Sometimes there are nice auctions on eBay and I wanted to be ready if there was something interesting that I wanted to buy. Because I know a payment via PayPal is very popular and I also knew it takes a few days to register, I created an account on PayPal to be ready (with no real intention to buy anything specific).
Once logged in to my PayPal account, I went to register my debit card. When entering my card details, I was not warned at all about any fee. I thought my details would just be entered into the system and used only in case I wanted to buy something.
As soon as I entered my card details, I received a text message from my bank that I was charged 2 fees (1,50 EUR and 1 USD).
Only then was it presented on the screen that I had been charged 1,50 EUR from my account. According to PayPal, this was just to verify that the card was really mine. The information stated that I needed to check some number on my bank statement, and when I entered this number on the PayPal website, I would be refunded this amount. I admit this fee is also mentioned in the user agreement (who reads this anyway?), but I would expect to be informed of any fees before actually making any transaction.
OK. I wanted to find out the number on my bank statement. But there was none. I had to call my bank to get it; in a standard way I would not be able to get it.
Anyway, I entered this number and guess what? I was told this amount would be refunded within 24 - 48 hours. It is strange that a refund takes ages but the charge is done immediately. Nevertheless, I waited. After a few days I found out that they "refunded" my 1,5 EUR, but not to my bank account but to my PayPal account. This means that if you do not use it, you will never have it back. Moreover, if you do not use the PayPal service for 2 years (as I learned later), you will lose even this virtual credit. Imagine thousands of people registering a few cards each - how much money they must make just on this fee?
What is even more interesting is the 1 USD fee for which I cannot find any explanation. My bank confirmed it was charged by PayPal together with the 1,50 EUR fee. I could not find anything about this fee in the user agreement or anywhere else. When I asked customer service, they deliberately ignored my question. They only stated that my 1,5 EUR fee was refunded and that was all. They did not even care that it was not refunded to my bank account but to a useless PayPal account in the form of a virtual, meaningless credit.
Conclusion: PayPal is stealing money from people, charging them fees they are not aware of, and fooling them by saying they will refund, but they will never really refund anything to your account.
If you ever use PayPal, be aware that you may be charged anything without prior warning and you will never see your money back again.
Final addendum: by surfing the Internet, I discovered that many other people had the same or similar issue with PayPal. If I had only known that before. This company lives off fools such as I was.
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