PayPal Takes Selling us to new heights

Preview:

PayPal has decided that they can sell everything they know about you, including everything you've ever purchased using them. They can sell all this information to anyone they choose, including data brokers and other merchants. Here's how to stop them.

What dastardly thing are they doing?

PayPal has decided to collect all your purchase and interest information and share it with EVERYONE. All merchants and others will have access to everything you've done with PayPal and anything else they know about you. They began collecting information on you November 27, 2024, unless you turn it off or your state demands they default to off. Oregon doesn't. Now their privacy policy essentially says, "you don't have any privacy at all."

So, if you used PayPal because you didn't trust a particular merchant and didn't want them to have your credit card, now they will have your entire purchase and personal history from PayPal.

What can we do as consumers?

Sadly, I can't give you specific directions. Log into your account. Then there is a toggle switch, maybe two of them, and they are changing the labels on them and moving them around to make it harder for people. Essentially, there is a switch you can toggle off, labeled something like:
— Interest-based marketing or sometimes
— Personalized Shopping

This will be found in settings, under Data & Privacy or Data and Privacy then Personalized Shopping

In any case, you should be able to find it from these hints. First, log into your PayPal account, then search for their Personalized Shopping or Interest-based marketing or something else if they relabeled it again.

What happens if I have a business account?

When I tried to turn mine off, I found I couldn't. Apparently, PayPal won't let anyone with a business account turn off their data collection and PayPal's selling it. I am removing as much information from PayPal as I can. I have some recurring payments I've made through PayPal over the years, and I am deleting them all. It is important to note that PayPal has my accounts going back over a decade, even for long ago canceled services. Cancelled accounts, remain with PayPal as inactive and cannot be deleted. However, I removed PayPal as my preferred payment method everywhere I'd used PayPal.

You can make them inactive by this:
Account settings > Payment preferences > Manage Automatic Payments

Since I will no longer use PayPal, I'll be checking my clients and see if it is possible to entirely delete the account. I'm only keeping it because some of my clients prefer to use it to pay me.

Date: December 2024

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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Home Forms About Current Newsletter subscribe Search All Articles Browse by Category Security Internet Mobile Business Hardware Fun		PayPal Takes Selling us to new heights Preview: PayPal has decided that they can sell everything they know about you, including everything you've ever purchased using them. They can sell all this information to anyone they choose, including data brokers and other merchants. Here's how to stop them. What dastardly thing are they doing? PayPal has decided to collect all your purchase and interest information and share it with EVERYONE. All merchants and others will have access to everything you've done with PayPal and anything else they know about you. They began collecting information on you November 27, 2024, unless you turn it off or your state demands they default to off. Oregon doesn't. Now their privacy policy essentially says, "you don't have any privacy at all." So, if you used PayPal because you didn't trust a particular merchant and didn't want them to have your credit card, now they will have your entire purchase and personal history from PayPal. What can we do as consumers? Sadly, I can't give you specific directions. Log into your account. Then there is a toggle switch, maybe two of them, and they are changing the labels on them and moving them around to make it harder for people. Essentially, there is a switch you can toggle off, labeled something like: — Interest-based marketing or sometimes — Personalized Shopping This will be found in settings, under Data & Privacy or Data and Privacy then Personalized Shopping In any case, you should be able to find it from these hints. First, log into your PayPal account, then search for their Personalized Shopping or Interest-based marketing or something else if they relabeled it again. What happens if I have a business account? When I tried to turn mine off, I found I couldn't. Apparently, PayPal won't let anyone with a business account turn off their data collection and PayPal's selling it. I am removing as much information from PayPal as I can. I have some recurring payments I've made through PayPal over the years, and I am deleting them all. It is important to note that PayPal has my accounts going back over a decade, even for long ago canceled services. Cancelled accounts, remain with PayPal as inactive and cannot be deleted. However, I removed PayPal as my preferred payment method everywhere I'd used PayPal. You can make them inactive by this: Account settings > Payment preferences > Manage Automatic Payments Since I will no longer use PayPal, I'll be checking my clients and see if it is possible to entirely delete the account. I'm only keeping it because some of my clients prefer to use it to pay me. Date: December 2024 This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
		I attempt to provide reliable information, but make no warranty as to the accuracy or safety of these articles. I disclaim all legal responsibility for what following these instructions may do. Follow my advice at your own risk