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Contingency Plan Advice
 

Hello All

Its been awhile since last posting.

Having read all the discouraging issues people have been experiencing with Entropay and the decreasing reliability of Entropay as a VCC payment method through paypal, I would like to raise the following.

I have a stealth ebay and paypal account for a year now and use Entropay VCC in order to pay for ebay wins and buy-it-now’s. (Note: I do not list and sell on ebay, I only buy)

The stealth paypay account was ‘Confirmed’ using the Entropay VCC when it was created and then 6 months later the paypal account was ‘Verified’ using a real name personal bank account (Note: I will never ever use the bank account for funding purchases or refunds due to the exposure it would give paypal as to my real name), funding ebay payments will only ever come from the Entropay VCC.

My question is related to the eventual point in time when the Entopay VCC may stop working or be rejected by paypal, as a payment method, based on some possible future terms and conditions imposed by paypal. In this possible event, what similar VCC or credit card options are available that will still protect my real name anonymity (not AVS check) when being added into my verified paypal account.

Just want to get a head start and have a contingency plan should Entropay and paypal fallout together.

Many thanks in advance.
UZ

Re: Contingency Plan Advice
 

If entropay ever stops working there are many alternatives out there. You can buy them from most major supermarkets, and there's a variety of them available.

Re: Contingency Plan Advice
 

The supermarket Visa / MasterCard gift cards are good for using on seller accounts to confirm the address and for small one-off purchases or paying some seller fees. As most of them are non-reloadable they aren't the best solution for regular purchasing.

A good solution would be a non-AVS Bitcoin debit card. Loadoo, Spectrocoin or Cryptopay would all work well.

Re: Contingency Plan Advice
 

Many thanks, both.

I guess what I would need is an exact equivalent to Entropay that allows me to:

• Make regular purchases of varying amounts using paypal – some purchases could go as high as £1500 for an ebay win. This would exclude the supermarket gift cards as they have a £25 limit.

• Top up the VCC via a bank transfer from my main bank account. This would also exclude the supermarket gift cards as they cannot be topped up.

• Avoid being linked through the AVS check, thus exposing my real name and real address to paypal, when setting up the new VCC in paypal as the main payment method.

Based on the above needs, I start to wonder if Entropay is indeed, quite a rare breed that does not have any real comparative competitors?

Also, not at all familiar with the Bitcoin method for payment within paypal and how safe Bitcoin is for transferring money into – based on recent news articles.

Thanks again (fingers crossed Entropay wont let me down, but based on what I read hear, its only a matter of time...

UZ

Re: Contingency Plan Advice
 

You can use a Bitcoin debit card without exposing yourself to the volatility of the currency.

The cards can also be loaded via bank transfer (at least the Wirex one can).

Re: Contingency Plan Advice
 

From the sounds of it, you purchase from eBay regularly.

If that's the case, have you considered perhaps signing up to eBay/PayPal (just as a buyer) in your own real details?

By doing so, you'll be avoiding a lot of fees associated with funding entropay and/or BTC debit cards, especially with purchases going as high as £1500.

Re: Contingency Plan Advice
 

Hi Play

Yes I agree, if my circumstances were different I would do that.

However:

Unfortunately is was a completely innocent victim of the ebay data security breech back in May 2014, where I suffered Identity theft with someone began using my 14 year old unblemished account to list and sell their items that were of a seriously dodgy nature. (This activity was completely hidden to me and I was completely oblivious that this was happening behind my back)

As far as ebay was concerned it was my account, so I must be the guilty one (ebay could never be at fault!) I was tarred with the guilty brush and was terminated from ever using ebay again and if I tried to create a new account this would immediately be shutdown – I proved this by creating a new account and it was shutdown within days.

Ebay would never admit that it was their own data security breech that exposed my account to fraudulent activity and when asking them why my innocence was not being investigated, they just continually replied with “We are sorry but ebay’s decision is final in this matter” and would then hang up the phone on me.

3 weeks later the press news broke that ebay data security had been severely breeched and that peoples accounts had been hacked and used for fraudulent means.

From ebays perspective it is simply easier just to terminate you regardless of whether you are innocent or guilty, as doing any further investigation is extra work and cost for them. Ebay is a good example of a company within our capitalist society that has grown to have power far beyond the law and a complete disregard and contempt for common standards of morality or respectability.

Hence the reason why I now rely on you folks here.

Thanks
UZ

Re: Contingency Plan Advice
 

If you only buy with the account then chances are it would be left alone, irrespective of what happened to your original account.

Definitely worth a try as there's really nothing to lose.

Re: Contingency Plan Advice
 

If you follow stealth protocols and sign up again, you'll be fine.
i.e. new user account, IP, financial information etc.
Then treat it like a stealth buyer account, i.e. low purchase amounts.

Never turn it into a seller account as that's when you get hit with reviews and a manual review can easily compromise your account.

This ought to save you the extra hassle. I too have a buying only account and it works a charm.

Re: Contingency Plan Advice
 

Seems like you need to learn stealth properly if you keep getting shut down....

Re: Contingency Plan Advice
 

I had a PayPal account in my real name get permanently limited it was part of a bigger problem (identity theft but not the eBay breech) and when I called to notify PayPal as soon as I said I wasn’t going to pay the negative balance they said they wanted to part ways with me. Something like that. It was quite a big sum.
This was in 2013 since 2015 I have had a buyers account in my real name. It’s been going strong for 2 years now I’ve even opened cases against sellers on the account and never had any problems from PayPal. But then I’ve also never received a single payment to that account.

It is quite useful to have a PayPal account as if you come across a particularly bad seller (even off eBay) who ignores your emails you can always use PayPal cases as back up.

Re: Contingency Plan Advice
 

Hi All

My current ebay and paypal stealth account is working perfectly fine at the moment using entropay as a payment method in paypal.

The contingency question was related to ‘what other VCC service providers are available’ that:

1. Allow you to load over £2000 onto the VCC via bank transfer

1. Will not do an AVS check in paypal when being setup

1. Paypal is happy to use as a payment funding method

As said, currently everything is fine, but if in the future I lose the ability to fund payments in paypal using entropay – for whatever reason, what VCC alternatives do I have available to me that will work in exactly the same way as entropay does today and meet points 1-3 above?

I just want to have a known VCC alternative option should the worst ever happen between paypal and entropay. Fingers crossed it never will.

Many thanks again everyone for all your help and suggestions