# PayPal 103 Hacker News commenters recommended PayPal and 239 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 20 years (9 owners). **Verdict:** A convenient way to pay online without handing card or bank details to every merchant, with valued buyer protection; critics warn of sudden account locks, frozen funds and app breakage. ## Why people recommend it - Keeps card details from merchants (7 comments): "I use it on e-commerce sites for first purchase or if it's unlikely I'm going to buy anything from the same site again." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49475380)) "I don't really like spreading my CC details to servers of questionable maintenance state than strictly necessary" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46973156)) "since I already have my credit/debit cards saved there and don't want to hand over numbers to a random website" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48925291)) - Buyer protection and fraud support (4 comments): "The advantage that PayPal offers me as a buyer is a middleman between the vendor and myself that I control." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48926522)) "its buyer protection is one of the significant reasons that I keep using Paypal for online payments" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48940693)) "PayPal is the only real company to offer any meaningful support to customers targeted by fraud" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49476038)) - Fast, convenient online checkout (5 comments): "it's really a gamechanger not having to play three card monte selecting the correct card to use for each transaction" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47145672)) "That way, whenever I need to rotate credit cards for whatever reason, I only need to update them in one location" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47094959)) "PayPal originally took off as it was convenient and fast, saving you from filling in card details each time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49474913)) - Bank debit, widely used in Europe (5 comments): "Paypal allows more payment methods (direct debit from your bank account being a big pull here in Germany)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49476553)) "PayPal is pretty convenient as it can withdraw directly from a SEPA account and enables online shopping" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49475231)) "Online payments especially between regular people (so not businesses) are still dominated by PayPal." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48210889)) ## What people warn about - Account locks and frozen funds (4 comments): "I have been on the other side (seller, selling digital goods such as dev and design) and have seen how quick PP is to yank those funds back." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49477381)) "There's shouldn't be a miniscule percentage chance of your entire livelyhood being ripped away and locked forever without recourse simply by using a certain payment platform." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46267782)) "The scammer somehow convinced PayPal the item I tried to buy was illegal/against PayPal ToS, which resulted in them banning *me* instead of the scammer." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48207835)) - Breaks on GrapheneOS, custom setups (8 comments): "PayPal shipped incorrect anti-tampering code wrongly detecting our secure spawning feature as tampering." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49473985)) "PayPal shipped an update with incorrect anti-tampering code incompatible with secure app spawning." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49474127)) "Punishing the users that know what they are doing while rewarding the ones that don't is the most counter-productive and detrimental crap anyone could come up with." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49464658)) - Disputes often go against users (3 comments): "I got screwed over with an unauthorized transaction on my credit card that was attached to a PayPal account... They refused to acknowledge the transaction as unauthorized" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48208105)) "The scammer somehow convinced PayPal the item I tried to buy was illegal/against PayPal ToS, which resulted in them banning *me* instead of the scammer." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48207835)) "they favor large merchants against the consumer. I had a problem with a product and the company was playing games with the warranty." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48925433)) - Losing ground to newer payments (5 comments): "The reason their future is not that bright is that things like Apple Pay and Google Pay are starting to eat their lunch" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49477167)) "I use it less and less since Apple Pay is available pretty much everywhere, but it can still be handy now and then." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49474592)) "there's no innovation I feel. With eBay having CC support and being able to charge and return a charge back to the card, PayPal now is in a niche." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49474965)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Stripe](https://hackerapproved.com/p/stripe.md): 143 recommend - [Adyen](https://hackerapproved.com/p/adyen.md): 17 recommend - [Mollie](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mollie.md): 11 recommend - [Paddle](https://hackerapproved.com/p/paddle.md): 10 recommend - [Agree payment processor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/open-source-zero-webhooks-payment-processor.md): 8 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.paypal.com/us/home) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "PayPal", https://hackerapproved.com/p/paypal/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).