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1. 

   Ima Fish, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 8:15am

   
   

   Other than to create profit for eBay and screw over users, is there anything PayPal does that cannot be done with a credit card? It is simply a fear of giving out your credit card number that makes people sign up for PayPal?

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2. 

   DigitalAngel, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 8:43am

   
   

   Re:

   It's laziness and impulse buy mentality. If I don't have to enter in my CC number, I'm more willing to buy without thinking. Same is true with Amazon's one-click system.

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3. 

   Mike B, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 8:45am

   
   

   paypal

   Paypal can enable people to accept donations or credit card payments without having to setup an entire credit card processing system.
   
   Setting up CC processing on your own is a PITA, and has lots of little fee's, where Paypal makes it fairly easy to deal with for anyone.
   
   That said, I would gladly welcome another service as long as it has the same ability for donations. Google Checkout fails in that regard which is why most websites have stuck with Paypal.

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4. 

   JBB, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 8:53am

   
   

   Pay Pal Loves eBay

   I do not see even the great Google really doing much in this area thanks to Pay Pal's integration into eBay and tons of other online vendors. What makes Pay Pal useful to buyers is that a lot of vendors, even small time eBay vendors, can accept credit card or bank account payments through Pay Pal. What makes it valuable to vendors is that nearly everyone and their dog has a Pay Pal account now. I think the only way Google is going to do much in this area is if they can bring on a huge online vendor, like say Amazon, or to offer some substantial perks that Pay Pal can't match.

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5. 

   some old guy, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 9:00am

   
   

   Re: Pay Pal Loves eBay

   What makes it valuable to vendors is that nearly everyone and their dog has a Pay Pal account now
   
   Your world is an extremely narrow subset of the entire world. I know more people that refuse to even touch paypal than I know people with accounts.
   
   You are right about the fact that ebay made paypal successful, but you seem to not realize the fact that ebay owns paypal... And that ebay actively prevents other such services.

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6. 

   Andrew Green, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 9:00am

   
   

   PayPal

   Oh how I hope this is true. Mike B's point above is exactly right -- PayPal has a near-monopoly as a system for individuals to accept ad-hoc credit card payments. Google Checkout and payment gateways like authorize.net require you to have a merchant account.

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7. 

   Ima Fish, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 9:01am

   
   

   Re: paypal

   "Setting up CC processing on your own is a PITA, and has lots of little fee's, where Paypal makes it fairly easy to deal with for anyone."
   
   Thanks, I wasn't thinking about the sellers' side, I was only thinking about the buyers'.

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8. 

   Agonizing Fury, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 9:16am

   
   

   Re: Pay Pal Loves eBay

   Wouldn't it be a violation of PayPal's Terms of Use to set up an account for your dog?

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9. 

   Wayne, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 9:20am

   
   

   Don't use Pay Pal

   Never have and never will. I think the fact that ebay owns the payment method is in conflict of interest. No thanks.

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10. 

    James, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 9:27am

    
    

    This is retarded.

    Paypal is a great tool for smaller businesses and websites. It provides a secure way to accept and process payments. It allows for donations and other stuff too. All you Paypal bashers are whinning like babies. Get back to work.

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11. 

    Doug (profile), Jun 19th, 2008 @ 9:33am

    
    

    Re:

    Huh? For me, paypal has nothing to do with not giving out my credit card number. With paypal I can accept credit cards as payment from anyone with a credit card. Without paypal I would need a credit card merchant account to do this, which is far more expensive than a free paypal account. When you just sell something every once in a while on ebay, and want to accept credit cards, paypal is most assuredly the way to go.

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12. 

    Haywood, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 9:40am

    
    

    As an early adopter

    I have my share of problems with Paypal, but it solves more than it creates. I am happier shopping New Egg & others, knowing they accept it. I detest getting into databases, the central nature of Paypal is a huge plus. Opposite to the folks who won't touch it, if a seller refuses to take Paypal or requires me to go through an alternative checkout, they better be offering something no one else has, that I really require. I gladly pay a few dollars more rather than go through some unknown checkout with questionable data retention policies and security.

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13. 

    Wesha, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 9:48am

    
    

    Paypal is first and foremost the money transfer service.

    I mostly care about it as a way to send and receive money to/from my friends, fast and easy. Don't care about giving my CC # to anybody -- with the proliferation of virtual CC #'s and strong "100% no responsibility for unauthorized purchases" policies, I no longer worry.

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14. 

    Wesha, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 9:49am

    
    

    Re: Re: Pay Pal Loves eBay

    Does your dog have an SSN [paypal needs to open an account]? :-b

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15. 

    Wesha, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 9:50am

    
    

    Re: Paypal is first and foremost the money transfer service.

    P.S. The moment Google offers that functionality, I'll switch to it. But so far, Google is only about checkout/shopping cart solution. Which is useless for my purposes, so I don't care much about it.

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16. 

    Roger, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 10:25am

    
    

    Good deal for Amazon

    While I'm sure Amazon has as favorable an arrangement with the credit cards companies as possible, setting up their own direct payment system would alleviate the 1-3% fee they pay on each CC transaction...this could be a significant savings for them.
    
    If Amazon does this right (limited liability in case of fraud, net-30 payment arrangement, awards programs, etc) then I'd definitely be interested.

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17. 

    Thane, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 11:09am

    
    

    WHY?

    Why would Amazon do this? Sellers can sell used and new items on Amazon.com now. And when I buy one of these I use my credit card as I would any other Amazon purchase.
    
    What's the POINT to having a paypal competitor. It's not like any Amazon vendors take paypal now - or NEED TO.

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18. 

    Rose M. Welch, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 12:02pm

    
    

    Re: Re: Re: Pay Pal Loves eBay

    I have a PayPal account and they certainly don't have my social security number.
    
    Just to make a point though, I would never, ever, ever, ever use PayPal to shop online. Ever. However, I built a site for a non-profit organization that had no credit cards and no bank account, so I linked it to my business bank account so that they can take cc donations.

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19. 

    Hacker Killer, Aug 28th, 2008 @ 2:21pm

    
    

    Re: WHY?

    If they want my business they will need to accept paypal. Not everyone wants to get entangled with credit cards. Debit cards allow some who want to control their spending better.

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20. 

    TRV, Nov 9th, 2008 @ 6:20pm

    
    

    Re: Pay Pal Loves eBay

    Pay Pal is the pits. I used ot be an ebay seller until I was forced to use Pay Pal - which charges more fees on top of ebay fees. I guess since ebay owns Paypal, it's really all ebay fees. By the time an item is sold, the seller is getting a minimal amount for all of the effort/time to list, answer questions, package, and send.
    In any case, I hope that buyers on ebay don't use PayPal.

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