posted on October 20, 2000 04:22:00 PM
Did anyone see the article about Paypal in this month's eBay Magazine. I am totally confused. It points out more than once that a main reason for Paypal's success is that its free! I guess they didn't get the message that the rules have changed. I hope they do a follow-up.
posted on October 20, 2000 04:44:15 PM
No I think they got it alright and stated it well .
The main reason for paypals success is that its free and it still is free to use for those who only pay with it.
its clear that the two main reasons many sellers signed up for paypal was because it was good for there selling to be able to look like macys and accept credit cards but they dare only look high profile for free.
soon as paypal set up a bussiness account many sellers walk away from paypal or charge there buyers fees and a free payment service is no good to buyer with out someone to buy from.
There success is because they are free paypal will survive inspite of many auction sellers they will hook up with big corparate types who will accept paypal payments and not charge there users and they may even hook up with a auction site or two and become there exculsive payment service kinda like billpoint is for ebay.
heck they have over 4 million registered users if they hook up with a new auction site as an exculsive payment service this could turn out to be that challange to ebay no one thought would happen.
posted on October 20, 2000 05:06:11 PM
tried to read it but just couldn't. why does this magazine promote so many online stores, etc.??? they gave a big speel (sp?) about one that is selling the same stuff that I (try to) sell on Ebay.
posted on October 20, 2000 05:07:07 PM
I used to work as a copy-setter for a magazine. The articles are typically written several months in advance, and printed long before they are actually distributed. At the time the article was written, it was accurate.
posted on October 20, 2000 05:09:25 PM
well I understand paypal is not free no more for all sellers but for many like my self who dont get over $500 in CC payment in a 6 month period it still is free.
and even if and when it is not free for me no more its main success is that it will still be free for my buyer to use.
I will try to get a look at the story I do think I understand what your trying to say though.
WWW.dman-n-company.com
posted on October 20, 2000 05:16:10 PM
If I recall correctly, there is something in that article that idicates it was written around June or July, so it was accurate at the time.
However, I wonder if this "misreporting" isn't just a clever ploy. This is eBAy magazine that we're talking about, and Paypal is obviously Billpoint's competitor.
So, I'm sure eBay knew many months ago that Paypal would start charging eventually (didn't we all...) So what better way to make Paypal look foolish than to write a glowing article about how great Paypal is because it's free, and then time it to come out after the fees go into effect, and claim that it was just an innocent mistake.
I'm not much for eBay consipiracy theories, but I think they're might be something to this...
[ edited by amalgamated2000 on Oct 20, 2000 05:17 PM ]
posted on October 20, 2000 06:42:15 PM
When I saw the article, I read a few lines, then threw my magazine away. I won't be renewing my subscription either.
posted on October 21, 2000 06:42:19 AM
I don't see anything in Uncle Sam. What am I missing?
In the article the CEO of Paypal is quoted as saying "We thought we had a pretty viable concept". The writer goes on to say "That concept is predicated on a three-ingredient recipe that has proven unbeatable so far: make the service free, make e-mail the conduit for transactions and make money on the float."
I wonder why that is SO EASY for everyone buy Paypal to understand. Their popularity was based largely on the "FREE" part. Yeah, sure they'll keep customers, but I'm curious to see how many they've lost.
I really hope eBay magazine does a follow-up to this article.
