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PayPal Announces Intent To IPO
seek31337 was the first to write to us with the word-direct-from-the-mouth that PayPal has announced its intention to IPO. Not much other details, but interesting nonetheless.
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Didn't know they were private. Hope it goes well for them. Great service.
This can only mean their impending doom.
Really?
For what purpose could Paypal possibly be performing an initial public offering?
Perhaps Paypal is pursuing a plan that simply puts more pennies in the principals' pockets?
I wonder if I can buy shares using my PayPal account?
warned me about robbing Peter to pay Pal
Writers imply. Readers infer.
Now an IPO.
They're going to fold in 12-18 months just like all the others now.
--- http://foo.ca
Most of Paypal's profits come from busisness to busisness transactions and even bank to bank. Most people only think of the small transactions from consumers but paypal actually eats a bit of money there. They are actually on their way to profitability anyway ... this just sweetens the pot. Ever since they signed E-Bay as a partner things rocked for em.
I am Jack's HTTP Server
Paypal has a dedicated cashflow from Ebay. I have personaly handed over hundreds of dollars to them. they will be around a while, Although the IPO is a huge mistake
How many accounts will they have to "freeze" and "accidentally empty of money" to make the IPO?
I don't know to much about PayPal's operations, but I thought their technology and all worked just fine.
The point of an IPO is to get a huge infusion on cash, so I can't help but wonder what they hope to do with that money that they aren't doing now?
Unless of course it's just some greedy execs that are hoping to make a small fortune and then abandon the company.
It always amazes me how investors seem interested in tiny little companies that have a neat idea, but if it ever really takes off could be entirely duplicated by a larger, more well known company, do it all for "free" (ie: ads, having an account, whatever) and not even look back twice at the dark smudge they just ran over.
Far from being your average "no value, pointless" dot com, PayPal serves a purpose to users of On-line auctions. I remember the days of yore when I had to walk about 20 miles ;) to go buy a money order because nobody wants to accept a check on-line (are u serious? Do u know what kind of people use the net LOL)
Paypal takes all the extra steps out of this process and to those who's tech skills aren't enough for them to wade through Billpoints sign-up process, PayPal is the DE FACTO online payment service. Just do a quick check on eBAY for the number of auctions that only accept payment through paypal.
Good luck with this IPO. I'll buy some shares.
What do you want to bet, six months after the IPO PayPal will be selling the personal info of its users? Either under pressure from its stockholders, or to pay creditors when it goes bankrupt; I would not be at all surprised if that happens.
If you have a problem with my views, REPLY, don't moderate!
Isn't this an awful time to have an IPO?
No sig for you.
Isn't it kind of late in the life of the market for this?
You forgot another reason why companies go public. To appease and put the "golden handcuffs" on the employees, not to mention trying to attract top-notch potential employees. Having worked for several dot-coms in the last few years I can say that there isn't that much company loyalty out there. Many employees stay at companies hoping to make a lot of money off of their stock options.
Now in the last year, a lot of this has changed and more people are sticking around at companies for fear of not getting another job, but there are still a lot of people out there hoping to "strike it rich" off of stock options and you never will without going public.
Also, at one company that I was at that was on the verge of an IPO increased head count by 30-40% two weeks prior to the IPO. This was a few years ago when finding good employees was quite a battle. Again, probably not as much of a concern for companies these days.
PayPal provides services like a bank, and can operate offshore accounts and stuff (all you need is a credit card and a paypal account in Moscow or wherever you are) and should be regulated like a bank before it goes all IPOing on our ass.
see here.
we need to figure out what kind of business it is before we buy shares of it.
Goat sex free since 2001
PayPal is a good service. Just like Google, it is not yet a good time to go IPO, in the current market situation. Everything looks dim and dimmer. Going IPO now will ruin one of the few "more successful" e-payment services after the dotcom gold rush.
¦ ©® ±
$_$
Just like Ebay will be the goods exchange of the future, Paypal will be the currency exchange of the future. It's a lot of money if you run your own credit card transactions, why pay it when paypal does it for less.
Western Union used to perform this function. But someone came around that does this for less.
However, I've had the pleasure of working closely with many of PayPal's senior management over the past two years, back since they merged with X.com. I can tell you three very important things:
1. The P2P space is actually a loss leader. Most of their profit is made in the B2B and B2C space - not pure P2P as most people believe. They do very well in these spaces and recent analysts predict that their revenue was between $80 and $100mil last year. That's a heck of a lot better than most of the not-coms we've seen over the past several years.
2. They have an incredibly intelligent, dedicated and savvy staff that understands their market and industry.
3. They have a business model that works.
In my opinion, these three items equal success.
I love their service and I enjoy working with the company. If I didn't enjoy my current job so much, I'd probably apply for a job with them.
... and shares will no doubt be available on ebay.
=brian
Exactly! And how many TB of personal info do you think they've amassed?
Take a look at Amazon.com. Early entry into the e-commerce market, strong brand loyalty, huge marketshare in what they do; and yet, they continue to lose money. Amazon may survive, because they raised insane amounts of cash in the early days of the dot-com hysteria. I don't see how PayPal's IPO could be anywhere near as successful. It will only manage to postpone the inevitable.
And yes, I do believe PayPal is an "evil corporation". At least as evil as McDonald's; perhaps slightly less evil than Nike and Microsoft. Evil, nonetheless. I don't need "evidence". The fact is, they're going to have an IPO. The Initial Public Offering is a process whereby capitalist bankers create paper wealth for themselves and their cronies whilst exploiting the workers. Can't get much more evil than that.
If you have a problem with my views, REPLY, don't moderate!
That is so two years ago.
Remember the film Goodfellas? Remember how the restaurant owner goes to Pauly for protection? In this little example, the restaurant is the business and Pauly is the investment bankers.
After Pauly gets a share in the restaurant, what's he do? Goods come in the front door and are sold out the back for less than they cost (sound familiar? Can we say 'dot-com'), because for Pauly, it's all profit. Then, when they've drained it as far as they can, they burn it down and collect the insurance. For dot-coms, the last step is to declare bankruptcy and sell user info.
If you have a problem with my views, REPLY, don't moderate!
I have bought and sold (mostly sold) on eBay over the past year or so, but I've never used PayPal because their business model looked somewhat like a pyramid scheme to me. Besides, with all the dot-bomb craziness last year, I knew the sh*t was gonna hit the fan anytime soon. Folks invented products that nobody needed, wrote fancy business plans, made glossy presentations and websites, and (foolish) investors put tons of money into these companies in hopes of getting rich quick. (Choose when to work; Make more money; have more free time...) In other words, I knew something serious was going to happen, and I didn't want to become dependant on any online services.
As it turns out, PayPal, eBay and some of the other related auction services survived the dot-bomb mess--I guess the auction is one of the killer apps of the web. Anyway, every time I hear about a technology company getting an IPO, I can already see where it's going. People tell about a nice little company with a nice little product. Management and engineering worked in harmony (because management were themselves engineers). The product developed successfully and a community developed around it. Finally, the company had an IPO, and greedy shareholders took over. From that point, it was all downhill. Suddenly the company puts more innovation into legal proceedings than anything else. The product becomes bloated and buggy. Customer service goes down the tubes. The shareholders milk the company for every penny it's worth, and if it happens to survive, they continue to milk it (but they don't actually care about the underlying principles of the company). In some rare cases, enough "good" folks buy shares to invest in the company for the long run, and when that happens, the company might actually remain caring (even if it becomes bloated and inefficient).
I'm not saying this will happen in PayPal's case... but I've seen this happen to quite a few good small companies, with technically superior products, before they prostituted themselves, er, had their IPO.
(Is it considered part of the pre-IPO quiet period to be featured on a nationial television special?)
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
Have you ever read the details about your account? I did, because I wanted to know if they made any kind of statement garunteeing that my money will stay mine.
They dont.
Yahoo! should buy PayPal and integrate it into their Yahoo! Store and Auctions infrastructure. Their existing PayDirect service was too late getting into the game, ditch it and convert its users to PayPal. The cut the credit card companies normally get for Store purchases could flow to Yahoo! when payments are made from a cash-positive PayPal account. The additional users from Yahoo!'s existing services plus advertising would be a big boost to PayPal. And no need for an incredibly poorly timed IPO. Win-win situation.
;-).
Credit my consulting fee to my PayPal account, please
I blurted out, "Uh oh."
.NET --> ??? Basically, PayPal is going to do one of two things for Microsoft: they're either going to fit in nicely with the strategies of Passport and .NET, or they're going to stand in Microsoft's way. I tend to support the latter.
.NET is Microsoft's solution for merging personal computing with internet applications. We also know that Microsoft has been working on integrating Microsoft Passport within their operating system as the way to encrypt personal information needed for any website. Add the two together, kneed in the fact that companies have been trying for the past five years to merge internet and business, sprinkle with Microsoft's many attempts to turn the desktop into an internet appliance, and we have a very good hypothesis for where Microsoft wants you to go tomorrow...using your own computer for your personal business needs. Sure, they might not be the actual car dealers, office warehouses, or grocery stores that want to sell you the goods, but they certainly want to be the gateway of that transaction.
I can just see the history of this company as soon as they get their IPO. It's not the stock values that I'm worried about. PayPal is one online entity that actually has their shit together. They have the backing of the strongest commercial online market, eBay. Although there are other third-party online payment options out there, PayPal has emerged as one of the most viable, most stable ways to transfer money safely using the third-party option. So, what's so bad?
Just look at Microsoft's business plan over the last comple years and where it's going. IE --> Passport -->
Everyone has seen that "partnerships" with Microsoft don't work out. AOL certainly proved this fact well. Basically, Microsoft either assimilates or annihilates anything in the way of it's "business strategies." I truly do not believe that Microsoft will try to partner with PayPal in trying to create a personal e-business market for the average Joe. Granted, they haven't announced this strategy directly, but just look at things for a second.
We all know that
So, enter into the ring another contender as the gateway of personal commerce online, aka PayPal, and Microsoft has someone ready to duke it out with. Unless something bad occurs over at Redmond in the next year or so, PayPal's going to be fighting one huge battle with Redmond's executives (and I wouldn't be surprised if Redmond's lawyers also get into the ring waving around a couple patent papers as well).
I have a paypal debit/mastercard card and I must say I absolutely love it. I could get a check card from my bank but they don't offer me 1.5% cashback like paypal does and I would hate to lose my check card. With the paypal card I can easily keep at least 120-180 in my account at all times to pay for stuff when I don't want to use real cash.
I'm definitely going to buy a few shares from them
When death looks you in the eye, smile. Someone needs to cheer him up.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/paypal.htm l
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/02/23/pay _p al/
Paypal victim site: http://chips.dyndns.org/~xcomvic/
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,26 05 840,00.html
etc etc etc ... One scam goes like this : The victim sells an item, are paid via paypal -- they ship the item, once the scam artists has recieved it, they can force the CC company to reverse the charge because theres no signature ... Paypal is debited the money, and paypal *TAKES THE MONEY FROM YOUR BANK ACCOUNT* without your authorization. A buddy off mine lost 350$ AND his DX7 keyboard this way ... fuck that
Free Techno/Jazz/DNB/MI Music by guys obsessed with monkeys!
every since they dropped their palm tool, i thought they started sucking
i mean, you expect me to actually carry cash around when i can just beam money to whoever paid for lunch? f-that
Do you have any idea how they book revenue? For instance if I use paypal to pay a friend $10, is that ten dollars of revenue?
Their business model reminds me of that Saturday Night Live skit with the commercial for that bank that takes pride in how many ways they were making change.
When asked, "How can you make money making change?"
The answer (and intended as humor): "Volume."
Game: Player 'Donald J Trump' now has AI skill level 'experimental'.
Now get five free shares with ever new account opened!
If company has a good idea AND manages it right they can stay ahead of the competition.
Sometimes existing companaies are too ignorant or too tied up with their own self importance to consider new markets.
Sure mastercard or someone could do something similar, but they wouldnt do it for free, and they probably have no real understanding of the market. They would probably want to just treat it like normal retail transfers... which it is not.
Its not an easy job to buy people who understand a new market, they will be playing catchup for a while.
In the long run for paypal to defend their market against mastercard type people it will require good managment, they need to keep the momentum going.
An IPO will help them grow.
"When I say 'capitalism', I mean a full, pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism - with a separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church. A pure system of capitalism has never yet existed, not even in America; various degrees of government control had been undercutting and distorting it from the start. Capitalism is not the system of the past; it is the system of the future - if man is to have a future." - Ayn Rand
Please folks, before you get over exited, I would consider that there is some panic on PayPals side involved in going for IPO, getting new capital in and expand RAPIDLY before others catch up. PayPal used to be pretty unique and the banks (even if Deutsche Bank was one of the original investors), especially big banking, pretty much stayed away from them. Why did the banks do that? They thought a technology driven company like Paypal (and DigiCash (today known as eCash Technologies), CyberCash(aquired by VeriSign and others), GlobeSET(acquired by Trintech) and many more ...) never posed a threat to the big banks. Then Paypal started to do something you shall not do . Disintermediate the banks. Now the banks think, wow, they are stealing customers from us. So there are various new initiatives on their way. Visa 3-D Secure ( See here), which is _first_ aimed to eliminate consumer fraud but has extensions in the protocol for later P2P use, NACHA has several initiatives on the way: ISAP which is again _first_ an internet payment protocol but will carry into P2P later, Project Action which will aim directly at the eBay Payments of PayPal. So they are afraid. They are afraid for a good reason. They need money to compete (and, according to rumours they are pretty much running out of it). So an IPO is a logical step. Maybe they will even make it in these difficult times ...
In my (2) dot-com dealings, "IPO" was basically the exit strategy for the initial investors, their attempt to recover their money and let someone else shoulder the risk.
Often, it goes "try to sell the company; if we can't find a buyer, do an IPO." Not that this should worry anyone. You have to be currently healthy during an IPO, at least.
A.
TAKES THE MONEY FROM YOUR BANK ACCOUNT* without your authorization
1. You don't grant access to your account on a transaction-by-transaction basis; you grant access to your account PERIOD. I'm sorry if your buddy didn't understand this fact of banking. Kind of an expensive way to learn it; clearly you've learned from his mistakes.
2. If someone defrauds you, you prosecute them. I'm sorry if your buddy's DX7 keyboard and his $350 weren't worth his time; that was his choice. It's not PayPal's problem if you are defrauded; it's your problem.
I use PayPal. I know the risks. If they foul up my account I will pursue fraud charges against them. If someone else rips me off, I'll pursue fraud charges against THEM. Everybody needs a hobby, and from time to time it becomes my hobby to make people responsible for their actions.
The only reason a company would IPO in this environment is they can't get cash any other way.
No way dude. Paypal is visible and has it's best account in EBay, but Checkfree, based in ATlanta, controls 80 percent of the online billing market. Almost all the major financial institutions use Checkfree's infrastructure. They simply prefer to remain behind the scenes, but if you are using your bank's online services, then I (almost) guarantee you that's Checkfree. No shit.
;-)
the thing about payPal is they charge 2 or 3 percent to use their services so what's the advantage over using your credit card? Same thing Course, I work there so I guess I'm biased, but this info is pretty much the truth.
heh, sorry but i felt obligated to post in this thread.........go Checkfree!
Why why why should we give a rat's ass about this.
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast.
What the hell are they thinking? Investors are scared shitless of the market right now. And they learned their "Tech" lesson. Regardless of if Paypal has a decent service no one is going to touch a tech based stock. Much less an internet one with a 30 foot pole.
Groovy
This is the only, and I mean only .com-ish type company I'd ever invest in.... because c'mon folks, they are a market leader of a required infrastructure type website/system that the internet needs.... where would ebay be without this?
===> An eye for an eye makes everyone blind - MG
There are good ways to protect yourself on Paypal. One is to make sure that you only deal with people who have verified accounts. This means that they have linked a bank account to their Paypal account and (presumably) can be traced. In fact, if you pay someone for an eBay auction with Paypal AND they don't send the goods you can get up to $200 from eBay and $200 from Paypal.
Look here for up-to-date information on Paypal's fraud policy.
--
The internet is the greatest source of biased information in the history of mankind.
It is paypals problem if you're defrauded -- they claim to be a safe and secure way to transfer money. Even if you want to argue that they aren't in the business of making sure TRADES go ok, someone clearly has found out how to defraud the monetary transfer itself. IMHO paypal was ripped off in the previous scenario, not my friend ... however-- paypal sidestepped the monetary damage itself by commiting fraud on one of their customers. Paypal is a joke :)
Free Techno/Jazz/DNB/MI Music by guys obsessed with monkeys!
The point is whether or not individuals in P2P transactions should be exposed to the risk of a buyer backing out of a transaction by abusing the credit card system. Businesses have large enough volume to absorb those risks, individuals don't. Furthermore, because individuals traditionally don't take credit cards in P2P transactions, there are no protection mechanisms (your suggestion of "prosecuting" them is obviously impractical).
There are many traditional payment methods by which the seller is not exposed to the risk of the buyer backing out after having received the product. If PayPal can't figure out a way to provide similar protections to its customers in P2P transactions, then maybe PayPal really isn't the right payment method for many P2P transactions.
Good people, lousy customer service.
Not to mention this whole push to force you to draw money out of your bank account is stupid AND annoying! If they don't want you to use your credit card, remove it as an option, just like they removed credit card funding of accounts. Doh, I FORGOT, the whole reason I signed up for PayPal was so I could use my CREDIT CARD to buy stuff on eBay. Guess I'll just have to use Billpoint from now on...
I'm still bitter about PayPal dropping the whole beamable cash thing. They sold out, and now with the IPO, they're cashing out while they still can...
" They have an incredibly intelligent, dedicated and savvy staff that understands their market and industry. "
I think everyone in any business believes they are smart and can out do the next guy -- it's what we are built to believe in. Anything else is just plain un-American.
There are a lot of smart people in a lot of companies that don't stand the test of time. We will see how Paypal goes -- I wish them luck.
Does this mean that if I buy shares of PayPal with my PayPal account I get shares of my money back?
"I have not failed. I've simply found 10,000 ways that won't work." --Thomas Edison
holy hell.. i had no idea this kind of thing was going on. I've never personally used paypal, but have had friends who have (a while ago). I'd never heard of such problems. Thanks for the links, though, I'll be sure *NOT* to use paypal at anytime in the future, ever.
Joseph?
Bupkis.
How is being ripped off by someone using PayPal different than being ripped off by someone cashing a money order? I would think with the money order you have that much *less* protection because who knows when the crook received it, cashed it, etc. But with PayPal, you receive notice when the bad guy has accepted your payment. At least that way you can have a more calculated guess at whether you're being screwed or not.
Analogously, PayPal is the messenger service delivering the money order. When's the last time you heard someone bitching at the postal service because they sent a money order to someone and didn't get their expected goods?
Perl - $Just @when->$you ${thought} s/yn/tax/ &couldn\'t %get $worse;
> I think we need to transition to a non-magic-fish based economy.
Out of curiosity what does that mean?
disclaimer : My views do not represent those of every one else in slashdot.
The post office can't take back the payment AFTER you've recieved it. Thats what paypal did in this case.
Free Techno/Jazz/DNB/MI Music by guys obsessed with monkeys!
I understand that some companies are confident enough in such an unstable market situation to go public, but is this the right decision right now? Generally, a company wants to IPO when investors are buying... However, I don't really know much about their business model or how they operate, but if they have put themselves into the best position possible for on-line payment services, it has to be half decent. Let's just hope that they aren't going to become another statistic of the dot-com meltdown. Who knows: maybe they can be a cornerstone of support for the Tech sector in the coming months. It'll be interesting to see how they come out of this.
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=21918&cid=23 48 916
Free Techno/Jazz/DNB/MI Music by guys obsessed with monkeys!
Amazing how much people have to say without even having read PayPal's Registration Statement for IPO.
(Yes, I read it)
Paypal covers up to $5000 a year on "chargebacks". YOu need to ship to a confirmed address (US only then) and use a shipping service that is traceable (UPS Ground will do). There is a list to follow to ensure you're covered (as a seller). I don't know if this applies to the personal accounts, but anyone can apply for the premier account and get the sme coverage.
Sorry Dan but I have to say that your friend would get modded down as:
-1: Idiot
Seriously. I know we all blame software and website TOS for all the ills in the world but when it's your CC# and bank account it pays to read the fine print. Paypal is a middle man. End of story. Everyone has a sad tale of getting fucked selling something over the internet. Fortunately it is generelallythe exception and not the rule.
OK its late I'm sorta drunk (ok really drunk) so I apologize for my grammar and the standard IANATroll apply.
Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. Sounds like the former in this case.
Pete
(pardon the blatant American centric nature of my sig. I thought everyone would get it, but...)
The sole purpose of the Internet is to get porn and bomb making plans into the hands of children.
Unfortunately with my dealings (AC for a reason) with paypal they strike me as the typical "intelligent, savvy staff" that is still business naive, and not terribly well versed in the suit and tie, golfing with the VP world.
In an ideal world this would be fine, but in a world where you need to deal with the suits for success, it's kinda nice.
From my perceptions, I'd also wager that the company itself is growing too much, too quickly, and will likely require a bit of orginization before anything of an IPO's scope will be attempted.
They do seem to be smart people though, so it'll get done if they're patient.
Congratulations! You just discovered a hole in CC Protocols. It is called MoTo (MailorderTelephoneorder) and you are correct that you can reverse such transaction. I guess every single eTailer out there suffered from this "loss". BUT, first of all, these rules are there for a reason. If I am your underpaid waiter in the little restaurant around the corner just pin down your 16-digit PAN and expiration date from your credit or debit (Visa/MC) card, guess what, I can go shoppingWohooo. What big of a deal. Now, if I, being the bad guy, accepted the delivery of my little shopping experience (using certified mail, signature required UPS or whatnot), I AM IN TROUBLE. And if your friend sent a 350$ item without a signature upon delivery, he is a f&((% idiot and should not sell stuff on eBay anyway. Phhhhhhhh ...
I had a bank account with x.com. Paypal shut the online banking portion down. But they decided that, rather than return the $450 or so I had in the account, they'd just keep it. FOR FOUR MONTHS. That was all the money I had in the world, and being that I was a student at the time, I was royally fucked. Had to complain to the BBB twice before paypal even contacted me about returning my money.
they are (with the possible exception of eBay) the most unaccountable and uncontactable organisation on the planet. Fucking PENDING, these pricks have got $300 of my money right now which I have been trying to get back for over a month. It's fucking organised crime. SHUT THEM DOWN.
That was classic intercourse!
I'm sure they won't be able to place a new bond issue in this environment, but that is exactly what those rate cuts by central banks around the world are trying to deal with.... lowering the cost of borrowing for *solid companies*..... c'mon there are still solid companies looking to IPO and issue stocks on a secondary issue basis.... for example .... look at all those insurance companies that are demutualizing....
===> An eye for an eye makes everyone blind - MG
In some cases, the private owners of a company want to GET OUT. They have a successful business, but they don't want to run it their whole lives.. they want to move on. SO.. they sell it.
You can either sell the company privately... or.. PUBLICLY.. which means an IPO.
And an IPO is generally more profitable.
Doing an IPO so you can get money so you can build a dotcom is one thing.. going public when you have a company that's actually worth something is a different matter.
Anyone online... I've seen people paying each other via paypal... websites taking fees...
Online Casinos & Sportsbooks, for sure, use paypal a great deal now.
Paypal is in a position that previous to the net, only banks & amex, visa, & Mastercard occupied: they are acting successfully as a financial transaction broker.
No, it's not $10 revenue. PayPal separately quotes how much money they "move", which I believe is in the billions every year. The revenue is what they make off moving that $10, such as the float interest when you keep it in your account, or any charges associated with moving the money.
PayPal is featured in the PBS special "Electric Money" on PBS next Wednesday. This special looks at the recent history of money as it mostly now exists as electronic transactions. The series was made by Mark Stephens who made the two PBS "Revenge of the Nerds" series and writes the Cringely column on the PBS web site.
I don't like the idea of Yahoo! owning everything. It makes it too easy to do unfair trade practices.
What if they decided free auction payments would only apply to Yahoo auctions, and not eBay? I personally like PayPal, and I want it to stay free, although it seems they raise the bar more and more every year.
I used to be nice and let my money sit in my PayPal account to earn them interest to "thank them for their free service." Now I was forced to convert to a Premium account and pay around 3% on each transaction because I bought something that was over $100. Blah! So now I quickly transfer my money to my bank account and pay their damn 3% charge.
eBay had tremendous growth before PayPal, and if PayPal didn't exist, their next-best competitor would take over...
Perhaps you were referring to the idea, which they pioneered (well, the "free" service anyway when other companies charged a ton).
I hadn't used my account for some time and had no idea it was no longer free until I sold something on eBay. When the buyer paid me I checked my paypal account and found out they took 3% without notice. Without asking. I have closed my account and now use the pay service yahoo provides. It is free. Any company doing an IPO is clueless. Either the folks at PayPal are greedy or stupid or they are hurting for cash. If they're hurting for cash then that's a good sign that their current business model is not sound. So
by charging people for the use of their service isn't working what will?
nuff said.....
http://tinyurl.com/3t236
Doesn't it cost money to ipo? Underwriting costs, marketing costs, etc...
I don't have a specific opinion on whether either company will do well once they go public, but they both occupy very similar space: They are staking out a small point of time, mindshare and convenience in a transaction -- an information transaction in Google's case, and a financial one with PayPal.
They're more than enablers and less than guarantors (info you find on Google might be crap, as might the crotchless panties you picked up on Ebay).
As a meta-model for a business, it's a good one -- Realtors, some attorneys and certainly non-IT consultants of most stripes make their living by getting in between a desire and a thing/idea that will realize that desire.
Hell, it's easier than selling widgets.
"It was a summer's tale: Just a boy, his Linux, and a head full of dreams..."
Why? Because I followed the fucking "Seller Protection Policy". They are a middle man. You follow their rules to minimize fraud, and they protect you from liability. If you take a payment from some guy in Romania and send him $7k worth of electronics, don't be surprised if you get ripped off.
Your friend sounds like he's been ripped of....guess what, I was ripped off a few years back too. You learn from your mistake, and minimize your risk for the next time.
IPO stands for "Initial Public Offering." So the title of this stroy is "Paypal Intends to Initial Public Offering."
Geeks already get a bad rap for not being finanically savy this does not help try this next time "PayPal files for IPO"
I'm a long-time PayPal user. I thought it was a teriffic concept, but I have several complaints with their service.
.QIF files they generate for you. If someone pays you but the payment is declined, it still shows up as debited in the .QIF - making your total balance show incorrectly low. Then last weekend, it showed every payment I made as being entered twice, making my account negative. All weekend long, I couldn't use my PayPal debit card for anything - and it was a time when I really needed access to the funds.
1. They got rid of the Palm-Pilot support. That really sucks, because the ability to "beam" a payment directly from a Palm device to a merchant (or of course, to your buddy's Palm device) held a lot of promise. Until they discontinued this feature, a few of my co-workers started regularly paying each other back for lunches, etc. in this manner. (EG. 3 of you go to lunch. One guy puts the whole thing on his credit card to simplify things, and the other 2 beam him their portion of the bill, to be credited to his acct. when he hotsyncs his Pilot later in the day.)
2. PayPal became a lot less attractive when all the restrictions kicked in. That "Premiere" account they practically force regular PayPal users to "upgrade" to starts costing you a chunk of every payment you receive. I'd be ok with it if it was only on credit card payments, but PayPal wants a percentage even when it's on payments direct from PayPal users with funds in their PayPal account.
3. They've screwed up my account several times. For starters, they had/have a bug in the Quicken
PayPal has yet to reach profitability and has net losses of $231 million since its inception in March 1999.
....
Here to drive the last nail in
http://tinyurl.com/3t236