As a user who uses paypal a lot, this is exactly why - I don't trust random websites with my credit card number, but I already have decided to trust paypal and given an option to use paypal vs a site's own CC processing, I'll use paypal.
I'd love to be wrong though, since after reading all this I kind of feel bad for the merchants, but otherwise I'll continue to prefer using paypal.
Lots of so called challenger banks offer virtual cards which can be used with merchants you do not trust, thus mitigating the risk of them having your ACTUAL card number which they can abuse/leak.
Yes, but if you already have PayPal, it's much easier to just use it as opposed to:
1. get an account with a new back
2. transfer funds
3. have new temporary card issued
4. use that card to pay
Me too. The issue is that while PayPal is pretty bad, I don't know of any other processors that are any better (from the customer perspective). And PayPal is universal, nobody else is. I don't want to have to manage multiple payment processors.
I'd love to be wrong though, since after reading all this I kind of feel bad for the merchants, but otherwise I'll continue to prefer using paypal.