Burned by PayPal

This article first appeared in issue 226 of .net magazine – the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers.

“Using PayPal to receive funds for your business seems to be a game of Russian roulette,” argues UX designer Aral Balkan. He’s one of an increasing number of web conference organisers who claim to have been ‘burned’ by the payment giant.

The main sticking point seems to be the way the payment company can lock accounts for significant periods of time, freezing a business’s funds – often when it most needs them.

This can cause big problems for organisers of web conferences. In Balkan’s case, a month before his Brighton event, Update 2011, a three-month freeze was placed on the conference’s accounts. “What business can survive without cash flow for three months?” he protests.

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