PayPal browser plugin: Buy stuff on sites that don't take PayPal
PayPal provides a quick and easy way to pay for goods on eBay, Half.com, or other sites that accept the service. But what if you want to buy something from a store that doesn't accept PayPal, but don't feel like giving up your credit card information? Last year PayPal launched a service that lets you create a single-use credit card number that is linked to your PayPal account. And the company has also launched a plugin that gives you easy access to the the Secure Card service in your web browser.
You can install the PayPal plugin by logging into your PayPal account and select PayPal Plug-in from the menu on the left. You'll be prompted to download a 5MB file which will install the plugin for both Internet Explorer and Firefox. Note that the plugin is Windows only, and does not seem to play well with Firefox 3 yet.
Once installed, a window should pop up whenever you visit a site asking for your credit card information. You can also generate a card manually through a drop down menu.
If you're using Mac, Linux, or Firefox 3, you can still use the secure card feature by logging into your PayPal account and generating a card number. But the browser plugin makes the process much easier.
You can install the PayPal plugin by logging into your PayPal account and select PayPal Plug-in from the menu on the left. You'll be prompted to download a 5MB file which will install the plugin for both Internet Explorer and Firefox. Note that the plugin is Windows only, and does not seem to play well with Firefox 3 yet.
Once installed, a window should pop up whenever you visit a site asking for your credit card information. You can also generate a card manually through a drop down menu.
If you're using Mac, Linux, or Firefox 3, you can still use the secure card feature by logging into your PayPal account and generating a card number. But the browser plugin makes the process much easier.















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-04-2008 @ 8:10PM
Monkey said...
This is also only currently available to US PayPal customers.
Reply
6-04-2008 @ 10:56PM
lemcog said...
This has been available for months.
Reply
6-04-2008 @ 10:58PM
maelow said...
So yet another way to put the bottom feeder scum at Paypal between the consumer and making a simple purchase.Wow that's just great.
Reply
6-04-2008 @ 10:58PM
Bill said...
I've been using the Paypal plug-in for, I believe, at least six months. If I recall, I was offered the opportunity to test it. I use it quite a bit and find it easy to use and accurate.
Reply
6-05-2008 @ 7:25AM
Lyndon said...
I remember trying the service when it first came out and I could never get the thing to work.
Emailed customer service and got a generic response and I never bothered with it again.
http://lyndonology.blogspot.com/
Reply
6-05-2008 @ 7:26AM
Michael said...
I call it the Hack-O-Matic.
It's just aching to be spoofed and will be.
Reply
6-05-2008 @ 7:26AM
Mark Dean said...
Great...
Reply
6-05-2008 @ 10:33AM
James said...
I can't help thinking this is fixing a problem in the wrong way ... What *I* would find most useful is the opposite: a plugin to let me use my credit card on sites that take only PayPal, whose history yields a wealth of reasons to stay away from them.
Reply
6-05-2008 @ 5:44PM
mike jones said...
This is older than the internet...
Reply
6-06-2008 @ 11:00AM
Scott said...
This is pretty cool. Thing I hate about Paypal is the redirection through Double Click. So I created a Greasemonkey script to get around that.
http://www.techlifeweb.com/2007/11/26/fixing-doubleclick-redirection-with-greasemonkey/
Reply
7-17-2008 @ 11:56AM
Techie ZOne said...
Pay6pal customer service sucks and so also Paypal.
Reply
7-21-2008 @ 1:51AM
cavalera said...
We are an Exchange Service Provider (Market Maker) around the growing market of electronic currencies.
Our services are Simple, Fast & Efficient.
Our aim is to give people easy access to the gold economy and allow our customers to benefit from the new ecommerce revolution that is the future of money.
www.sellerandbuyerforum.com
Reply
7-21-2008 @ 7:42AM
cavalera said...
We are an Exchange Service Provider (Market Maker) around the growing market of electronic currencies.
Our services are Simple, Fast & Efficient.
Our aim is to give people easy access to the gold economy and allow our customers to benefit from the new ecommerce revolution that is the future of money.
www.sellerandbuyerforum.com
Reply