PayPal Alternatives - Is There a Reliable PayPal System Alternative

The Question - Are there viable alternatives to PayPal? 

The PayPal system has been around since 1998 and is a US based international company. The company was acquired by eBay in 2002. More than 50 million people use PayPal in any month for sending or receipt of funds. There are many reasons for the growth of the PayPal system. Basically the company is a good idea and can be very helpful, both to individuals and small to medium sized businesses.

So, if PayPal is such a good idea, supported by a giant corporation like eBay, why should anyone need to look for an alternative to PayPal? There are three main reasons people look for alternatives to the PayPal system. First of all the standard clichés apply; no one is perfect or you can’t please everyone, etc.

In the early years, from 1998 to 2002, a lot of members had problems with their account being locked. This rarely happened when the account balance was low or at zero. As soon as a payment had been received the member, often a very small private business, would find they did not have access to the funds.  Check out http://www.screwpaypal.com/blog/ for an actual claim by an unhappy customer about this type of problem.

Another problem is that in late 2010 members were required to have a verified bank account to use the PayPal system. Prior to that time payment could be made from any bank account, debit card or credit card.  This not only applied to new members but to existing members as well. The change over had very little prior notification given and a lot of members found themselves locked out of a system they had come to depend on. Unbelievably, some were locked out with a significant balance in their paypal account. It took time to get an account verified. Mean while PayPal was making money on the balances in the locked accounts.

The third reason members look for alternatives to the PayPal system is fraud. Because of its size and success the company and its members are high profile targets for Internet crime criminals. Phishing fraud is a particular problem with most members getting extremely sophisticated fraud emails frequently.  

So what are the alternatives to the PayPal system? The news is not good.  For use with eBay the only viable system, especially within the USA is PayPal.  For US citizens and residents outside the US there are other companies but most require a bank account from that particular company.

My recommendation is you join the PayPal Sucks page at www.facebook.com/nopaypal for the latest information. I recommend this because so many of the so-called alternatives to PayPal system come and go frequently.

You probably came to this blog post because of the title; PayPal Alternatives and we want you to feel helped by the information in this post. The links provided above should be your first source for information on alternatives. Here is a list, with short notes, for some of the other systems that attempt to provide the wide range of services offered by eBay and PayPal.

Allpay.net – UK only 

Go&Pay 

CertaPay – Canada - Must have Canadian bank account

Check Free – not recommended - No online sign up and not at all user friendly

Merchantine – US only for merchants

Hyperwallet – not recommended – pay and receipt seems secondary to required software purchase 

NoChex – UK only for individuals. Merchant account good for UK and US. 

Playmate – Oz and NZ only

Xoom – ebay only

Last bit of advice. If you are having problems with your PayPal account, don't waste time with their automated customer or live help services. They are next to worthless and a waste of time. Call the numbers provided in the PayPal website. The service is much better and usually acceptable.