share Useful tips when making payments online

[berserkfan]

Paypal:

Don't accept their default currency options. Always use your credit card. Credit card companies offer competitive rates, unlike paypal which price gouges.

http://lifehacker.com/5957808/avoid-paypals-high-international-currency-exchange-rates-by-switching-one-little-option

Paypal has tricks with currency conversions and sometimes screws both buyer and seller by charging both sides.


Always use a credit card with paypal if you can.

Credit cards give you buyer protection of 180 days. Paypal cash balance gives you buyer protection of 45 days. Which is better? Do I need to explain? (BTW I did have to explain this to a buyer of mine recently. WTF, why must the seller even teach the buyer to look out for himself?)

Bank Transfers

Do you know you can revoke a transfer?

Happened to a friend of mine. Got a scary email from a friend's hacked email account, sent money to Nigeria to save that friend's ass. Then got suspicious, and contacted that friend after office hours. Friend was safe.

First thing the next morning my friend called the bank to revoke the transfer. He was successful. Transfers normally take a bit of time, which may sound terrible for impatient kids, but actually is a good thing for adults.

Western Union:

I used to think the entire population of Indonesia uses Western Union.

Turns out none of the geekhackers do.

Whoops.

The Indonesians who use WU are maids.

My own experience with WU has been fine. Bought my first ever atomic clock from ebay and used WU. That was before most geekhackers were born, aka 1990s. This was back in the days when the US dollar was actually worth something, and a few of these dollars could pay for shipping a huge atomic clock.

Now the USD pays for, what? 1 USD for 1 roll of toilet paper? (And the currencies of lesser countries are even more worthless than they were back when I was young.)

 

Ok, this is what I have to offer for now. I really hope people will come in and talk about bitcoin, venmo, share their experiences with google wallet, etc. I am extremely curious about bitcoin, which frankly seems to me like a ponzi scheme full of fakecoins. 

[demik]

Have money to make said payments

[exitfire401]

Never send as a gift

[need]

Stop being so obsessed about keyboards

[berserkfan]

BTW I also have this problem with the budget airlines in my region.

They advertise a fare as $8 for instance.

Now I’m wise to their tricks, it is more like $120 once airport tax, fuel surcharge, luggage allowance and other scams are factored in, and after factoring out their auto-checked meals, insurance, seat selection fares, etc. I always check the correct boxes, and uncheck the correct boxes.

But they still have a credit card trick to play.

If you pay Airasia by credit card or debit card, it is a whopping $48 fee. Even on a fare originally advertised as $8.

Why? Because their price really applies to the price at Singapore’s Changi Airport. You have to go all the way to the airport in person and pay in cash to enjoy this freaking good price!

More or less the same thing applies to our other budget airlines, such as Tiger and Jetstar.

So these prices are really only for the budget backpacker. If you have a real job you would not take the 3 hour round trip by public transportation to save yourself $48.

If paying by bank transfer their fee is $4. So I always pay them by bank transfer even though by default I always prefer credit card payment.

It makes sense to always have an array of payment modes on hand. Whichever payment mode is cheapest, go for it. Don’t let these budget airlines screw you.