Do you all know PayPal? It was quite good when I first used PayPal to sell items on eBay.

It was safe because financial information was not exposed, and it was amazing that I could transfer money not only within the U.S. but also overseas.

However, after using it for a while, you start to feel differently. This company is not convenient; it is the "ultimate bureaucracy." In short, they don't care about customer inconvenience; their system is the most important thing.

The most ridiculous part was the account transfer method. When I had about $500 in my PayPal account, it usually took a day to transfer it to my bank account. It was a normal process where the money would arrive the next morning after a night's sleep.

But one day, they introduced something called Instant Transfer. The money would arrive in a few minutes, and I thought, "This is great!" But soon after, they quietly changed the policy.

They even gave it a grand name: Consumer Instant Transfer Fees.

Here's what it entails.

  • Fee: 1.75% of the transfer amount

  • Minimum fee: $0.25

  • Maximum fee: $25

  • Speed: 24/7, completed within a few minutes

At first, they let you try it for free, and now they want to charge you.

If you wait just one day, it's free, but for someone who needs money urgently, they are exploiting that urgency to charge fees. It's not providing convenience; it's a business that takes advantage of the desperation of those in a hurry. It's funny how they package such a shallow business tactic as an "innovative service" when you can get your money for free by waiting a day, yet they ask for 1-2% just to get it a few minutes earlier.

Moreover, this is not even a matter of choice. For freelancers or those with many transactions and cash flow being crucial, it is practically forced. If you need money urgently, you have to reluctantly pay that fee. In the past, you could just use it without such worries, but now it feels like this company has transformed into a structure that seeks to squeeze out more profit rather than prioritize user convenience.

That's not all. The issues of account suspension or fund holds are even more serious. One day, if you suddenly receive an email saying, "Your account has been restricted for security reasons," the aftermath is literally hell. They don't tell you the exact reason, and it can take weeks or even months to resolve. Meanwhile, your money is stuck, and you can't do anything. When you contact customer service, the response is always the same: "An investigation is underway due to policy reasons." After hearing this a few times, you really get frustrated.

PayPal's customer service is another world. Connecting with a representative is like finding a star in the sky, and even if you finally connect, the responses feel like they are copied and pasted. "We understand your inconvenience, but it is not possible due to policy." It feels like a robot is responding instead of a person. Everything is judged solely by "policy," and there are no human exceptions. So, the company's basic philosophy is closer to "enforcing regulations" rather than "customer service."

Meanwhile, the market has already changed. Services like Stripe, Wise, and Revolut are much faster, have transparent fees, and treat customers more humanely. The world has already changed that way, but PayPal is still stuck in the early 2000s mindset. It's like, "Follow our rules because we made them." That now feels like arrogance.

In fact, PayPal is a case of being trapped by its own system. They hold onto customer money in the name of "security" and evade responsibility under the guise of "policy." As a result, regular users suffer more than actual scammers. It started with convenience, but now it has become a symbol of distrust.

Honestly, I don't want to use PayPal anymore.

It's a structure where you pay an expedited fee for money you could receive for free by waiting a day. When problems arise, the customer service responds with policies instead of people. It's ironic that this is still called a "global payment platform." In the end, PayPal is slowly sinking in the bureaucratic swamp it created itself.