The concerns about credit cards are valid, but that doesn't mean third-party pay services are any safer. Paypal and Skype allowed an unsolicitied transaction to hit my bank without any restraint whatsoever, depite the fact that I had (intentionally) not bridged the 2 accounts. Turns out it was a common scam and Paypal had known about it for some time yet failed to implement the proper safeguards (such as transaction approval). Coincidentally, not long after my bank did the right thing and credited me back, Paypal introduced additional layers of security. Imagine that.