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Visa Launches PayPal Alternative
An anonymous reader writes "Visa has entered the micropayment processing space with payclick, a pre-paid hosted service that will compete with the likes of PayPal. Payclick is aimed at teenagers purchasing online content like music and games where the value of the transaction is likely to be less than $20. Like PayPal, payclick is an online money repository that people can pay into with a bank account or credit card (Visa or MasterCard) and then use the funds to purchase products online. The service was developed and launched in Australia with a view for global markets. PayPal integration is not there yet, but parents can monitor the amount of funds their under-18 children have to spend online. For e-commerce sites, an SDK is available for payclick integration."
Of course you can just keep spending it online but I'm sure there'll come a point where little Jimmy wants some cold cash in his hands.
jaymz
You mean those radio option boxes are too hard for you?
For something that's supposed to compete with PayPal, it's amazingly limited.
You can't withdraw your own funds.
You can't transfer funds to anyone who isn't a family member unless they are a business, and Payclick gets a cut of the transfer to a business. (Note that I'm not faulting them for making money here, just stating facts.)
You can't pull right from a bank or credit card. You must pre-deposit funds.
Combine that with the fact that almost no services use it yet and it's not a very good offering.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
How will Visa compete with shady business practices; keeping money from users, putting a stop on user accounts because there's a solar flare, not giving a damn about client data confidentiality, not being regulated as a bank. These things make it a tough act to follow for Visa.
Take Nobody's Word For It.
No matter how limited or simple it is at the moment, I'd rather wire money through my friend the ex-Nigerian prince, before using Paypal again.
They aren't thieves, or crooks, but they are a company with HORRIBLE BUSINESS PRACTICES, and go completely unregulated, thanks to lack of oversight from any meaningful government agency.
So yea, any competition in this space is a welcome idea.
I wanted to keep an open mind, even though going by previous ventures anything labelled "micro-payments" seem doomed to failure. So I went looking for information. But there is hardly any useful info to be found, at least not on their home page. The link that advertises "selling digital content easier and faster" for vendors leads not to any information... but to an email address. Yay for simplicity!
Also, take a look at their page for sellers. Would you buy from this shady looking guy? What are these people thinking.
Paypal is a mess simply because it was designed to screw customers from day one. they worked like hell to make sure they operated outside banking rules where there are laws protecting people and their money. Paypal can steal all your money and you cant do crap about it because they are "not a bank"
People who are suprised by paypal problems simply dont pay attention or dont read what they agreed to. I've had zero problems with paypal for the past 11 years only because I know what they are, what their rules are and I play inside their ruleset. You have to play by Paypal's rules or they will go home taking their ball and your ball, chair, couch, ipod, and keys to your bank account.
This is the same for any BANK you might use. Learn their rules carefully. Because they also take joy in screwing you.... Just deposited a $5000.00 in cash at 9:00am if I write a check at 3:00pm the check will bounce. because they process debits before payments as a lump at 12:01am the next morning.
Banks love screwing people this way.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
In your face Paypal! May I never have to to use your rip off service again.
Paypal have been getting away with very dodgy behavior for some time now. They richly deserve the reputation they have earned as scammers out for a fast buck.
However that doesn't mean this new alternative is any better.
"Lobiusmoop has entered the micropayment processing space with 'shiny pebbles', a payment scheme based on the exchange of pretty trinkets picked up from the finest beaches of the planet.
All money is just 'shiny pebbles'. It has no value except in the fact that other people value it.
Better Visa's shiny pebbles than paypal's. Better a central bank than either of them.
Stop using your credit card as a credit line, and start using it as a way to get up to 56 days extra interest on your money plus (often statutory) protections on purchases.
Note that one of the problems with Beenz was that operating a parallel currency is illegal in a lot of the world. One of the new laws that snuck in in the EU last year (or possibly the year before, I lose track) changed this, explicitly making it legal throughout the EU. Somewhat surprisingly, this did not receive much news coverage.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
How long before eBay marks it as a non-trusted form of payment?
Being a spelling & grammar Nazi is a sign you do not poses the intelligence to contribute to the conversation
Exactly. I wonder how Google checkout is still a non trusted form of Payment for an eBay auction. Are they afraid Google steals our 10$ ?
All money is just 'shiny pebbles'. It has no value except in the fact that other people value it.
Not really true. The value of a currency lies in both the willingness and requirement to make use of it.
That is why you aren't allowed to declare your incoming in ounces of gold, and why dollars are legal tender for all debt. To force you to use the currency for some things, giving it a direct value that isn't purely based on faith in the market.
How long after that would Visa start declining charges made through PayPal?
Unlike Google, Visa can cause problems for eBay.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
Most cards' grace period is now only 25 days. And the interest starts accruing from the purchase date, not the end of the grace period. Avoid credit cards if possible, as all their benefits are wiped out if you slip up once.
Most cards' grace period is now only 25 days.
Really? My statement date for my Visa+Mastercard account, for example, is 15th of the month. So, if I buy something on 15th, I get until the statement on the following 15th plus 25 days. 56 days.
And the interest starts accruing from the purchase date, not the end of the grace period.
If your card isn't fully paid off every month, yes.
Avoid credit cards if possible, as all their benefits are wiped out if you slip up once.
If I don't remember - which I do - then my calendaring software reminds me. And, as a last resort, I have a Direct Debit set up to automatically pay the minimum amount - this is managd by the same bank which issues my card. I could make it the whole payment amount, but because I have a secondary card holder the funds come from multiple places.
But yes, if you are terribly disorganised, you might want to get a credit card anyway while your salary+credit's good, then just not use it until you've learnt to organise your life better.
Excepting where you wish to remain anonymous - then cash wins, as always.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
But Visa also has the power to say, "Hmmm, This PayPal thing is shady, therefore we're going to terminate their processing account and ban PayPal from taking Visa Cards". And whatever Visa does, MasterCard, Amex and Discover will quickly follow their lead. Visa has been the ones behind PASB/PCI/PA-DSS for a while and the rest of the industry pretty much says, "Whatever Visa's doing, we'll do too."
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
Don't pay the minimum amount. Always pay at least one cent over it.
The credit score calculation has a binary "did this person pay only the minimum amount" as part of it.
The difference in treatment is jarring. I don't think I'll ever become fully accustomed to it.
There is a school of thought that you shouldn't. That you should continue to remind yourself of how you were treated when you were a "nobody".
This school seems to believe that one way to avoid becoming the opressor (when working inside the system) is to remember when you were opressed. So that if you ever do have Hierarchical Authority over others you do not use the corresponding Power in ways you would have disagreed with.
They seem to believe the issue with "becoming accustomed" to such a dichotomy is that one loses track of where the bright line is between the Authority to do something and the Power to do it.
Of course, what do *they* know? I'm sure that eventually "might makes right" will be proven correct.
Regards.