PayPal had decided that someone who travelled that much must be a terrorist!

Sorry for the risk of thread creep, here... but (heh) I couldn't resist: Sounds like PayPal works with the same effeciency as the United States government.

Foolstroupe: While the information on the "PayPal Sucks!" site certainly gives me pause, I was not feeling all that safe after reading more about the alternatives they offered on their Options page, either.

YowCow seems the closest thing to paypal, but their opening home page gives very little information on how their service actually works. It says that others can send you money for FREE! (if they are also YowCow members). But it doesn't say how much non-members have to pay to send you money.

And the various ATM card systems aren't practical for anyone (like me, for example) who doesn't have access to an ATM, and/or doesn't necessarialy want their money as bills in hand.

The merchant account services are best, NoPayPal says, if you have a regular monthly stream of business... if that happens with my writing gig, you'd have to pry my jaw off the floor with a crobar.

But thanks for the warning, in any case.... that's the kind of thing I was fearing after trying to read all the fine print.