Don't mention or request the Paypal F&F option in your posts.

[Alaskan]

I really think they are making enough money without worrying about small potatoes like this forum. That said, I do believe they check communication through PayPal or ebay (although separated now) to assure cheats are not going on, or to keep them from becoming more prevalent. However, for the most part, the system is self-regulating as few people will send money to sellers that way because they want the protection.

 

[Rivem]

I really think they are making enough money without worrying about small potatoes like this forum. That said, I do believe they check communication through PayPal or ebay (although separated now) to assure cheats are not going on, or to keep them from becoming more prevalent. However, for the most part, the system is self-regulating as few people will send money to sellers that way because they want the protection.

It's just about being safe. They do check internal messaging and titling, but that's something I think people should already understand. Mentioning a prohibited item (laser) on eBay or PayPal can automatically cancel your sale.

Of course PayPal isn't going around burning forums to the ground for having too many users circumventing their fees, but the precaution can't hurt. Almost every large hobby forum I'm on that has a classifieds section specifically forbids the method. Just figured we might want to be a little more careful if so many others are.

I'm not saying everybody stop what they're doing, just be a bit more discrete about it.

 

[Alaskan]

Good points

 

[OVNI]

AFAIK from reading auctions, buying myself, and general research kits are legal and allowed on both PayPal and eBay. So I buy kits.

Regarding PayPal or any other company letting political, social, moral, and other societal views either creep in, influence, or deliberately put in their policies, procedures, and practices, my experiences in the corporate working world, albeit limited to mostly one conservative industry, found that the biggest driving factor for a controversial (perceived or real) "do that" or "don't do that" was to limit liability in a litigious society (USA).

The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 is an example of holding top executives personally liable for company financial misdeeds (e.g. Enron) which took liability to another level. Hold people personally liable and you'll get 'better' behavior since at the end of the day it's people making those decisions hiding behind a company.

And finally, then /rant,preach,armchairpsychologist,backseatdriver,etc, two favorite quips come to mind:

"It's not whether it was a bad thing I did, or that I got caught, what matters is if I got punished."

"Corporations are people too my friend".

 

[RedCowboy]

This is a problem with electronic currency, the companies want to decide what is moral and block ammunition sales or whatever they feel is politically incorrect.

Now I understand if something that's legal in one state is not legal in another, but to pass moral judgment and deny service for certain things is like the baker refusing to bake the gay wedding cake.

PP needs some competition.

 

[Pman]

I just watched this documentary about the "dread pirate roberts" and it was extremely interesting/fascinating. The currency was bitcoin. It was called "Deep Web". I suppose bitcoin isn't a major competitor yet. Anyways, watch it if you can find it

 

[Isaac Clarke]

I just watched this documentary about the "dread pirate roberts" and it was extremely interesting/fascinating. The currency was bitcoin. It was called "Deep Web". I suppose bitcoin isn't a major competitor yet. Anyways, watch it if you can find it

been there done that it a boring place filled with pedophile and people selling illegal stuff and apparently lasers were sold there for a very high price....and then there are illegal Por* site which archives footage of horrible stuff....but that was many years ago. now there's not even many people using it anymore as the gov keep 4 eyes on it.

 

[Rivem]

been there done that it a boring place filled with pedophile and people selling illegal stuff and apparently lasers were sold there for a very high price....and then there are illegal Por* site which archives footage of horrible stuff....but that was many years ago. now there's not even many people using it anymore as the gov keep 4 eyes on it.

Considering TOR was developed with US Gov funding, trusting the Dark Net as completely secure and anonymous is definitely ridiculous.

Bitcoin is totally doable though. It just doesn't have the adoption rate of things like PayPal and isn't quite as user friendly. Grix's store is using it though. Literally in the title: bitlasers.com

 

[Flaminpyro]

So I'm wondering now what you meant by this comment, what do you mean "we" ? How are "we" in hot water ???

We're already in hot water with the Sci-Fi fiasco, .

 

[Rivem]

So I'm wondering now what you meant by this comment, what do you mean "we" ? How are "we" in hot water ???

If PayPal wanted to do a bit of investigation on Sci-Fi, the forum would be near the top of every search result. We could be in a bad situation if they decided that we're trampling all over their terms. Not necessarily us as individuals, but the community. Now that PayPal is paying out, I don't think it's as serious an issue anymore though.

Still, it's not a bad idea to keep the specifics of your payment methods private when they're breaking rules.