1 - heh - agreed. you should browse around { Link } for some laughs.

2 - Indeed, I went through much of this last summer, and eCheques are UTTER pants. Of course, there are alternatives to Paypal building a following (Google and Amazon both have payments services now), but that isn't much help when you're on eBay eh!

3 - Look at moneybookers.com

4 - Mmm - I've never had this problem. It was easy to set up (about 3 or 4 years ago). I have had to do the Verification process twice - the last time on Sunday. It was done quicker than it has taken to type this - and I'm a reasonable typist.

Click on a link, ask for a phone back. The phone rang pretty much as soon as I hit the "Submit" button and by the time I sat down after hanging the phone up I had an e-mail confirmimg the validation was complete.

They do take a fair old whack off for processing the payment though.

5 - If you use PayPal I suggest you find an alternative merchant. The experience I have endured since early January '08 has left me flabbergasted at the level of incompetence demonstrated by PayPals so call customer service.

Firstly and without any advanced warning, our business account was set to limited - essentially, our business can not accept payments, make payments, send money, withdraw funds, or close our account.

I was directed to a page asking for details already provided; namely bank verification, telephone verification, and business details - so I enquired what the deal was. After waiting 48 hours I was informed I needed to provide copies of my driving licence, passport, and utility bill. I phoned PayPal asking why they could not ask for these items before limiting my account, thus limiting disruption to my business, which resulted in loss of customers. The arrogant tone was bad enough, but the answer was worse still…I comment this was simply a good example of extremely poor customer service, the arrogant tone on the other end of the PayPal phone simply said, yes of course, good in it.

Let me finish with the codetta – I have furnished PayPal with Company Banking details, verified business address, verified business bank, verified personal bank details, verified home address, business phone number, home number, mobile number, provided copies of passport, driving licence, and utility bill. End result. I’ll copy the e-mail below. Please note no explanation from PayPal as to how they come by the ludicrous decision that my business is an ‘excessive risk.’ PayPal have never been asked to charge back funds to our clients, or been asked for any refund in part or whole, yet we are deemed excessive risk. On top of it all, PayPal will not release money in the account for 180 days (I assume these to be business days), which is in addition to the 3 months I have spend dealing with the whole fiasco.

PAYPAL E-MAIL

After reviewing your PayPal account, we have determined there to be
excessive risk involved and we would like to begin parting ways in a manner
that is least disruptive to your business.

If your PayPal account balance is zero, and you have no outstanding issues,
such as unresolved Buyer Complaints or chargebacks, your account will
remain limited.

If there are funds in your account, the remaining account balance will be
held for a period of 180 days in order to minimise chargeback risks. Any
Buyer Complaints or chargebacks received against your account during this
time will be paid from your account balance. Once the 180-day period has
elapsed, you may either withdraw to a bank account that is registered on
your PayPal account, or request a wire transfer for a fee of 40.00 USD.

6 - In a word. Nochex. Seems to be less hassle to set up and less pain.

I've only used it a couple of times because it's not so common as paypal and less people accept it.