The one reason for using Paypal is that you have only one company (payment system) that has your credit card #. That is why I started using it awhile back. Don't want to give my cc # to every etailer out there. I'm assuming the great majority of etailers would want to maintain a good reputation so as not to lose their privilege of using Paypal's payment system. They assist resolving issues with merchants, which some people may see as an added benefit.

I opened a separate account with my bank which was used only on the internet. This way etailers didn't have my main bank account number, nor did I have to pay fees to my bank for using this account. Always kept a low balance in the event of someone trying to drain my bank account. My brother had a PayPal account which was drained of $7,000.