Is paypal more secure than entering credit card details directly?

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › Is paypal more secure than entering credit card details directly?

Batman

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#250535 15-May-2019 11:16

Hi, if you purchase something from the Internet (eg the getflix deal on another thread) and I want the lowest chance of my. Credit card details being intercepted, I would

Make sure I'm on secure Internet eg 3g or my home wifi.
The site is https

Now when it comes to actual buying, would choosing paypal and then entering my CC on paypal pop up as a guest be more secure than directly entering CC details into the site?

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#2238327 15-May-2019 12:59

I think it is. If a site uses a known payment processor (such as DPS in NZ) then I feel it is ok. If a site asks you to enter the credit card number on their pages and then do the transaction behind the scenes then I worry - are they storing credit card details? are they using the data for this transaction only?

I trust Amazon with my credit card data, but an e-commerce site with no history? Back away slowly...

tripper1000

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#2238329 15-May-2019 13:01

It sounds like you are more concerned with your CC details being intercepted whilst crossing the web - ?

In that case, you are not reaping the full benefit of Paypal by only selecting the Paypal payment option then typing your details in every time you make a purchase. You should be setting up a proper Paypal account so that you don't need to repeat your CC details (potentially exposing them) every single time you make a purchase.

afe66

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#2238336 15-May-2019 13:09

I tried to pay for my webmail account by CC but it turned out to be banned by bank so I paid via PayPal with no issues.

I have had the account for 20+ years and when it went from free to payment, I decided my time was worth more than the $20..

Batman

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#2238366 15-May-2019 13:55

I wrote guest paypal because I've heard of stories where people get recurrent charges from sites (usually because they didn't unchecked a box) but I thought if I used a guest paypal then I'm protecting from the recurrent charges scam as well? But the account might be an idea.

tripper1000

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#2238387 15-May-2019 14:27

On Paypal reoccurring payments are easy to manage and cancel.

https://www.paypal.com/sl/smarthelp/article/how-do-i-cancel-a-recurring-payment,-subscription,-or-automatic-billing-agreement-i-have-with-a-merchant-faq1067

The same thing can happen on your CC but there it's not quite so easy to cancel - if they are a dishonest site, of if they have lousy security and get hacked there's nothing stopping your CC details being used with other merchants and cancelling and reissuing can be your only recourse.

A Paypal account is better than a naked CC because Paypal is effectively an invoicing and payment system. With Paypal, all they/their hacker can do is email you invoices that you refuse to pay. No payment goes out without your password.

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#2238491 15-May-2019 16:35

I won't directly enter my details into any site but AliExpress, Amazon, PayPal or a local processor like paystation or dps. Screw places that want to have my numbers.

Since that and not using in person haven't had a number compromised.

Richard rich.ms

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#2238510 15-May-2019 17:00

Ok got me getflix via paypal ... cheers

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MurrayM

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#2238762 16-May-2019 08:18

This is an interesting discussion.

I had a client once that wanted to accept payments via their website. I put forward my usual DPS PxPay proposal but they didn't like the idea of the user moving off their website and over to DPS and then back again. Their thinking was that people are warned to look for strange behaviour when making online payments and seeing the URL change would make some people nervous and they'd abandon the sale.

Thoughts?

plas

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#2238774 16-May-2019 08:48

MurrayM:

This is an interesting discussion.

I had a client once that wanted to accept payments via their website. I put forward my usual DPS PxPay proposal but they didn't like the idea of the user moving off their website and over to DPS and then back again. Their thinking was that people are warned to look for strange behaviour when making online payments and seeing the URL change would make some people nervous and they'd abandon the sale.

Thoughts?

Prefer handing off to DPS PxPay, I don't trust most small business to hand CC transactions correctly. I've also seen web devs do dumb stuff like storing CC in plain text in a DB.

So hand off to someone who should know what they are doing.

voicetech

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#2238793 16-May-2019 09:23

Bear in mind that the cost will usually be a little bit higher using CC over PayPal for foreign transactions. Depending on your CC, the FX fees are usually lower than PayPal. Of course that's not a problem if you've already got a foreign currency balance sitting in your PayPal account from cash that someone's sent you.

MurrayM

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#2239196 16-May-2019 15:05

plas:

MurrayM:

This is an interesting discussion.

I had a client once that wanted to accept payments via their website. I put forward my usual DPS PxPay proposal but they didn't like the idea of the user moving off their website and over to DPS and then back again. Their thinking was that people are warned to look for strange behaviour when making online payments and seeing the URL change would make some people nervous and they'd abandon the sale.

Thoughts?

Prefer handing off to DPS PxPay, I don't trust most small business to hand CC transactions correctly. I've also seen web devs do dumb stuff like storing CC in plain text in a DB.

So hand off to someone who should know what they are doing.

That was my thinking too, but this particular client was adamant that it would spook customers if they saw the URL change. They pointed me to a website that had an article that was trying to teach people how to be safe when buying online, and one of the things this article said was to make sure that the URL on the payment page was the same as the website you were buying from.

Senecio

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#2239207 16-May-2019 15:19

URL doesn't just change though. Any good E-retail site will give you a message saying that you are being transferred to a secure payment provider.

dryburn

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#2239210 16-May-2019 15:23

I always prefer PayPal, I giving my cc details to unknown sites. Also I think Paypal has an option to dispute a payment, never had to use that function but always handy to have that backup.

Edit:

Link to paypal dispute options for nz

https://www.paypal.com/nz/webapps/mpp/buyer-dispute-resolution

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#2239284 16-May-2019 16:10

freitasm:

I think it is. If a site uses a known payment processor (such as DPS in NZ) then I feel it is ok. If a site asks you to enter the credit card number on their pages and then do the transaction behind the scenes then I worry - are they storing credit card details? are they using the data for this transaction only?

I trust Amazon with my credit card data, but an e-commerce site with no history? Back away slowly...

Sage advice.

When I upgraded my A/V receiver recently, I purchased online from a local specialist A/V dealer, as they had the best price for the model I had decided on.

The day after placing my order I got an email from them stating that their server had been "hacked", and that my credit card number may have been compromised. As a result I had to cancel my credit card and get the bank to issue a new one. Was a real PITA, especially considering all the recurring services that were using the old number.

muppet

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#2239286 16-May-2019 16:13

I enter my credit card all over the place. Never had a problem. Should I have one one day? You can dispute it with the bank.

It's 2019, not 1999.

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