The PayPal Phenomenon

An Anonymous Coward writes: "Pretty interesting and thorough history of PayPal." Not really the usual fare on Slashdot, but this is a very readable account of one of the few dot-com successes. I find PayPal pretty annoying today - a lot of the anti-fraud, privacy-invasive measures which this article applauds make Paypal much less enticing to me than it used to be. And they've been accused of squatting on people's funds at the slightest excuse. But maybe that's the way to success: start off with a very appealing product, then slowly tighten the screws.

Comments

Re:"Fraud Prevention"

[UberOogie]

In order to continue getting use of my account, I must give them a bank account number? Are they insane?

Are you?

Paypal is certainly not all light and puppies as others here are saying (ignoring Michael's knee-jerk rambling for a moment), but what do you expect them to do?

You did read their terms of service before you got started, right? You did know that that was their policy for transactions over $1,000? If the answer is no, then it is your fault for not knowing.

And two, how do you expect them to secure large transactions? Fraud is probably their primary source of loss. How is an easily-faked address confirmation going to do anything if you walk off after a $2,000 buy? Seems a reasonable policy to me. If you don't like it, don't do business with them.

If you're that concerned about giving that information out, I'm sure you never write a check or use your debit card for purchases.