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Massive Disruption of PayPal Subscription Service

Posted by kdawson on from the just-fix-it-guys dept.

hausmasta writes "Since August 30, there are massive problems with PayPal subscriptions. The automatic renewal of subscriptions stopped that day, causing headaches for lots of web site owners that rely on this kind of revenue. The problem is global, as this thread in the PayPal Developer Community shows. PayPal is aware of the problem but hasn't indicated any progress yet; some posters are wondering whether they have stopped working on it over the long (US) holiday weekend."

6 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Well.... by JimXugle · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Everyone needs a day off, and those who died in military service need to be honored, but if Paypal wants to posture itself as an international company, things need to keep working... even when the USA isn't.

    (Posted by an American)

    --
    -jX

    Don't you just love politics? It's like a comedy of errors.
    1. Re:Well.... by pallmall1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This US citizen is very very happy to be in Canada and working on living there the rest of my life.
      Well, this US citizen is very happy you're in Canada, too, and sincerely hopes you stay there.
      --
      3 things about computers: they're alive, they're self-aware, and they hate your guts.
    2. Re:Well.... by vtcodger · · Score: 3, Insightful
      ***It couldn't have happened to a 'nicer' company.***

      I agree 113.763%. PayPal gives me the creeps. How any sane person can be comfortable dealing with an unregulated bank eludes me. Personally, I simply won't deal with PayPal unless and until they submit themselves to effective external regulation.

      That said, It seems to me like this particular problem is something that could affect any on-line 'bank' -- even a reputable one. It's sort of analagous to having your brick and motar bank shut down by flood, fire, earthquake, riots, power failure.

      --
      You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
  2. Re:Not good for Paypal, but geez by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The delay in getting the money into the merchants account isn't the issue, the delay is causing the notification scripts not to fire. Imagine you have a website where users are granted access to your service provided their account has "credit", and you use PayPal subscriptions to fund that "credit". The subscription renews on Aug 31, but your site never gets the notification and locks out the user. User complains to you wondering why you disabled their account, raises hell because they are losing sales, etc, etc.

  3. Re:This is a symptom of management... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    What is ironic is that most companies treat their IT department like utter crap, considering them just another cost center to be controlled as much as possible.

    However, IT is just as important, if not more, than the expenses for guards, building security, and locks on the doors. Companies will buy high security Medeco and Abloy locks for their doors, then not hire anyone capable of managing more than a playground home network.

    Companies get what they pay for. I don't think this is the case with PayPal, as they seem to be more proactive in general, but in a lot of companies, they buy the absolute cheapest people they can... then wonder why their main server with accounting info has been totally compromised, and is spewing spam over the globe, as well as sporting the latest and greatest keyloggers.

    I wish management in most companies would understand that IT is just as important as physical security, or physical access and building space, however that's a pipe dream these days.

  4. Re:NO! by coryking · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I knocked on genuine 100% cedar wood* the entire time I typed that message. My servers know too, you know.

    * And yes, your mom helped. Just figured I'd add that to keep out any obvious your mom jokes that may or may not come my way after typing such an obvious attack vector.