Could PayPal Be an In-Store Option?

daria42 writes "PayPal has long been one of the most-used payment options on the Internet; its history serving eBay's millions of users has now expanded into a wider remit across many e-commerce sites. But will the company ever become a valid option for point of sale payments at actual physical retail stores? Yes, according to PayPal's global president Scott Thompson — and PayPal's working on that right now, with one option based on mobile phones on the way and two others in development. It'll be interesting to see how far the company gets with its plans; personally I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be using such a system."

Comments

It'll never be an option

[Pop69]

Because they're a bunch of scummy thieves.

http://www.paypalsucks.com/

Re:They don't create money

[xelah]

No, it's a bank. Bank deposits are normally included in the definition of 'money'. They do it like this (if the reserve ratio is 10%):

• Person A deposits $100 with his bank. Total money in existence: $100 (not counting bank reserves).
• The bank lends $90 to someone who uses it to buy something from person B. Person B puts it in his bank. Total money in existence: $100 (in person A's account) + $90 (in person B's account) = $190.
• The bank lends $81 of this new deposit and it's used to buy something from person C. Person C puts it in his account. Total money: $100+$90+$81
• ...
• Total money at the end of the process: $100/10% = $1000.

If the central bank creates $100 of cash then $1000 pops in to existence (with some adjustment for cash people keep in their pocket). It's called the money multiplier.