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PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

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Azastan
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PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#1

Post by Azastan »

What are the differences between the various pay sites? Advantages? Disadvantages?
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Azastan
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#2

Post by Azastan »

I see I am not the only one completely baffled and confused by all the choices out there.
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#3

Post by SlimSloSlider »

Azastan wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 7:04 pm What are the differences between the various pay sites? Advantages? Disadvantages?
Hit up Matt Gaetz - I’m sure he’s got this down pat.
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#4

Post by Phoenix520 »

SlimSlo, her name’s Becky, not pat. :mrgreen:
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much ado
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#5

Post by much ado »

I've used them all. PayPal for a long time for eBay and other purchases. It's fine for online purchases and is widely accepted internationally.

Our son wanted us to use Venmo, but it had this strange "feature" that it would make the information that I was sending money to our son available on Facebook unless we explicitly opted out. So I don't use that at all, except for him. Also, the money is not transferred immediately. It takes a day or two, I think.

I found Zelle available through our bank. We use that to send money to our daughter. It goes directly from our bank account to hers and is nearly instantaneous. No social platform is involved. Requires more involved setting up, but is extremely easy after that. Click on her name, enter the amount, and press "send". You do this from your bank account.
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Lani
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#6

Post by Lani »

I've used Paypal for more than 10 years with no problems. I've also used credit and debit cards via Paypal because it's speedy to get my money back if there's an error, damaged products, etc. I can send money to my son in seconds. He then decides whether to accept it through his debit or credit card or send it to his bank account.
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Azastan
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#7

Post by Azastan »

Lani wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 11:36 pm I've used Paypal for more than 10 years with no problems. I've also used credit and debit cards via Paypal because it's speedy to get my money back if there's an error, damaged products, etc. I can send money to my son in seconds. He then decides whether to accept it through his debit or credit card or send it to his bank account.
I've used PayPal for years without any issues as well. I'm not sure why the two people who last sent me money did so via Venmo and Zelle, when I told them I had a PayPal account, but without bothering to ask if I had either a Venmo account or a Zelle account, sent me funds via those two methods.
much ado wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 11:22 pm I've used them all. PayPal for a long time for eBay and other purchases. It's fine for online purchases and is widely accepted internationally.

Our son wanted us to use Venmo, but it had this strange "feature" that it would make the information that I was sending money to our son available on Facebook unless we explicitly opted out. So I don't use that at all, except for him. Also, the money is not transferred immediately. It takes a day or two, I think.

I found Zelle available through our bank. We use that to send money to our daughter. It goes directly from our bank account to hers and is nearly instantaneous. No social platform is involved. Requires more involved setting up, but is extremely easy after that. Click on her name, enter the amount, and press "send". You do this from your bank account.
Thanks, that's the kind of info I am seeking. I don't do any of my banking online, so I was really annoyed that one person sent me funds by way of Zelle and another person by way of Venmo after I'd explicitly stated that I had a PayPal account and to please send funds that way.

Apparently Zelle doesn't know that my bank exists, either, since it's not on their list.
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#8

Post by jez »

I use Zelle to send my rent to my housemate Dawn. It's instant. One caveat about it though. Whenever US Bank does a major update on their app, or in the last case, when I got a new phone, the 2-3 day delay hits again. But it tells you how long it will take.

I will also use Zelle to transfer money from my Ally savings account to my main checking on occasion. Dawn acts as the intermediary on that one. I send it to her, she sends it to my checking.

I think I have a paypal account somewhere. Haven't used it in years.
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#9

Post by Uninformed »

There’s a lot of Google info for a search on the topic title.

One that stood out from a 2018 article that still seems to apply.
“Zelle users are finding out the hard way there’s no fraud protection”:
https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/16/zelle ... rotection/

This one is up to date and quite clear.
“Venmo vs. PayPal”:
https://www.investopedia.com/venmo-vs-paypal-5114030

..and Zelle:
“Here’s What You Need to Know About Zelle”:
https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-expe ... als-venmo/
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#10

Post by much ado »

Oh, yes. That's right. I have heard that Zelle is not good to use for purchases; no protections. My daughter and I discussed that. But it is fine for transferring cash between family and friends.

I've been on PayPal for 18 years. During that time I made two purchases that I never received. I requested a refund from PayPal. PayPal tried to contact the vendor, failed, and refunded to me the full amount in both cases.
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#11

Post by northland10 »

Foggy uses Paypay and since Foggy didn't do anything wrong (well except for that unpleasantness with Wifehorn over pronouncing a name), it must be good.
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#12

Post by somerset »

I haven't used Venmo, so I can't comment on it. I see PayPal as a payment method for good and services, and a way of transferring money between individuals. From my experience, Zelle is primarily a bank to bank transfer method.

I was surprised at how prevalent PayPal has become in the professional services area. The Hong Kong based accountant I use for expat tax stuff told me that 95% of his clients pay him using PayPal (we were used to paying by direct bank transfer, and wanted us to switch to PayPal). And the immigration attorney Mrs Somerset and I used for her and her daughter's LPR application uses PayPal as their default payment method for individuals (this immigration attorney office handles all employment based immigration for Motorola and ON Semiconductor - they're not a small, one-person office).

We use Zelle to regularly transfer money between the US, Singapore and Philippines. It's an automatic part of our banks' wire transfer process now, and has replaced the older system that was used up until a couple of years ago (SWIFT?). The upside is that there's no longer any transfer fees, which used to be USD35 per transaction from the US (interestingly, there have been no transfer fees from Singapore to Philippine banks for several years). The downside is that the exchange rate is about 2% worse than the spot rate or what you can get using something like TransferWise (now known as just "Wise"). Still, we find the convenience and control of direct bank to bank transfers worth the slight exchange rate hit.
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#13

Post by p0rtia »

I use all three:

PayPal: I have a business account (clients pay me; I pay royalties) and a personal account (lotsa stuff from ebay to purchases to subscriptions). Love it. Had a PayPal cc at one point. Many years. I use it weekly.

Venmo: I have one client who thinks it's the great thing ever. She pays me with it, I transfer her payments to my bank account. I have the option where everybody can see your payments turned off. So I use it maybe twice a year.

Zelle: Love/hate relationship because it's so ticky-tack: I can't make a notation on transactions, which is annoying. But it is the ONLY way I can receive electronic monthly mortgage payments from the nice people whose mortgage I hold. I also have used it to pay my crew for my airbnb, because I don't like to give PayPal a cut (or lie) and they don't have Venmo. So I use it for two transactions a month.
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#14

Post by Foggy »

northland10 wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:57 pm Foggy uses Paypay and since Foggy didn't do anything wrong (well except for that unpleasantness with Wifehorn over pronouncing a name), it must be good.
I haven't had any problems, and I have two different PayPals that I use.

However, I have recently bought a pair of handcuffs so I can go handcuff myself to their front door if I do have any problems. That worked out great for pretend human Laura Loomer, I can't wait to try it!
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Azastan
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#15

Post by Azastan »

This has been most informative and thank you to all!

Now my question is:

Why did one person send me funds via Venmo, and another person send me funds via Zelle, after I'd told them both that I have PayPal? Would you assume that I would have all of those apps on my phone (please note that I don't have any apps on my phone :lol: ) and just not care that I specified that I have PayPal?

Should I explain that I have enough of a hard time remember passwords for the stuff I need, and that adding two more passwords is just consuming too many of my brain cells?

:oldlady:
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Lani
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#16

Post by Lani »

Just tell them that they can pay via Paypal or send you a check.
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Azastan
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#17

Post by Azastan »

Lani wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 10:23 am Just tell them that they can pay via Paypal or send you a check.
Oh, I told them to pay via PP! I think the one person probably thinks checks are old-fashioned, and the other person probably doesn't have time to go to a bank/ATM. I just thought it was a bit rude to use payment systems without checking to see if I had accounts with those systems :? .
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#18

Post by keith »

I haven't written a check since 2007.

My opinion is that if you told them you only accept paypal, then they haven't paid you, you don't have acces to the funds.

They need to pay you properly, and then its their problem to get the money back from the whomever they gave it to.
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#19

Post by jez »

Azastan wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 10:13 am Should I explain that I have enough of a hard time remember passwords for the stuff I need, and that adding two more passwords is just consuming too many of my brain cells?

:oldlady:
There shouldn't be a separate password for Zelle. It's actually part of my bank's app. It's one of the transfer options. And I do have a line I can note what the transaction is for. Maybe it's different for each bank. I usually remember to put "rent" when I sent my biweekly payment to Dawn.
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Re: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#20

Post by Azastan »

jez wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 10:07 pm

There shouldn't be a separate password for Zelle. It's actually part of my bank's app. It's one of the transfer options. And I do have a line I can note what the transaction is for. Maybe it's different for each bank. I usually remember to put "rent" when I sent my biweekly payment to Dawn.
Ah, the problem is that I don't do any online banking, so I don't have an app for my bank!
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PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#21

Post by RTH10260 »

PayPal is still threatening to fine users $2,500 for promoting “intolerance that is discriminatory”
It may also fine users for promoting "hate."

By Tom Parker
October 12, 2022 Posted 2:40 pm

While PayPal has walked back its threat to fine users $2,500 for “misinformation,” the payments company is still reserving the right to fine users the same amount for other alleged transgressions.

In its current “Acceptable Use Policy,” which has been active for a year, PayPal states that: “Violation of this Acceptable Use Policy constitutes a violation of the PayPal User Agreement and may subject you to damages, including liquidated damages of $2,500.00 U.S. dollars per violation which may be debited directly from your PayPal account(s).”

And PayPal’s list of “prohibited activities,” which can trigger this $2,500 fine, include any activities that relate to transactions involving “intolerance that is discriminatory,” “the promotion of hate,” and “items that are considered obscene.”

Not only is PayPal reserving the right to fine users based on broad and subjective terms but its “User Agreement” states that PayPal will fine users if it “believes” they’ve engaged in a prohibited activity.

“If we believe that you’ve engaged in any of these activities, we may take a number of actions to protect PayPal, its customers and others at any time in our sole discretion,” the PayPal User Agreement states.

The terms that PayPal is using to justify these potential fines of up to $2,500 are often used by companies and governments to restrict online speech. One of the most relevant examples of this speech policing is fundraising platform GoFundMe’s decision to suspend a campaign from political commentator Candace Owens for “intolerance” over opinions on protests.

And even when it doesn’t fine users, there are many examples of PayPal suddenly shutting down user accounts for alleged violations of its Acceptable Use Policy.



https://reclaimthenet.org/paypal-fine-2 ... iminatory/
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PayPal, Venmo, Zelle

#22

Post by sugar magnolia »

My understanding is that this only applies to business accounts that advertise on the platform, not users who simply transfer money.
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