iTunes Accepts PayPal
lemist writes "Apple Computer Inc. on Friday said customers of its iTunes online music store can now use eBay Inc.'s online payment service PayPal to buy songs and audiobooks, becoming the second major online music store to do so. Story here."
Not true, the article says that the PayPal account can be linked to a bank account or credit card, and you can also use funds already in your account.
This comment was thought up very late at night and does not necessarily reflect my views at a more reasonable hour.
In order to take advantage of this method of payment, PayPal still requires a debit or credit card on file. Some people don't have either -- shocking, I know.
I've had a bank account tied to my PayPal account for several years. However, when trying to follow the steps necessary to enable PayPal as my payment method for iTunes, I was prompted to enter a credit or debit card. There's no "Skip" button there, only "Cancel." That button does exactly what it suggests.
I am not who I say you are.
Too bad it's against the Paypal TOS for people under 18 to have accounts.
No they dont. Service was pulled for unspecified reasons mid this year.
Conspiracy theorists have had a field day as to why (think: RIAA). Its been really inconvenent because no-one wants to hand their CC # to russians. Although having said that, its a damn good service.
Yes, I know having a bank account is enough, however in order to create an iTunes account with Paypal you HAVE to have a credit card
If you don't have an iTMS account yet, Paypal will give you 5 songs when you create a new iTMS account and link it with a Paypal account. Only for the first 500,000 people, but the promotion just started days ago so should be good for a while. I signed up Friday and got my 5 songs without any problem. Here's the link to the details on Paypal's website: 5 free iTMS songs
PS: I would assume that the artists/Apple get more money this way since you don't get PayPal taking their cut.
PPS: Not to mention that with all I've heard of PayPal, I wouldn't trust them with anything but a credit card in the first place.
PPPS: You can buy prepaid Visa cards (work just like debit cards and are accepted wherever credit cards are) easily too. So really this doesn't change anything.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Credit card processing is expensive no matter how you slice it. That's why so many mom-n-pop restaurants and shops don't accept them.
Pay Pal's processing is actaully relatively cheap for a very low-volume on-line business, but it ceases to be cost effective as volume increases. However, I'm sure Apple can work around that.
-- "Makes Little Debbie look like a pile of puke!" - Moe Szyslak