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So this is horribly hypocritical, given that we accept Paypal on this site (although hopefully not for much longer), but this story is worthy of attention. Recently members of the Regretsy website raised money to help give 200 families who are struggling financially a boost this Christmas. However, as Paypal took issue with the button that the site used to raise the money (as Paypal exlained "You can use the donate button to raise money for a sick cat, but not poor people") they responded in the most ridiculous way, freezing the personal account of the site owner  April Winchell , and refunding, in $2 increments a large amount of the donations...whilst keeping the fees for their fat greedy selves. And it's not the first time they've behaved like utter utter cocks when faced with the prospect of someone trying to make the world a slightly nicer place.

Something Awful faced similar bullshit when raising money for the Red Cross following Hurricane Katrina, resulting in Paypal insisting the donations were given to a charity of their choice, The United Way of America , a charity they are affiliated with who have been surrounded by claims of fraud and mismanagement.


The internet is full of stories about how Paypal has fucked people over, it's nothing new- this blog post is practically retro - and given the dubious cartel that Ebay and Paypal have and the general dominance they have over the marketplace, they ain't going anywhere. We use them, it's dirty and seedy and we'll try and look elsewhere but we have a shitty excuse for a magazine to run and at the moment, it's the only option we've got on this site. You probably use them - chances are reading this you might want to close your account, and you should,  but if you want to sell on Ebay anytime soon, you'll have to rethink that one. Ain't no use pretending. BUT - what would be fucking great is if people kick up enough of a stink so that this Christmas, the money that was raised for 200 kids who are facing a shitty time like so many others are right now, went where it was meant to go, fees and all.

Read the original story here and here's a lovely long list of Paypal email adresses and phone numbers courtesy of The Consumerist , should you wish to drop them a line.

UPDATE...
Well, obviously as soon as we get around to posting something topical it becomes old news, and Paypal have issued some sort of feeble apology and promised to make a donation to the cause. Whoopy doo da - it's worth remembering that the outcome has been positive (ish) in this case because they fucked with a media savvy woman with a massive online following... not because the idea of sad poor children at Christmas melted their icy dead hearts. In conclusion, Paypal are still cunts.
 


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