You didn't buy $81 Billion of gas? Prove it!

[dendawg]

And you thought PayPal was bad as far as Ebay..

http://consumerist.com/5162108/paypa...26-tank-of-gas

[Broomjockey]

PayPal's a joke. I refuse to use it if there's any other way to pay, or a different way to get the item. I think I've had to use it *once* in the past 4 years. I'm all for fraud prevention, but anyone looking at that should have said "Holy crap! I'm sorry, lemme get that fixed for you right away!"

[Parrothead]

Why are you using PayPal for gas?

[RetailWorkhorse]

Because some people use PayPal like a regular bank.

[Caveat Emptor]

Maybe the rep was from Zimbabwe, so $81 billion to them would be about half a tank's worth of gas?

[mattm04]

It turns out somehow the merchant number was used for the dollar amount.

Sadly they thought one person bought over 41 million gallons of gas in one transaction.

[lordlundar]

Maybe the rep was from Zimbabwe, so $81 billion to them would be about half a tank's worth of gas?

I thought that was Nigeria?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Because some people use PayPal like a regular bank.

These people are incredibly stupid. Paypal is not an actual bank and isn't bound by the rules and regulations that apply to banks.

Thus, Paypal can hold your money in your account for several months at a crack without providing you a reason. It's in their TOS. This is why whenever I got paid for an ebay auction, I withdrew the money to my checking account right away.

And they will do this if somebody pays you with a stolen credit card, does a chargeback, claims their account was stolen, or any of many other reasons they use to freeze your account. Your money is just gone and they don't have to give it back.

And I can't imagine a legitimate bank saying "Nice try Juan, if that's your real name," as Paypal did.

And you thought PayPal was bad as far as Ebay..

I thought Ebay had a majority stake in Paypal, if not outright ownership.