[mythtv-users] Supporting schedulesdirect.org

[Mike Isely]

On Tue, 7 Aug 2007, David Brodbeck wrote:

> On 8/7/07, Braindead <Braindead at diablops.com> wrote:
> >> Well, I guess it's by by to MythTV for me.  I had too many  
> >> problems with PayPal in the past, I'm certainly not going to get  
> >> an account or otherwise use their services now (no way am I giving  
> >> them a CC number that's for sure).
> 
> Well, that's your choice, I suppose.  Personally I don't worry too  
> much about giving *any* company a CC number, because if there's a  
> dispute the CC company will almost always go to bat for me.  If you  
> don't trust them, you might not want to give them your checking  
> account number, though.  (This is actually a much bigger problem than  
> Paypal -- anyone with your account number and routing number can  
> write a bank draft against your checking account, and you have very  
> little recourse.  I avoid paying with checks whenever possible.)

Paypal is an inept organization masquerading as a bank (putting it 
nicely).  I have also had a run-in with them, fortunately I did not lose 
any money, however in the end they decided that I and my issuing bank 
were "wrong" so they refused to honor my CC # for any future 
transactions (the seller failed to ship and then disappeared, yet Paypal 
still sided with the seller).  I am through with them.


> 
> I know a lot of people dislike Paypal, but there really aren't many  
> other realistic options for accepting online payments.  Getting a  
> merchant account is a considerable ongoing expense and a major risk  
> for a small company.  One non-profit I know of that tried having  
> their own merchant account nearly went belly up because scammers  
> started using their website to check stolen credit card numbers to  
> see which ones were valid.  They were on the hook for all the invalid  
> transaction fees, for thousands of attempts.

I attach value to those listings and I am willing to pay for them.  But 
if I must go through Paypal for it, then not a chance.  It's not worth 
it for me to tangle with Paypal again just so I can watch TV.  MythTV is 
the only reason these days I even watch any TV programming; this might 
be my final excuse to give it up and just stick to DVD movies.

When the folks at lwn.net transitioned to a paid subscription model (and 
yes I am a paid subscriber there), they arranged to accept credit cards 
without too much trouble and AFAIK that's working fine for them.

  -Mike


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