PayPal Alternative? - What's your opinion?

I bought a preamp from an Audiogon member about three years ago. PayPal took the $2400 out of my checking account as usual/normal.

Two weeks later, I got a certified letter from PayPal saying I owed them $2400.00. I had a hard copy of my bank statement showing the original debit of $2400 from PayPal. I sent that to them and they still said I owed the money.

I went to my bank for help and to explain what was going on and had the branch manager of the bank send a notorized copy to PayPal. PayPal still claimed I owed the money.

About a month or so later, I got a certified letter from a collection agency saying PayPal had turned the claim over to them.

3 years later and over $600 in attorney's fees, I'm still dealing with this.

Luckily the seller got his money and didn't even know what was going on.

PayPal can kiss my hairy white butt...

Paypal and ebay both suck. They are not secure either. All someone has to do is to breach either site and they can add fake names and addresses in your account, then it looks as if you made a purchase. I had $1674.00 charged for 2 items I never bought. Of cource, I got all of my money back, but they were no help in the matter. I sold 2 items last week and they both wanted to put a hold on the funds for 21 days or force me to ship before funds went into my account or they wanted a positive feedback first. I spoke with both customers and they gave me a positive before receiving the units! So the money was released to me. I thank both customers very much for that. I have perfect feedback but I must have 100 or more (so they get more money) after that I will not be considered a crook! I also have an unpaid for item that I sold the same day. Lets see if they help me with that. Sometimes you need to use the lesser of two evils, but please beware of ebay and paypal policies. They only care about themselves! Good luck to all.

Kurt tank, your info is worth way more than 2 cents! Everyone should keep sellers aware of people wanting free lunch. I think I'll sell thru agon from now on.

Do not ever trade outside paypal unless you meet person to person. I lost nearly 4k trading with someone who I believed and to whom I wired the money. It's not worth the risk. Trust me.

I agree with Tvad. I enjoy the buyer protection that using a credit card gives me, and only Paypal can do that. I've only had to use it once, but that was on a $4500 item. W/O my CC, I would have been out that $4500. AudiogoN and Paypal can't get your money back if you have a box of trash show up at your door, but the CC bank fixed the problem.