1. I'm a simple 'peronal' account holder. Can I *receive* funds without paying a fee?

2. Does it cost to transfer funds to my bank account? I'm in UK

3. Since eBay bought them, has the CS improved? I remember paypal used to freeze funds etc! Has this got better or is it best to transfer funds immediatley?

1. I'm a simple 'peronal' account holder. Can I *receive* funds without paying a fee?

Yes, as long as you don't receive funds from a credit card. You need to specify to whoever's paying you that you only accept "cash" transfers from other PayPal accounts with cash in them, or checks coming from their checking account via PayPal. I am pretty sure PayPal tells them that when they submit payment.

2. Does it cost to transfer funds to my bank account? I'm in UK

Not sure about UK, but in the U.S., it doesn't cost anything to deposit funds. That would be a pretty bad deal if they charged just to take your money.

Since eBay bought them, has the CS improved? I remember paypal used to freeze funds etc! Has this got better or is it best to transfer funds immediatley?

I think PayPal only froze the funds of suspected terrorists. Seriously though, I have heard horror stories about PayPal, but I've never really had problems with my assets being frozen or anything. And I was around during the pre-Ebay years.

I only want to receive payment through ebay. As far as I understand it, the buyers credit card is charged, and then funds are transferred to me, so does this count as me receiving a credit card payment?

If the buyer pays with a credit card you are charged. If they pay via instant transfer from their checking account you are not charged.

I only want to receive payment through ebay. As far as I understand it, the buyers credit card is charged, and then funds are transferred to me, so does this count as me receiving a credit card payment?

Yep, it sure does. You can't accept payments from their credit card (with Paypal as the middleman) without incurring their credit-card charges. This requires upgrading to their premium account, whatever it's called. I did it once, and after I did it, I "downgraded" my account to the standard no-fee account. They only let you do that once, though.

If the buyer pays with a credit card you are charged. If they pay via instant transfer from their checking account you are not charged.

Does this mean I could use my standard bank account with my paypal account instead of my credit card?
Or is this only possible in the US?

I've always wondered how this goes : so far I've only paid using Paypal, but I've always wondered what it would be like to receive money.
Does the money I receive get added to my paypal account and then cedited to my credit card? Or how does this work?
Or to use an example : if someone sends me 100€ via paypal, what are the necessary steps I have to take to end up with a shiny new 100€ bill in my hand ? (assuming my paypal account works with my credit card)

The way it works for me is that I can then transfer those funds from my PayPal account to my local bank checking account. I don't think that there's any way to apply that to a credit card directly from PayPal, but it may work differently in Europe.

I have no idea. Transferring it to my checking account would work just fine for me, but I don't think that this is possible for non US countries. (at least not for Belgium).

[The obligatory anti-paypal post]
http://www.nopaypal.com
[/The obligatory anti-paypal post]

Transferring it to my checking account would work just fine for me, but I don't think that this is possible for non US countries.

Interesting. That's the way they do it by default in the US. The first thing they ask you to do after setting up an account is to have a checking account verified.

Here you go:

Q: How will I be able to withdraw funds in my International PayPal account?

A: PayPal members in any country may withdraw funds to a U.S. bank account. If you live in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom, you may withdraw funds to a local bank account. You cannot withdraw funds from the PayPal system unless (1) live in one of these countries or (2) have a U.S. bank account. You may, however, always spend the money in your PayPal account with another PayPal member.

Hey, that's cool!

So I AM able to tranfer the funds to a local bank account! This rocks!

Thanks Bitt!

anti-paypal

Have you had a bad experience with PayPal, Rob?

What do you use instead, if anything?

Be wary.. paypal doesn't have anything even approaching the concept of a "fair" exchange rate.. they generally pocket between 5-10% on any currency exchange that happens..

Currently I am using propay. I find them excellent. Their prices and fees are higher than PayPal, but it's kind-of a cross between PayPal and a merchant acount. I can take a credit card from anyone over the phone or in person. The purchaser does not have to be a member of propay. I can also request money through email and the purchaser can enter their own credit card details through a secure site. When the purchaser looks at their credit card statement, it appears as if I had charged it (my email address shows up on their statement as the merchant). It allows me to look more professional and when someone owes me money, all I have to do is open a web browser to run their Visa or MasterCard. Ricin recently used this service to pay me if he cares to comment on it.

Paypal suspended my acount after I had reported a credit card lost and failed to remove it from my Paypal profile. Paypaly tried to charge to it and now I am a criminal (in their eyes). In order to re-open my acount I have to fax them all kinds of personal documents that they will get over my dead body. My acount is in limbo to this day (1 1/2 years later).

After checking the Paypal settings I've found that I can indeed transfer money to a belgian bank. It will take between 5-7 business days and it will cost me 1€, but at least it's possible now.
That wasn't so in the past.

Rob and I have had this discussion before, but I had the exact same experience. The tried to charge a purchase on my EXPIRED credit card, then complained that when it didn't go through, I was obviously trying to scam them. Note that this point I'd already given them a new credit card number. I'm sure not faxing them bank statements and my passsport, so I have to get friends to do the pay pal transaction for me.

Ironicaly enough, I just got an email today from paypal telling me my credit card was about the expire. Luckily enough, my spam filter caught it.

Matthew

Propay seems like a nice alternative to Paypal, but it's only available to US residents for now.
Bummer, their service seems quite interesting.