Having cancelled my Microsoft Office subscription this morning (you can read the reason why here), I did the sensible thing and logged into my PayPal account to cancel the Pre-approved payment in their favour. While there, I discovered some really old Pre-approved payment authorisations and while going through and cancelling those that I no longer need, I was super surprised by one from eBay.
I don’t really need PayPal when shopping on eBay these days, neither do I need it for selling – all payments now go to and from my bank account through eBay Payments. That’s not to say I haven’t relied on PayPal in the past, both for eBay purchases and to pay eBay fees, and it’s the later that appears to be an old Pre-approved payment dating back to 2010.
You might wonder why I’m surprised to find eBay in the list… and you’re right that’s not what caught my attention. What shocked me is that the billing limit that’s set for eBay is £165,000.00.
That’s a massive amount and not one I’ve ever come close to owing eBay, not only in any one month but probably not ever for everything I’ve ever spent on eBay plus all the fees I’ve ever incurred! And it’s been live for over 15 years without my ever taking a glance and noticing.
While I was in PayPal, I found no fewer than 7 Royal Mail authorisations (yes I’ve purchased postage a few times but why multiple payment approvals?), plus one for DPD and one for Skype (which doesn’t even exist any more).
Needless to say, I’ve cancelled the lot barring a couple that I know I still use (hence the inactive status in the image above). If you want to check your Pre-approved payments in your PayPal account here’s how to find them:
- Log into PayPal
- Select ‘Account Settings’ from the top right drop down (Hover over your name)
- Select ‘Payment Preferences’ from the left nav bar
- Click ‘Manage pre-approved payments’ from the menu
This will take you to a list of all Active and Inactive suppliers you’ve given authority to take funds via PayPal. If you’re not using them any more, set them to inactive.
