Thursday Threesome for January 19th

Brought to us this week by The Back Porch and ways to spend money fast.

Onesome: eBay-- Is eBay your first stop when looking for something? ...or your last place to go when you cannot find it anywhere else? Do you even use it? ...and hey, have you scored anything choice there lately?
I use it, but only when looking for a deal or if something is out of print/unavailable. I don't use it on a regular basis and can't remember when I bought something there last.

Twosome: and-- while we're at it: if you did your shopping online for Christmas, how did it go? Did things come in on time? Any significant failures? ...and if you didn't, will you consider trying online shopping sometime this year?
The only problem I had was with my sister-in-law's gift, and that was my fault. I entered my work address wrong for shipping. I should know it after 10 years. :) Also, when I did get it, I forgot to wrap and ship it, making it arrive the first mail day after Christmas. Oops!

Threesome: PayPal-- Online shopping and services can be somewhat of an adventure; is PayPal your choice as a payment option or do you prefer another method. ...or do you shop locally or not at all?
Prepare for a rant.

I hate Paypal with ever fiber of my being. They only let you charge a small amount before you give them your bank account information. I refuse to do that since they don't need it. Look, they are charging my credit card. Why do they need my bank account info to do that? If I were accepting Paypal, that would be different. But I'm not. I'm just trying to use it to make purchases. Therefore, all they need to a credit card number. I have yet to see any reason why they need my bank account information. And with how unsafe everything on the internet really is, I don't want my bank account info out there. I'm ok with credit cards because you can stop using one until everything is taken care of. But bank accounts you are out of luck. No money? All by checks will bounce and I have no way to pay my bills. Yeah, that seems like something good to give out to anyone who asks.

As a result, I use them as little as possible (one reason I stir clear of ebay. That's about all you can use there any more) so I can keep from using that small balance until they wise up.