
Paypal has been terribly broken for 10 days and no one's talking about it - nickb
http://getclicky.com/blog/120/paypal-has-been-terribly-broken-for-10-days-and-no-ones-talking-about-it
======
JacobAldridge
This is a good example of HN users linking to the original source, not just
TechCrunch.Much more information, better written (because it's actually
happening to Sean @ Clicky not just being reported about) AND it has important
practical updates.

Plus parts of <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=200028> devolved into a
conversation about Arrington.

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babul
I stopped using PayPal a long time ago due to their appalling customer service
and the fact they think nothing of screwing sellers even when the seller is
clearly in the right.

For example, in several (unrelated) cases I had items which were sent to
buyers and had proof of delivery/receipt (sometimes I even received written
confirmation from buyers to state items had been received and they were
happy).

However whenever these people made a dispute (usually 1day after they expected
to receive the goods), PayPal ALWAYS refunded them.

These disputes arose due to issues caused by shipping delays on international
sales (and yes, I tell buyers several times during the order process on my
sites that international shipping may be subject to minor delay at times
especially during peak holiday seasons, so they should be aware of this).

The only thing PayPal is afraid of is your Credit Card company. they frankly
do not care about sellers as they know an unhappy seller will stay with them,
due to market dominance, whereas an unhappy buyer will kickup a fuss (in worst
case using thier card company to claim a chargeback) which will cost them time
and money. Also, as they want to increase usage of thier service, they will
usually find in favour of the buyer in a dispute as it is the sellers money
they give away, not theirs, and hence for them it is a win-win situation
(happy buyer, less headache for them) at the seller’s expense.

Before worrying about the availability of their service, I would encourage
seller to beware of the drawbacks of the service.

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jamongkad
Ugh tell me about it. Paypal has got some of the worst customer service I've
ever witness in my life. I've sent them several emails regarding the use of
their services in other countries (the reason being we have some customers who
work in Shanghai) and they're responses were either canned(which did not
answer my question at all) or treated me liked an idiot and referred me to
their documentation. Which by the way is in need of some work as well. They
even had the gall to send me an email to rate their customer service!! PayPal
FTL.

~~~
iamdave
I'm curious, what else exists out there on the 'mainstream' as alternatives to
Paypal?

~~~
tokipin
Google Checkout maybe? it might be only unidirectional at the moment

~~~
josefresco
Going from PayPal to Google Checkout is like trading in your GM for a Ford.
Both have the same risks and the potential to royaly screw you in the end.

~~~
jamongkad
I think at this point in time Authorize.net seems to be the best choice. Feel
free to correct me on this though.

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rrival
Fix from the TC comments...

"Here is the solution that we used: 1\. install geoip on your server 2\. find
the country your customer comes from using geoip 3\. include
&country=customer_country in the paypal url your customers are sent to the
country combobox will show the customer country as a default."

~~~
sanswork
Also if you're using subscriptions do the same but instead of setting country
set the lc variable on your form to the country you want.

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joanou
Their sandbox really sucks. 404s galore. I decided to develop on their live
site which has been more reliable. No my credit card bill is 10 pages and
every transaction has a reversal.

The documentation is lacking and inaccurate in many places. They don't
consider these bugs so I was unable to provide them feedback.

Their support staff acts like bugs and other issues are not that important. I
asked if they could provide a list of PP bugs to the public so that I could
mitigate, if possible, and they said no because it would make them look bad.

I'd jump ship if there was another solution that provided the features.

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tdavis
I didn't think PayPal could lose anymore credibility, but they've managed to
prove me wrong!

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reitzensteinm
I'm using them for my latest release, and perhaps 20% of the time the servers
404 after a long delay:

"We are unable to complete your request at this time. Please click Retry or
try again later. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Message 3004"

Completely unacceptable, we're shopping around for alternatives.
Unfortunately, I'm in NZ and Google Checkout isn't released here yet.

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TrevorJ
I've had really good luck with paypal personally. This current issue is a
pretty big deal, but I find it tough to beleive he found no satisfaction with
the on-phone support. Maybe they have gone downhill lately.

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babul
<http://www.paypalsucks.com>

A MUST read for anyone using PayPal, even if you have never had a problem.

