to figure out those two numbers and enter the same during the verification process on PayPal.

Doing business with PayPal hasn’t been quite a pleasing experience for me for many reasons. To begin with, PayPal is a rather rigid and selfish institution who doesn’t care about what its users stand to lose. It changes its policies at its whim and imposes restrictions on its users as and when it feels fit. After the PayPal issues in 2010 and 2011, I decided to discontinue doing business with PayPal.

The downside of ordering money via PayPal is that it makes the finalization of company accounts rather complex for your chattered account. Plus, PayPal charges you arbitrarily and converts your funds as per its own currency rate. Worst of all, it keeps changing its policy updates whenever it suits its very own commercial interests. Here’s an example:

Nearly two months ago, a client purchased a SEO campaign service ($400) from our website and paid via PayPal using his credit card. Plus, he wrote me an email asking what details he should offer to get the campaign started. I immediately replied to his email and then he disappeared for the next 30 days.

While I was wondering what might have happened, PayPal sent me an email saying the buyer has asked for a Chargeback as his credit card has been misused. Since I hadn’t begun working on his project, I had no choice but to accept the liability and make the funds available for him to take away. Shockingly enough, PayPal, after returning $400 to the buyer, deducted an additional $25 from my account to compensate for the service fees involved in the transactions! PayPal sent me an email saying it’s a company Terms of Service which I had agreed with during sign-up with PayPal.

Crazy policy, isn’t it?

I feel totally gutted after that incident and was totally disillusioned about PayPal’s operations and customer policy. Therefore I decided not to use PayPal anymore and close my account. But, PayPal didn’t let me close the account saying there are limitations on my account as my account had a negative balance (created by PayPal itself). I left the account untouched and got on with life ignoring multiple reminder emails from PayPal.

I also have a couple of other PayPal accounts without any negative balance. But, strangely, PayPal doesn’t let me close those accounts either. It says the accounts are limited because I need to verify the account with PAN card details and stuff like that.

Currently, I have stopped interacting with PayPal and been ignoring their emails like plague. I don’t want to do business with a company that sacrifices its customer’s interests for protecting its own commercial interests and keeps changing its policies to suits its own agenda time and again.

What do you think could happen next?

Have you ever experienced the similar experiences with PayPal?

Please, share them with me in the comment section below.

Why I Regret Buying The Samsung Galaxy 750

Frankly, I have never ever been a Samsung Fan, especially when it comes to gadgets. The first time I bought a Samsung product was in 2009 and it was a Samsung Corby. After just six months of the purchase, the touch screen started behaving weirdly and I knew I was in for trouble. I gave up on that and moved on.

Just like the first Samsung product in 2009, I bought my first Apple product (iPhone4) early this year. I have been literally sleeping with this device for close to a year now, and I couldn’t have been happier with its performances and the magic it has added to my life.

After using an Apple product and hearing all the war-cry between Apple and Samsung on the proposed release of Samsung Galaxy Tab 750, I thought it would be one heck of a product with a brand-new experience. But, I was wrong!

I use Samsung’s Tab on a daily basis, and guess what – I live a life loads of regret and remorse, for buying a product that is ridiculously flawed to begin with.

What’s Wrong With Samsung Galaxy 750?

Operating System – They told me Honeycomb is their latest OS tailored for tablet PCs. Well, I can’t see no difference. What are improvements are you talking about? Honey, your Honeycomb is not even close to iOS back in 2007!

Copy and Paste – Before I bought this product, I read a TechCrunch article on how Honeycomb has added the Copy/Paste features. When I actually try to copy and paste, it takes a couple of seconds. Yes, going by the simplicity of the copy/paste function, a couple of seconds are a lot. That’s the truth. Compare this function with that of iPhone4 and you will know what I’m talking about. Copy/Paste is a basic function which is supposed to be a breeze, but sadly, it’s not the case for Honeycomb. By the time you copy and paste some text on Samsung Galaxy Tab 750, I guarantee, I could do the same ten more times using my iPhone4. Why doesn’t Android just give up and admit it can never get close to iOS?

Adobe Flash – In the advertisement, they bragged about their product having an edge over iPad2 in terms of playing Adobe Flash videos. But it’s been two months, and I wouldn’t know why the videos on my Facebook aren’t able to run. Every time I click on a video to watch it, it says “download the latest Flash Player” and takes me to the Android Market. As a matter of fact, I have already downloaded all the Flash Players invented under the Sun and they are upgraded to the hilt. I can’t but use swearwords to describe what Samsung Galaxy 750 is all about. But I definitely swear by iOS4 on my iPhone4.

High-Def Videos – Until 24 months ago, my eyes were okay with watching videos in standard definition. Everything changed when I entered the world of Full HD. Obviously, I expected everything in full HD quality. So when I bought Samsung Galaxy 750 Tab, I thought it would live up to its tall promises of playing videos in HD. Shockingly, the reality was different – the product can’t play HD Videos. One of my friends (supposedly a big Samsung Fan) told me there are apps on the Android Market that help play video of any format. He was wrong. There aren’t any app. Therefore, you can’t play full HD videos on a Samsung Galaxy 750 Tab.

MP3 Files – Guess what – my Samsung Galaxy 750 Tab can’t play all mp3 files. When I transfer my music folders from PC to Tab, sometimes they warn me that the Tab won’t be able to play them. I ignore the warning assuming the Tab would still play the files as it already plays some mp3 files I’ve downloaded from the Internet. So what’s the difference?

Speaking of being user-friendly, just wondering how close is Samsung Galaxy 750 to my iPhone4?

Android Market: I have never ever seen a market so disoriented and disorganized. It’s even worse than the fish market in my hometown. When you search for an app by its name, it doesn’t show up! And, worse, most of the apps are riddled with bugs that wouldn’t help you. I haven’t seen a single app that doesn’t have bad comments. You’re told that a modern gadget is as good as the apps that it supports. But sadly, it’s not the case for Samsung Galaxy 750 run on Honeycomb.

Why would you buy a product so fucked-up!

It cost me a whopping 36,200 rupees (or $724 for Samsung Galaxy Tab 750) to learn I will NEVER buy a Samsung product again. The only day I MIGHT think of using their products is when they’re fully acquired by Apple Inc.

Never buy a Samsung Product. Never – Ever – Never. Even if there was a fire!

Now I hope my friends (especially Samsung Fans) know why I regret buying the Samsung Galaxy 750 Tab.

It’s not the Time to Tab – It’s the time to go and get a life!

PayPal Auto Withdrawal and Receiving Limit : How to Get Around PayPal Issues

With PayPal imposing fresh restrictions on their Indian users, many small and medium scale web start-ups must be panicked and scouring for alternative solutions. Today, many Indian PayPal users must have received a very depressing email from PayPal on two more changes in the way we do business with PayPal. Here’s what the email says:


As communicated earlier this year, we are working to implement RBI’s Guidelines regarding the processing of export-related payments. As a result the following changes will be made to your PayPal account:

  1. Effective 26th September 2011, you will not be able to receive overseas payments exceeding US$ 500 per transaction into your PayPal account.
  2. Any balance will be auto withdrawn out of your PayPal account daily.

We understand the impact this may cause to your business and seek your support and understanding as we continue to work together with the RBI. We will keep you updated as our conversations progress.

Many view PayPal as a very arrogant body that doesn’t seem to comply with RBI guidelines although PayPal may have its own commercial interests at stake.

RBI on the other hand, has been relentlessly after PayPal to comply with their regulatory mandates, which has resulted in PayPal imposing overnight restrictions on Indian users time and again. With last two changes already functional with immediate effect, India PayPal users must be wondering if they could use any alternative PayPal platforms to run their web start-ups.

When PayPal woke everybody Indian PayPay user with a start with their very first imposition back in 2010, many vented their frustrations on PayPal and RBI alike. But, we at Top League Technologies started deliberating on various alternative platforms available for running our business in an efficient manner. After using a couple of other services, we wrote a post on “How to rescue your funds from PayPal”.


The situation back then wasn’t as bad as it is now. PayPal has imposed Daily Auto Withdrawal which means you can’t have any balance in your account. And, the receiving limit is to remain intact.

One of the best ways to get around PayPal issues at the moment is to switch to Wire Transfer. It is convenient, quick and saves a lot of money if you consider the unreasonable PayPal transaction fees.

However, Wire Transfer has two problems: First, your clients will have to pay certain fees to the bank. It is usually fixed and may not make sense for your clients if the invoice is very small amount. Plus, your clients may find it as a chore to visit the bank to send you the money. If the total amount on your invoice is less then say 500 USD, you can ask your clients to pay your bills once in every two months. That way you can save their time and money as well.

Technically, PayPal charges you nearly 4.5 USD per every 100 USD. Suppose your total bill for a month is 1000 USD, you clients will need to send you 1050 USD to compensate for the PayPal fees (nearly 45-50 USD). Again, PayPal will decide its very own currency rate regardless of the standard currency rate in the International market. Usually, PayPal takes away 1.50 rupee per every USD withdrawn by you. This literally eats into your resources and hard-earned money.

If you switch to Wire Transfer and ask your clients to bear the fees at their end, you will be able to receive your funds directly from client without PayPal’s interventions, which also means you get the best currency rate per USD. One more thing – regardless of whichever bank account you have linked your PayPal to, make sure you contact the branch foreign remittance department to offer you a good rate. Generally, they have the discretion to bring the rate down for you. The key lies in knowing how to handle them.


PayPal SOS: How to Rescue Your Funds from PayPal

Now that PayPal has suspended electronic fund transfers to bank accounts, you must be pretty worried over finding an alternative solution to rescue your funds from PayPal account, right?

Well, hug it or hate it, PayPal has been the most trusted platform for online transactions despite its notorious higher fees, lousy customer service quality or unreasonable actions at times.

However, under the current situation, it is only safe to withdraw your PayPal funds via PayPal check, i.e if you are gutsy enough to allow PayPal to send your check with the help of Indian Postal Department via general post. I know it hurts to lose your check at times, but fortunately, I am NOT one of those who have lost their checks.

In any case, your PayPal funds are safe in the unfortunate event of your check being lost in transit. Blame it on the Indian Post Department and not PayPal, if that happened to you (but I seriously hope it doesn’t happen to you). If your check happened to be lost in transit, PayPal would reverse the transaction initiated by you. Well, you may lose precious time in the process though. I know at times, that’s probably the hardest part to cope with.

Despite what they claim as the ideal time for a PayPal check to reach the recipient, it usually takes roughly between 15-20 days. You should have the patience to wait and count on Indian Postal Services. It is very difficult to understand though why PayPal prefers to send your checks via genera post. But as I said you can’t reason with PayPal 🙂

Hate them, love them, but dude, you can’t ignore them!

The bottom-line is it takes a lot of patience (sometimes it can really be a testing time) until you receive your PayPal check and cash the same at your local bank.

Too Desperate to Wait for A PayPal Check? Then you can probably try the following services until PayPal restore their service to normal:

Online Remittance: I am not sure if other Indian banks offer this service too, but ICICI Bank makes it easy for your client to pay you via its Online Remittance service. Even your client doesn’t have to worry about going physically to bank to send you your funds. They can do it online. Kindly, visit their website or contact your nearest ICICI Bank.

Western Union Money Transfer: This one is probably the quickest way to get your money online. However, their charges might appear higher to you. You can visit their website to find more about their service fees and compare them with PayPal fees. If your client is kind enough to visit one of his local stores where WUMT service is available, you can get the funds real quick.

Xoom: It is basically a money sending service, pretty much like Western Union service. All you have to do is request your client to use your bank details to initiate a money transfer. The transaction will be verified by the Xoom department before it is executed. You money should reach your bank account real fast. However, in Feb, 2010, during the PayPal crisis, Xoom was not entertaining any payment to India. Not sure if they are doing the same this time too.

2Checkout: Their customer service is much better than PayPal’s, but they levy charges on every move you make. Unlike PayPal, they have registration fees. So most likely, they will deduct some fees from the money your client sends to your 2CO account. They also have a caution money fees which they allocate to protect their interests against any potential default on your part in future. Take heart – this amount is refundable. Moreover, you can transfer your funds from PayPal to your 2CO account.

They also offer you an ATM card (they call it Payoneer Card) and you can use it at any ATM counter within and outside India. Great, right? But they levy a fee on each transaction! Now, that’s a rip-off, right?

These are my own experiences with cross-border money transfer services. Do feel free to share you experiences in the comment sections. I will be glad to answer your questions and learn more from your experiences too.