Slashdot Mirror


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."

3 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Pointless addendum by spooje · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Usually you have some legal protections when using a debit card. Paypal has a habit of ignoring disputed transactions until it's legally too late to get your money back. I had a problem with them a few years back where they kept telling me to talk to the merchant to resolve the issue, but if the merchant never shipped my stuff and won't give my money back what else can I do? If I used a debit or credit card it would have been much easier to dispute the charges and get my money back.

    --
    Tea and kung-fu. Life is good. Rising Phoenix
  2. Re:But remember by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

    You have no idea what a bank is or does.

    That's OK. I'm convinced that my bank doesn't either.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  3. Re:I have a debit card with chip-and-pin. by bmo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    >Paypal could be a safer option

    For who?

    Vendors?
    Customers?

    From what I've heard is that everyone hates them, that they're forever screwing over both sellers and shoppers, day-in, day-out, 24/7 on Ebay, but since Ebay is a captive market, there aren't any real alternatives.

    Why, on Gawd's Green Earth, would you want to take their abuses and expand them out into meatspace?

    Credit card companies, as much maligned as they are, treat their customers (both vendors and shoppers) far better than Paypal has ever done for their own customers.

    As a purchaser, you are better off with a regular or secured credit card and pay it off at the end of the month (this is key) than ever dealing with Paypal. You get extra warranties, cash-back, fraud protection, frequent flier miles, etc. Indeed, just comparing credit card fraud protection to Paypal's version of "fraud protection" and the differences are staggering. Only a fool would pick Paypal.

    --
    BMO