posted on September 14, 2000 05:22:08 PM new
So there I was -- a typical sleepless night in Boston, when Wapstar dropped the BOMB about PayPal!
Faster than a speeding dupe, I rushed to PayPal's defense: I called them @ 3am & said:
"Yo, the $#%@ just hit the fan on the AW boards -- get Damon's butt out of bed & over there!"
And I wrote on the board:"Hey, it's only 3am -- let's give them a chance to defend themselves!"
And PP DAMON arrived and WE LEARNED THE FOLLOWING:
HE KNOWS HOW TO CUT & PASTE! !!!!!!!!
Oh, whoopee! Talk about a little too little, a little too late!
So, this sweet PP CHEERLEADER feels deflowered!
I've signed up for ExchangePath & prominently displayed their logo in my listings. PP is still there -- but no longer encouraged! In my EOA letters, I now offer to perform unnatural & physically challenging Indian temple wall art acts for my winners if they will avoid PP!
A very sad story! Makes me believe that X.com is running PP into the ground as a write-off or else THEY JUST HIRED eBay MANAGERS to run it!
So, thanks loads PP: THIS CHEERLEADER IS NOT ONLY NO LONGER A VIRGIN -- BUT NO LONGER A CHEERLEADER!
And yes, SG52, you did tell me so!
[ edited by tomwiii on Sep 14, 2000 05:25 PM ]
There are well over 800 posts in this forum alone. There is no humanly way possible I could reply to each and every one. I have spent most of the day getting answers and providing your feedback based off of what I read. I will be posting something shortly and I am sorry, but it will be cut and paste since I have more than this forum to go to. It covers the upgrade message and the intent.
posted on September 14, 2000 05:53:36 PM new
Hi all:
I'm back from making rounds on other boards. There are clearly a lot of concerns and questions about PayPal's recent reminder message. I can’t answer all of them in one post, but I want to address some of your most important concerns.
We have always said that PayPal would be free for person-to-person payments. When people started using it for e-commerce, we evolved as a company, expanded our features, and in June created Business Accounts (for companies) and Premier Accounts (for individual entrepreneurs). We told our users that we wouldn't force people to upgrade, but that didn't mean it was OK for business users to violate our terms of use and conduct their commerce with a PayPal Personal Account. That's why we sent out an email in July that reminded business users of our policy.
While 250,000 of our users did understand what our terms of use required and decided to upgrade to or open a Premier or Business Account, a number of users either honestly weren't aware of our policy or else chose to ignore it. Since we assume that most people like to play by the rules and hence wouldn't expect PayPal to continue to subsidize their auctions with free credit card processing, customer service, and fraud protection, we sent the login page as a reminder to our active users. That's all it was, just a reminder of a policy that we've publicized before -- not a new one. It wasn’t meant for someone who occasionally sells personal items online; it was meant for those who are part-time or full-time sellers. We're sorry if the page seemed abrupt or ominous to some of you. It certainly wasn't intended to be. We were just trying to make sure that you all knew about our existing "business use" policy.
We also wanted to be straightforward and notify you that we're considering a new policy to enforce our terms of use. We hope we won’t have to, but if we do, we’ll strive to be fair and we'll be sure to announce the new policy through emails and content on our website at least two weeks before we implement it. Contrary to what has been reported on some threads, no policy has yet been determined; we have not decided on a specific transaction limit, or even whether this would be the best approach. We can say this: We don't intend to surprise anyone by automatically upgrading their account or shutting them down. We may have to limit costly functionality on Personal Accounts (like the ability to accept unlimited credit card payments), but everyone will have a choice, and as we’ve said all along, no one will be forced to upgrade.
Please understand that PayPal can’t subsidize large volumes of credit card transactions -- especially since we'll be giving a big part of the float back to our users starting next month in the form of income on funds left in your PayPal account. So, if you're selling goods to make a profit, we're asking you to play by the rules and upgrade to the account that is most applicable to you (either Premier or Business). We want to make online payments safe and easy for everyone, but we need your help to do this.
If you have thoughts or concerns on what our policy should be, please email us your suggestions (mailto:[email protected]). Since I can't possibly respond to every specific comment or question on the boards, please also use this email for any questions you may have. I will make sure that the whole team (including management) sees your comments, and we will try to answer every question as soon as possible.
Thanks again for your comments, and for caring about PayPal. We appreciate your feedback.
posted on September 14, 2000 07:16:55 PM new
Ummmmm....excuse me.....we logged onto PayPal and couldn't get into our accounts without clicking on an option, 2 of which automatically upgraded you without any warning. Somehow I don't see that as a friendly reminder.
posted on September 15, 2000 08:59:41 AM new"I've signed up for ExchangePath & prominently displayed their logo in my listings"
Have you made any transactions with them yet or know of anyone that has? I was curious but I can't get on to their site for some reason. This is it right? http://www.exchangepath.com
posted on September 15, 2000 09:27:45 PM new
Hmmm...I didn't see anything on the ExchangePath site about US only. Does anyone know if they are international or why if they aren't that their site doesn't say US only?
----------------------------------- Yoda of Borg are we: Futile is resistance. Assimilate you, we will.
posted on September 15, 2000 11:07:34 PM new
I just joined today. It states your credit or debit card has to have a US address. So I'm assuming it's only for the US
posted on September 17, 2000 01:58:37 AM new
It took some time, but I got into ExchangePath. Interesting. I can't help but notice right off the bat that there are 3 sections on the main page. Consumer, Merchant, and About Us. They offer logos you can put in eBay auctions 88x33 pixel size, all kosher and everything. BUT did you notice you're in the "Merchant" section when you're getting those logos? I can't find anything on the pricing of the merchant accounts, but it looks really clear to me that they do offer two different types of accounts.
It might be a fantastic service, but I want to know more before I paste their logo on my auction. Has anyone found out what their Merchant account involves?
I'm not jumping ship on PayPal till I see the waterline drastically changing (I'm only hearing tales of woes from others), and even then I'm going to be very careful.
posted on September 17, 2000 07:25:43 AM new
When I signed up I don't recall it asking if I was going to want a merchant or consumer accout. I may be wrong but methinks it's just how they seperate their services. They can't say Auction Tools......thatphrase has already been used [buddy]
posted on September 17, 2000 03:17:31 PM new
PPD: thanks for answeing...I want to ask why pay pal if it has to pass cost to sellers (i won't even go into the bit about original intent) WHY it has to be so high.. obviously paypal is courting BIDDERS since it is returning 1% to bidders using charge cards... so it feels as if sellers are subsidizing this new fee 2 ways.
2nd qustion here is your quote
"Please understand that PayPal can’t subsidize large volumes of credit card transactions -- especially since we'll be giving a big part of the float back to our users starting next month in the form of income on funds left in your PayPal account. So, if you're selling goods to make a profit, we're asking you to play by the rules and upgrade to the account that is most applicable to you (either Premier or Business).
I don't think much has been said about receiving money by earning income from teh float. personall I'd rather have free use of service rather than bookeeping interetst income (taxable)against teh fees paid out (tax deduction) against when i bid receiving 1% back. i hate bookeeping. ALSO can you provide a link that shows the profit/loss statement or other data for paypal. You see I don't have a lot of trust with companies that say they aren't receiving enough money. Show me.
3rd question is does there need to be definition of how much usage is considered to be a seller or not? some people just don't need the added services. While selling on ebay adn filing taxes may not feel that they are like other sellers as full time merchants. They may sell once a year, or sell 3 items per week. While I agere with one poster that legit biz use shoudl not subsidise those not upgrading and being sellers - I also realise that my free personal checking account will allow me bunches of checks from a garage sale without telling me I now have to upgrade to biz account.
posted on September 17, 2000 03:24:58 PM new
I was going to remain silent during all this PayPal fiasco...just quietly stop accepting PayPal payments from my auctions, stop promoting PayPal, etc. I think there are many part-time people like me that PayPal is not hearing from - they're just quietly taking out money from their accounts and not accepting PayPal payments anymore.
I'm a packrat - I've been one all my life. My home literally is bursting at the seams with all the books, videos, a massive trading card collection, and whatever that I've collected over the years.
I used to have yard sales to get rid of some of the clutter...then I found online auctions! So, instead of having a yard sale every couple of years, I just post some of this clutter on eBay, or Yahoo, or wherever, and another packrat takes it off my hands.
I'm not a business...just a packrat. But PayPal considers me a business.
posted on September 17, 2000 10:18:24 PM new
You know, when Paypal first came out, I thought it was the greatest thing that had come along since eBay. It seemed that all this technology we have was really a great thing. You know the old saying "if it sounds to good to be true". Well life was lovely, then eBay started having all their problems, day after day, after day..... I think in the last week, things seem to be calming down overthere. Now I wake up to this about Paypal.....I think we all have to realize that, in this world we live in, nothing is FREE. Not the water we drink, the air we breath, nor the food on our table. In one way, form, or fashion, it costs us something. Everyone is out to make more money. We are, the companies are, the government is. Wonder if anyone will ever make enough to stop wanting more? I see Paypal as a pole and a string. Attached to that string is a big jucy worm on the end of a hook and we are the fish. After they cought us (and after we feasted upon their big juicy worm) they feel one worm was enough. Unless of course, if we want to "pay" a little for some more of those juicy worms. Well, they are no different than any other company that I know of, which are doing the same thing. The telephone company, the cell phone company, the utility company, city and county tax, property tax, GAS, OIL. I could go on, but I'm sure you got the point. I was doing fine before Paypal, and I will hate to know that I will have to stop using them. But I can always go back to the original ways in the beginning, Money Order, Check, or cash via the good old postman.
Nothing surprises me anymore. I either pay for it if I want it bad enough, or I don't. It's that simple.
