PayPal users, beware (and that includes me)

I was one of the many Filipino freelancers out there who clamored to have PayPal available in the Philippines, though I never signed the petition. After all, PayPal is the payment option of choice for many, and not having access to PayPal left many of us Filipino freelancers with other, slower options like Xoom and Western Union, plus we couldn’t even get projects that paid fees only through PayPal.

So imagine everyone’s utter joy when PayPal opened its doors to us in October 2006. It came with a catch though; people could only send payments, but still be unable to receive money, a detail that was rectified almost a year later.

I personally have been enjoying the service for quite some time now, and haven’t encountered any problems *touch wood*, but Michelle Goodman’s post got me thinking, and wondering why using PayPal should even be questioned. She had good reason to do so. Amy Derby of Write from Home recently went through an account-hacking experience, which resulted in her losing a bundle of money and overall trust in PayPal. Worse still, Paypal seemed rather blasé about the whole thing.

Just a word of warning to PayPal users out there.