Incredible !

[Xiagan]

Trust me, I've read enough stories to have my doubts.

You can read stories about everything.
Don't use iodized salt, don't drink water from PET-bottles, don't use your mobile phone, don't use WLAN, don't trust the news, save your money in a stocking and not in a bank, don't use airplanes, ... the list is endless.

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I decide which stories seem to be more "trustworthy"§ than others.

Stories "told" by a professional German computing magazine, which is rather technically oriented, are the ones I tend to rather trust.

Also "stories" by people I personally know.

[Ian]

Credit card companies take care of losses from online fraud. You can get a paypal account (free) which is SECURE and basically acts as a buffer between your credit card and the retailer.

So you have

Credit card->Paypal
Paypal->Vendor

No one aside from you and paypal sees your credit card info. You can remove it at any time, and I can pretty much guarantee you no one at paypal will misuse your information. I have never heard of this EVER happening (and their infrastructure most likely makes it near-impossible to exploit from the inside). If there's ever a dispute, paypal will know how much money was sent, etc, so you will be able to get things resolved.

I work in information security. I'm a lot more paranoid than most, and I really don't feel comfortable hooking up my bank account to a paypal account. But I'm not too concerned with a credit card. There are lots of rules in place for electronic fraud, and it will be paypal or the bank who takes the loss the majority of the time. Not to mention, the only way you will ever get exploited is if you buy stuff from an untrusted site (which is pretty much your own fault) or if you give away your password (which again, is pretty much your fault).

I know you won't change your mind based on this, but nowadays it's pretty safe to go through paypal. I would say a lot safer than shopping in a store such as winners where your credit card info is SAVED and left in unsecure systems a la TJ maxx. Paypal at least knows how to secure data properly =P

[Xiagan]

You have to see the relation.  There are billions of transactions which worked properly, but if two or three aren't working it suddenly is a problem. I read the ct article and of course that sounded not that cool - so I understand if you don't want to use paypal. Fortunately you haven't to. There is a wire transfer option too! (Du kannst bei Plimus sogar Überweisung auswählen -> https://www.plimus.com/jsp/buynow.jsp?contractId=1724988)

[blackzeroflame]

Another story is that of Paypal cancelling a subscription, because they held the opinion that the one who had subscribed via them didn't have enough money or was not trustworthy to keep the subscription on.

ok, i KNOW that's not true, i've had my paypal account for over three years now, and only used it twice, and barely have any money at all. but my account still exists.  As long as you're not doing anything illegal, then you don't have to worry about that

[ulix]

Alrik du kannst das Geld für Aquaria auch direkt (und selbst) an Plimus überweisen (musst du halt in die Bank für).
Das kostet nur leider ziemlich viel Gebühren (weil das eine internationale Überweisung ist).
Ohne die eigenen Bankgebühren hätte es mich so schon 48$ gekostet (statt 30$).
Gucks dir halt mal an auf der Bestellseite.

Ich hab dann einen Freund mit Kreditkarte gebeten, es doch bitte für mich zu bestellen, so kamen am Ende nurnoch 19% Mehrwertsteuer drauf.

(I was just explaining to Alrik that he can also use a payment-method involving little to no risk, basically the same method he propably uses for his Ebay-payments).

[Crizzle]

I don't think I've ever met anyone who's so fear-stricken about online shopping. It's almost sad. ALMOST.

You really can't believe everything you read in the media...hell I just wrote an exam this morning on mass media and its increasing concentration of ownership. The stories you've been reading are SENSATIONALIZED.

[tygirwulf]

Let's not rag on Alrik because he wants to use his money differently than we do.  It makes no difference to me whether he uses PayPal or sends a check to pay for the game.  Why should his preferred method of payment be any concern of ours?  So what if he seems a bit paranoid to most people?  It's still his right to pay via a method of his choosing.

[King]

lol, look, I paid for my version of Aquaria via teh paypal and nothing bad happened. I'm the King so you'd think I would be a prime target for internet bad-d00ds.

It is very safe. :3

Other than that, how do you want to pay for the game? And yes, you must pay for it with moneys.

[Mandrake42]

Well, whatever. I hope you find a method of payment that suits you Alrik, the full version is really worth it

[Quemaqua]

Indeed.  Even if you have to walk to their apartments and hand them money, get it to them somehow.  They really do deserve it.

[MedO]

On the other hand, I can't say what Paypal might be doing. The latest report I read in the German magazine called " c't " is about a man who sent the money, but it never reached the seller, as it was stuck somewhere within Paypal, and so he was accused of not willing to pay.

Another story is that of Paypal cancelling a subscription, because they held the opinion that the one who had subscribed via them didn't have enough money or was not trustworthy to keep the subscription on.

I've read both these articles myself. In the first case, the money was delayed for a bit more than a week or so because of some buerocratic stuff (some kind of security check, apparently), not lost. But that kind of thing happens rarely, and I didn't hear anything about PayPal actually losing someone's money yet.

The second story was more problematic and probably bordering on the illegal for PayPal (they cancelled a subscription to "Fotocommunity" in the name of the user without his consent,  and even without necessity since there wasn't a payment due at the time), but it seems that's (been?) a problem with their subscription API, and here you'd only use it for a one-time payment anyway.

You can read stories about everything.
Don't use iodized salt, don't drink water from PET-bottles, don't use your mobile phone, don't use WLAN, don't trust the news, save your money in a stocking and not in a bank, don't use airplanes, ... the list is endless.

c't is a very serious and trustworthy computer magazine. The articles in question were quite detailled and they also contacted PayPal both times to get a statement and try to find out how the problem came to happen. However, I think these cases rather suggest that PayPal can be a PITA if you're unlucky, not that they are completely untrustworthy.