September 20, 2008
Pointless PayPal
I like PayPal. When a vendor allows you to pay through PayPal, the vendor site will redirect you to a page on PayPal.com where you can confirm the exact amount of money that will be debited against your account. Which is somewhat better than surrendering your credit card info to a shady vendor and asking them to have fun with it.
Recently I bought goods from some vendors and noticed that their PayPal payment process works differently: You must first authorize a charge of arbitrary height at PayPal.com and then finish the payment process on the vendor site. Aparently the vendor may then debit whatever they want. What the fuck?
