Paypal Scammers At Work, Paypal Spoof. Retailers Watch Out.

FTC is informing about people getting stung by scammers spoofing PayPal. The scam basically target sellers, usually high value items. Once the product appears online, the scammer contacts seller offering to by the product, with one condition, he will pay only with Paypal. If you say I do not have Paypal, he/she offers to setup one. And sends the seller an email with a link. Don't fall victim to these people. Contact Paypal (paypal.com) directly, if you need to get an account.
Here are the scenarios played out at FTC.

Scenario One: The buyer claims he can only pay via PayPal. Don’t have a PayPal account? No problem, he says. He’ll send you an email with a link so you can set one up.
What should you do? Don’t take the bait. The link will send you to a website masquerading as PayPal. Any information you enter will be collected by the bogus buyer, and may be used to commit fraud. If you need to set up an account, go directly to PayPal.com.
Scenario Two: “Check your email!” The buyer claims he has sent payment to your PayPal account with additional funds so you can ship the merchandise ASAP, but oops, he sent too much money. He asks you to return the extra money via a money wiring service. It’s all a lie, including the extra money the buyer says he included.
What should you do? Log into your PayPal account. Make sure you’ve been paid before you ship. Never follow links in emails from people you don’t know. The safest approach is to open a browser window, navigate to PayPal.com, and log in yourself. Also, if the buyer claims to have sent extra money, and asks for some back, that’s a big red flag.
Scenario Three: The buyer sends you real money through a real PayPal account, and you ship him the car. Problem is, the PayPal account belongs to someone else! You might need to return the money even though the scammer has your wheels.
What now? Contact PayPal and ask them to open an investigation. The company offers seller protections so you aren’t liable for unauthorized transactions. Also file a complaint with the FTC and your local police department.

Paypal Not So Friendly, Google Checkout Might Be The Answer!

I had a Paypal account a while ago but I stopped using it for no particular reason. I was browsing Slashdot today and found that Paypal is holding funds of a game developer, in what seems like a illegal manner. 600,000 sterling pounds is no small sum, and the interest on those amounts should amount to a hefty sum, for the time they are keeping it locked. Paypal is holding the monies without proper explanation, according to a post on developer's website.
So I started to follow the article and the comments and external links like paypalsucks.com. The outlook is not good, everyone seems to not like paypal but keep on using because they have no choice. But it seems pretty, for the lack of words, stupid. to use their service for receiving any money. I did not read through their service agreements entirely (it would have taken days and I would read if I ever want to use their service), so please do not quote me, but it seems that you have to agree to let the hold your money over, 180 days or so, if they think it was necessary. Sometimes my bank also holds my checks, most delays are seven days, not 180.
Another thing that made it very suspicious is the way Paypal handled the burning man temple account. That really sucks!
I think if you are doing business on the web, it might be better to look in to Google Checkout seem to be the best bet. There are many other services that provide the same or similar services, like BrainTree but the Google Checkout is the service I know. You do not have to read through billion policy pages and if you are a merchant, now you can get 21% discount from FedEx Shipping! Go here to learn more about Google Checkout.
If you do not want to be in the same shoes as Markus Persson, a.k.a. Notch, the developer of Minecraft, or hundreds (may be thousands) of others, be diligent. Be it 600,000 or just 600, it is your money and unless you are a crook, you have worked hard for it.
Slashdot article will take you to all the necessary links and beyond! Happy web marketing. (Comments are pouring in so much on the article it seem hard to read!)
Paypalsucks cartoon, origin unknown it it is yours let me know, I will give due credit.