Calibre support $$

[sylvainrodrigue]

Hi All,

Usually, when I click on the heart in the tool bar to send an (always too small) amount to support calibre development, I'm redirected on Paypal where I can read that the amount will be sent to M. Goyal.

This time however, I can read "Support for calibre" and "Note to calibre developers" - No Kovid Goyal anywhere. Is it the new calibre Paypal account? I don't want to be phished, thanks

[kovidgoyal]

The PayPal email address is donate at calibre-ebook.com

and yes all donations made to that PayPal account still come to me. The PayPal account had to be changed when I relocated to India from The US.

[sylvainrodrigue]

Noted. Thanks

[suchan]

I've been using Calibre for some time now, and it's absolutely indispensable to me. I couldn't use my ereader the way I do without it. Congratulations to you Kovid on making such a fantastic program!

Sorry to hijack the thread, but this was the best, most appropriate forum I could find to ask this question:

I'd really like to support Calibre and you Kovid, but after reading many horror stories online, I don't trust Paypal. Do you have any other donation payment options? Amazon payments works really well for me, but I'm open to alternative payment processors.

Regards,
Su Chan.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by suchan

I don't trust Paypal. Do you have any other donation payment options? Amazon payments works really well for me, but I'm open to alternative payment processors.

@suchan - if you click Support Calibre here ==>> calibre - E-book management you also have credit card and bitcoin options

BR

[hidden.platypus]

I am probably . . .

I don't understand. PayPal is now considered less secure than Amazon payments?
Is this a real thing, or have I just taken the bait and a bridge toll is imminent?

[suchan]

Originally Posted by hidden.platypus

I am probably . . .

I don't understand. PayPal is now considered less secure than Amazon payments?
Is this a real thing, or have I just taken the bait and a bridge toll is imminent?

Okay, I will bite, as your post appear to me to be trollish in itself.

Paypal is a very known scammer, just look around the web and you will find hundreds of stories of people who lost all the money Paypal held for them, because Paypal is not a bank and is not subject to any financial laws. It is a known fact that they tried to steal $30000 worth of Katrina disaster relief funds, only averted because they took a pounding for their ****-move in the mass media. They also have the worst customer service I have ever heard of, with robo-emails being the only way they communicate. Just like Facebook, if you use the service you agree to all the conditions, which means you have effectively no consumer rights at all.

By contrast, unless you are dealing with extremely shonky third-party merchants, I have never heard of an issue with the Amazon system, and in fact it is one of just three companies that I trust to hold my CC details. I have never been scammed in over ten years of online purchasing.

Sorry for massive off-track reply, but just saying, I am very very happy to donate to Calibre, but Paypal would be the very last method I would use. I'd rather pay the expense of writing and shipping a bank cheque to Kovid.

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by hidden.platypus

I am probably . . .

I don't understand. PayPal is now considered less secure than Amazon payments?
Is this a real thing, or have I just taken the bait and a bridge toll is imminent?

It's interesting that most people think of this when they say/hear troll:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Billy_Goats_Gruff

...when the original usage on the internet was a reference to this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolling_%28fishing%29

The latter makes much more sense... somebody throws out some bait and waits to reel in anybody who bites.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by suchan

Paypal is a very known scammer, just look around the web and you will find hundreds of stories of people who lost all the money Paypal held for them, because Paypal is not a bank and is not subject to any financial laws.
...
By contrast, unless you are dealing with extremely shonky third-party merchants, I have never heard of an issue with the Amazon system, and in fact it is one of just three companies that I trust to hold my CC details. I have never been scammed in over ten years of online purchasing.

You are comparing apples and oranges. Paypal payment system is as secure as any for folks making purchases or donating to organizations. The "horror" stories you read is for folks that use Paypal to collect payment. I won't debate Paypal for collecting money from customers but again using Paypal for purchasing items online is as secure as any other service.

[kovidgoyal]

And as someone who uses PayPal to collect money, all the horrors of PayPal freezing your account can be avoided by simply setting it up to transfer money to your bank account automatically as it is received. So if PayPal does happen to lock your account, all you lose is at most one weekend's income (since transfers do not happen on weekends). Given that as you rightly point out, PayPal is not a bank, why would you trust it to hold significant quantities of your money in any case?

As for not being able to contact PayPal, I have always been able to contact them via their phone support, not just that, on several occasions, they have contacted me, to, for instance, change my account settings to decrease the processing fees, I have to pay.

And they have no competitors that can match their global coverage. So PayPal is pretty much the only choice here (although calibre also accepts payments via Bitcoin)

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by suchan

I have never heard of an issue with the Amazon system, and in fact it is one of just three companies that I trust to hold my CC details. I have never been scammed in over ten years of online purchasing.

you are a bit lucky and a lot ignorant then.

there was a news story only a week or so ago of 13,000 amazon account details hacked & leaked online.
Go read any of the amazon coins negative reviews for more scares.

In December last, someone got into my amazon account and bought 10,000 coins using my stored credit card ( i got the money back but I never got any explanation of how a rogue device was registered & used for this - amazon just say you were phished, our systems are perfect) but many other reviews detail similar experiences of unauthorized purchases. so they are probably no better, no worse than other bug online merchants when it comes to online account security. there is always the possibility of hackers getting into stored credit card databases.

Amazon are worse than most as there's a huge apps/ digital goods vulnerability: as soon as any tablet is registered to your amazon account it gets 1 click purchasing ability for all goods, irrespective of your main one-click settings. You CANNOT disable 1 click from tablets or kindles. You can set parental control but only if you own the tablet as those are set ON the device. So if a rogue device is registered it can go on a spending spree using your stored payment details, which it will never be asked to verify.

Paypal is great if you are a buyer on ebay - lots of protection..But less so if you are a seller of goods, receiver of funds, so keep moving the money out as they do have a bad rep for putting funds on hold pending possible charge-backs.
we have trip advisor crediting our Paypal for occasional room rentals. they did ask why we were getting money IN regularly but have given us no hassle since, it costs us bout 3% but trip advisor don't do UK bank transfers, and international bank transfer of a credit would probably cost more in bank fees.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Given that as you rightly point out, PayPal is not a bank, why would you trust it to hold significant quantities of your money in any case?

Maybe tax evasion/avoidance/dodging or drug money money laundering - who knows. I'm like you, any money that goes into my PP account is on the next packet out into my bank account.

BR

[Demingy]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

You are comparing apples and oranges. Paypal payment system is as secure as any for folks making purchases or donating to organizations. The "horror" stories you read is for folks that use Paypal to collect payment. I won't debate Paypal for collecting money from customers but again using Paypal for purchasing items online is as secure as any other service.

I had a credit card that was only used on Paypal that ended up with a $200 charge from Paypal that I never authorized. Somehow the transaction went through without the security code and Paypal still insisted that it was a legitimate charge. This was despite the fact that the company had the 800# for the GRE testing locator listed as their phone number even though they were supposedly a bike shop and the address listed didn't exist. Luckily my credit card company took care of it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by suchan

Paypal is a very known scammer, just look around the web and you will find hundreds of stories of people who lost all the money Paypal held for them, because Paypal is not a bank and is not subject to any financial laws.

Guess that depends where you live. In the EU, PayPal has been a Luxembourg-based bank since July 2007, is subject to the same regulatory authorities as all other banks, and your deposit with them is protected by law, just like any other bank.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Guess that depends where you live. In the EU, PayPal has been a Luxembourg-based bank since July 2007, is subject to the same regulatory authorities as all other banks, and your deposit with them is protected by law, just like any other bank.

EU and Banking... hmmm... why am I LMAO. Because I'm thinking of... Dexia, Northern Rock, RBS, IKB, Hypo Alpe-Adria, Lloyds, HBOS, Allied Irish... why even Her Majesty's bank, Coutts, got a bailout via Lloyds. Then there's LIBOR, laundering of drug money etc by UBS, Barclays etc.

EU Banking regulations are not uniform across member states, not even with the Eurozone, and many (most?) EU banks are not conformant with Basel III.

I suspect Paypal's presence in Luxembourg has more to do with that countries Tax regulations than its Banking regulations see ==>> Luxembourg: a tax haven by any other name?

And who's the head-honcho of the EU Commission, the former PM of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Junker. The same J-C J who oversaw the plundering of bank depositor funds in Cyprus; but only after the Russian oligarchs had moved their loot to Casino City On Thames.

Ontopic - I wish Kovid would accept regular payments, calibre is probably the only item in my s/w inventory that I'd enjoying having on a SAAS basis.

BR