A Crummy Commercial

Paypal strikes again.  First while signing in I get multiple capcha challenges.  Is Paypal being tripped up by the fact that the browser plugs in the ID and password so quickly ?  Irritation #1. I finally get in after bypassing the "you are already approved for blah-blah-blah" screen - irritation 2: no I don't want it   And then I'm presented with this notice: I'm concerned because I've received no email notifications.  So I click on it and get this: There isn't a dispute, only irritation #3.  Three strikes Paypal, three strikes ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

 I was looking through the Paypal account settings and saw this: When I clicked on the link, it brought me back to the same page, just a loop back on itself. The strange thing is that I am (apparently) able to send money and make refunds (although it defaults to an echeck for some Paypal reason).  I would assume that nationality was either set at signup or obvious from use (I'm not using a VPN). The camel already has a broken back, why add more straw Paypal ? Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

 source: https://3dprint.com/159318/prusa-paypal-service-problems/ Paypal lured me in with a "free" $5 deposit in my account.  As I recall there was also a competitor called Payplace that gave $10 to new accounts.  But Paypal took over fairly quickly, maybe due to Ebay ? Anyway this entry kind of goes along with a previous blog entry on DX sales.  In 2021 I finally stopped accepting Paypal for almost all orders.  It was a combination of things that prompted the change (in no particular order): 1) DX sales:  I had already stopped DX sales which really do require something like Paypal.  People don't mail "green stamps" like they used to.  So no DX sales means less reason for Paypal. 2) rates/fee increases:  Paypal raised both the per transaction fee AND the percentage of sales taken in 2021.   And over the years Paypal has changed things so that the seller pays a fee anytime someone completes a transaction, even if a partial refund is...

 Don Lancaster says this about DX sales on ebay: source: https://tinaja.com/glib/myebays.pdf But I ignored his advice with my kit sales for many years.  For one thing the need to fill out the customs form and use lots of stamps went away with online label generation.  The USPS also added tracking of international parcels (although at a hefty price).  Also, from the start I took the advice of a fellow internet seller and always priced the kits and the shipping with even dollar amounts.  Many DX customers in the early days would mail US Currency so even dollar pricing made this easier.   But in 2021 I stopped selling to DX customers.  The pandemic made mail delivery and tracking overseas unreliable.  I was frustrated having to resend items.  Customers were frustrated due to slow delivery times.  The breaking point was a parcel sent to Australia.  A ban on certain mail to Australia went into effect right after I sent the kits - I did g...

Say you have a kit that you need to return for repair.  You could wrap it up and then go to the post office and stand in line to get it weighed and labeled, et cetera.  But I use Paypal Shipstation.  This can save not only time but money, for example the USPS retail rate may be $5.15 on 8 oz from Washington Island to Chicago but Paypal Shipstation will charge $3.79. The bad points:  you need to know the weight.  Also you need a printer/tape for the shipping label. You don't need to know the exact weight though, for first class parcels the minimum weight is 4 oz, the next rate is for 5-8 oz, 9-12 is next rate and finally 13-15.999 oz is the top rate for 1st class parcel.  The 2021 minimum 1st class commercial parcel rate is $3.37, the maximum is $6.28.  So I usually use the old spring scale  and only plug in the digital scale if I'm right near the boundary points. I used to start at: https://www.paypal.com/shipnow another login page  then take...