Is PayPal normal/No Credit Cards?

[Lorenzoid]

Nope, no problem with bank transfers. If I recall, after the credit card fraud incident, I instead sent the payment by bank transfer.

 

[Shasta_man]

The only downside to the bank transfer is once you send it, it's gone. It could be worth paying the extra fee because your liability is limited with the credit card co.

 

[WetPup]

I have sent numerous bank transfers to resorts in Indo and the Phils and not had any fraud problems -- but my US bank always warns me about it.

Have others had frauds occur with their bank transfers?

- Bill

Funny story...I paid for a dive trip (not to Indo) with Paypal, because it was the only option. That was the only reason I signed up for a Paypal account in the first place, and was therefore the only time I had ever used it. Sitting at the airport in the airline lounge waiting for my international flight to Singapore (where I was transiting) and my phone starts going apes**t. My credit card is set up with a secondary security measure where a text message gets sent to my phone with a code, and I have to enter the code online to authorize the transaction for any international transactions. Someone had just tried to run up about £100k of charges on my card. On the phone to the bank to figure out what was happening...My card details had been hacked in that giant Paypal account data breach. Card cancelled on the spot - so I was now about to leave the country with almost no cash and no credit card (because I mean who carries cash from home? You get it out of the ATM when you land!). My bank managed to get me an emergency replacement card in the middle of nowhere within 72 hours, but it was a nightmare for 3 days without a card. All because I paid for a dive trip with Paypal.

Beware of teh Paypal!

 

[Bubblesong]

Funny story...I paid for a dive trip (not to Indo) with Paypal, because it was the only option. That was the only reason I signed up for a Paypal account in the first place, and was therefore the only time I had ever used it. Sitting at the airport in the airline lounge waiting for my international flight to Singapore (where I was transiting) and my phone starts going apes**t.

I have heard Financial Filching Fiends set up credit card scanning tech at airports just to remotely scan your credit card and then pound out the false charge very fast, with a co-Fiend in another location. They used to count on your being out of touch on a trip for their getaway time, but your card company is one step ahead! For sale are scan-proof credit card holders just for this pitfall.

 

[WetPup]

I have heard Financial Filching Fiends set up credit card scanning tech at airports just to remotely scan your credit card and then pound out the false charge very fast, with a co-Fiend in another location. They used to count on your being out of touch on a trip for their getaway time, but your card company is one step ahead! For sale are scan-proof credit card holders just for this pitfall.

I thought it may have been something like that, but my purse has RFID technology. And when I rang the bank, they said they'd had a spate of almost identical incidents (from the same location) in the previous 48 hours and it'd already been tracked back to the Paypal account hack. My bank is actually pretty good with security tbh. I'm not normally one to give banks much praise, but credit where it's due

 

[highdesert]

The first time I arranged travel to Indonesia I was asked by a well respected resort to fill out their credit card payment form and fax it to them, which I did. I suspect it ended up sitting on their fax machine overnight, or was otherwise somehow intercepted, because the next day there were unauthorized charges on it.

You can create a password protected PDF document containing your credit card info. You attach the PDF to an email to the resort. And then separately, you send them the password. I've done this with a N Sulawesi resort and had no problem. This obviously has to be a process that the resort already accepts. Some do and some (most) don't.

 

[Damselfish]

I've done varieties of the password protected PDF thing a few times. No one has ever had a problem with it, nor have I.

 

[fdpdrum345]

Thanks everyone for replying! I think I am going to go with the credit card PDF and then separate password move as long as they accept it. Bank transfer seems to be second best, but I'd rather have the liability on the credit card company.

 

[WetPup]

Honestly, I've reached the point where I book through a dive travel agent at home and they let me pay however I want and they deal with the resort's financial shenanigans instead of me. It's a negligible markup on the direct resort prices, and I can pay in my home currency, avoiding exchange rate fluctuation nightmares.

No hassles.

 

[Adelaar Cruises]

Not all PayPal accounts are business accounts. Just because it's used to collect payment by some businesses doesn't mean it's an actual "business" account. So, if it's not a business account you may not be getting the added benefit of using PayPal for certain things (i.e. dispute resolution and global buyer protection...etc.).

Having said that, NAD is a reputable leader in the N. Sulawesi/Indonesian dive industry and have accepted 100's if not 1000's of payments.... .

Have a great time!