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PayPal Launches Facebook App For Sending Money

Posted by samzenpus on from the like-this dept.

angry tapir writes "PayPal has launched a Facebook application designed to let users of the social networking site send money to each other. The application, named Send Money, features a greeting card component for accompanying the money transfer with an e-card containing a message, photos and videos to mark occasions like birthdays and anniversaries."

35 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. Fat cash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just think of all the money they can confiscate claiming fraud. Sounds like a good plan.

    1. Re:Fat cash by bobwrit · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Just think of all the money they can confiscate claiming fraud. Sounds like a good plan.

      This is Paypal's motivation in most cases. Considering that they won a case in Connecticut a few years back that says that Paypal cannot be regulated the same way a bank can(when they're pretty much a bank), they really have free reign. Of course, Paypal also has a history of randomly locking down accounts asking for SSN numbers and for you to verify where you live and provide a scanned driver's ID etc etc as well. So, I wouldn't be surprised if Paypal starts doing that here as well. I think you're spot on with this.

      --
      -- (this is a sig) My Computer Programming Forumhttp://www.programers.co.nr/
    2. Re:Fat cash by Runaway1956 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Significant, or otherwise, it's revenue. And, it's definitely significant to the victims! 180 day's interest on a thousand dollars is indeed a drop in the bucket for Paypal, but for many people, having their thousand dollars frozen for six months can be disastrous!

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    3. Re:Fat cash by Grishnakh · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I really don't know why anyone would use the PayPal app.

      It's simple really: Facebook is becoming like a separate internet, where lots of people do all their business and personal activities. Many people, for instance, don't even use email any more, as they do all their messaging on Facebook. If you're thinking I'm wacked, consider how old you are: are you over 25 (or better yet, 30)? If so, then yes, this would seem utterly crazy to you, but this is actually exactly how much of the under-25 crowd thinks; they really do think email is "obsolete".

      So if FB is like a second internet, with messaging, games, news, etc., it's only natural to think that people who spend all their time on there might also want a way of transferring money on there too. Sure, it's easy enough to just go to http://www.paypal.com/ and do it there, but again, we're talking about people who don't use the internet outside of Facebook.

    4. Re:Fat cash by funkify · · Score: 1

      The same crowd that thinks phone calls are obsolete.

    5. Re:Fat cash by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 2

      I really wish I had mod point, I would give you 20 points for understatement of the year!
      I hate paypal for that....does a bank ever freeze your whole account when ever they think there was an error or something going on, no....they know that people need to live and need to pay their mortgages....so why is it ok for paypal to do this when ever they want...according to them for fraud, although wikileaks had no fraud, it was non profit....so no fraud, just pressure by the us gov. ....

      If paypal is going to act like a money institution they should still be held accountable to money laws like the rest are....

    6. Re:Fat cash by Grishnakh · · Score: 2

      I'm not sure that's true. Back in the AOL days, it seemed like the AOL users were generally older people, who weren't computer savvy and thought they needed AOL to get on the internet. As time wore on, the AOL holdouts were older and older people; the young people either abandoned them or never signed up at all because they knew better.

      These days, it's reversed. The young people think Facebook is the place to do everything related to the internet, and don't care about privacy, and the older people (who used to be the "young" people during the AOL days mentioned above) are the ones who know better. In short, the young people of today seem rather stupid compared to the young people of a couple decades ago.

  2. At Last... by Pirow · · Score: 5, Funny

    The two services I wish I could live my online life without.... COMBINED!

    1. Re:At Last... by LostCluster · · Score: 1

      Yep, I fund PayPal with my eBay sales of used tech I don't want or need anymore only because it's required by eBay, the owners of PayPal. If eBay wasn't the hugest marketplace for one-off sales I'd take my business elsewhere. Amazon, could you launch such a thing?

    2. Re:At Last... by cdrudge · · Score: 1

      Amazon, could you launch such a thing?

      You mean like the the "Sell on Amazon" button that is about 4" below the Add to Cart button on just about every page?

    3. Re:At Last... by Grishnakh · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Exactly; it's the old chicken-and-egg problem. It's not just Amazon either, lots of other Ebay clones have popped up over the years, but none of them has gotten even a fraction as large as Ebay. All the sellers go to Ebay (despite the ridiculous fees) because all the buyers are there, and vice versa.

      Any time I want to buy something on Ebay, I do take the time to look to see if there's another way of buying the same product elsewhere, but even with Ebay's high fees, strangely I find that it's frequently more expensive, if you can get it at all. I bought something recently, and found the exact same thing on Amazon, but the price there (from what appears to be the same seller) was higher, so I got it on Ebay instead.

  3. Yes by demonbug · · Score: 4, Funny

    But can it send BitCoins?

    (Only slightly less well known than "yes, but does it run linux?")

  4. Re:Obvious Use by Hazel+Bergeron · · Score: 2

    It's been possible for ages to use the gift option as a way of bypassing Paypal fees.

    But it sounds like a rather unsafe way to pay for your weed. Paypal didn't attain the absurd position of unregulated bank it holds today by not cooperating with the appropriate powers.

  5. Cheap voluntary micropayments to pay for the web.. by Hazel+Bergeron · · Score: 2

    ...instead of adverts, please. For example, I'll pay 10 cents a month for Slashdot. The alternative is 0 cents adblocked.

    Let's return to peer-to-peer exchanges rather than everything via the Google behemoth, please.

  6. Re:No thanks by LostCluster · · Score: 2

    Gold, really? eGold was a site that did paypal for gold, and failed miserably. Gold-to-cash is a constantly changing ratio, and can lead to gold holders to be quite poorer when the stock market is soaring... cash is better than gold most of the time.

  7. Re:No thanks by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_von_NotHaus
    Gold is getting interesting ...

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  8. Re:Cheap voluntary micropayments to pay for the we by Shikaku · · Score: 2

    http://flattr.com/

    Been done already. Also namely how wikileaks still can get funding.

  9. Created out of fear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This was created by them out of fear. I don't remember the companies name exactly but there is a small startup that only asks for 25cents to transfer any amount of money and they actually mentioned being able to do this exact same thing in an interview the CEO did. If anything I would consider this a opening salvo/attack against that startup as paypal is prob trying to IP troll their way into that space.

    1. Re:Created out of fear by semilemon · · Score: 4, Informative

      I think you may be refering to Dwolla.

      --
      Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?
  10. Given the scams and malware on Facebook, why? by swb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Given the spam, scams and malware on Facebook, I'm surprised they would do this.

    Just a couple of days ago, I got a Facebook message from my sister in law "Dare you to watch this video" (I didn't) but when you do, it spams all your Facebook contacts with the message (and whatever else).

    What happens when it steals money from your Paypal account instead?

    And why is it you can even write malware on Facebook? Shouldn't they be able to stop that?

    1. Re:Given the scams and malware on Facebook, why? by Bucky24 · · Score: 1

      There's very little quality control on the apps facebook hosts, since there are so many (often many doing the exact same thing too).

      --
      All the world's a CPU, and all the men and women merely AI agents
    2. Re:Given the scams and malware on Facebook, why? by WiiVault · · Score: 1

      I think your under the mistaken assumption that Paypal cares about what consumers think of them. They may not be a bank, but their clearly take thei customer services cues for the best of them. Of course they take it a step further by avoiding most of those money-hindering consumer protection laws since they have managed to con themselves out of the label bank. I bet the big banks wished they had thought of such a flippant dismissal of laws that specifically target the kinds of businesses that form the entirety of Paypal. You also likely haven't seen the side of Paypal that essentially steals funds, randomly demands bizarre paperwork, or without providing any evidence accuses an account of some violation which is nearly impossible to contest. The thought of them actively pursuing theft from a member account is hilarious to those of us who have had to deal with their "tactics". Paypal lives because they and eBay feed off of each other, and massive memberbase, and only the fairly weak Amazon and Google seem have even a spit of traction for reasons that perplex me.

  11. Lawsuit for Sure! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Kim Kardashian through her army of lawyers will slapFacebook with a $125Million lawsuit for not releasing this app at least 30 days before her conspired marriage!

    The amount represents her "conjugal" share to what she should have raised as marriage gifts that she has learned (through practice) of not returning.

  12. Oi vey! by Infe · · Score: 1

    No possibilities for trojans here..move along.

    --
    Posted by yintercept - "...science...[is] the study of the 'divine creation.' "
  13. Re:No Bank/Checking account--Ever by Grishnakh · · Score: 5, Informative

    The problem with this is that, without linking to a bank account, it's much harder to move money in and out of Paypal; they want an enormous fee every time you ask them to cut a check.

    The answer is simple: get one account (mine's at an old credit union in another state that I no longer use actively) and link that to your Paypal account, and ONLY use it for Paypal transfers. When you transfer money into the account, then you're able to write a check with it, or whatever.

    Why people think they can only have one bank account, I have no idea.

  14. Happy Birthday ... by PPH · · Score: 1

    ... Julian Assange.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  15. Sending... by fisted · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sending money? Who the heck cares about sending money?
    If facebook wants me to register, they better add an app for receiving money.

    --
    CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
    1. Re:Sending... by fisted · · Score: 1

      oh i should have...

      --
      CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
  16. Re:No thanks by phantomcircuit · · Score: 1

    Gold, really? eGold was a site that did paypal for gold, and failed miserably. Gold-to-cash is a constantly changing ratio, and can lead to gold holders to be quite poorer when the stock market is soaring... cash is better than gold most of the time.

    eGold failed because they were engaged in fraud and straight up money laundering

  17. Re:No thanks by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

    eGold was a site that did paypal for gold, and failed miserably

    Right, because it was regulated out of existence, not because of lack of market demand. The government hates competition, especially with a superior product.

    cash is better than gold most of the time

    Unless you count the past 12 years....

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  18. Re:No thanks by Tastecicles · · Score: 2

    Gold to cash is a constantly changing ratio because they keep printing money. There is a finite and fixed amount of tradeable gold on the market - and you can't fake it (unless you have the Grail of Alchemy and aren't prepared to share). When you print money, you diminish its value. When that money is backed by a book entry, it has even less value (read: none). The price of gold has NOT changed against say, a sack of apples. The price of gold hasn't gone up, ever. The value of MONEY has gone DOWN, and continues to do so as long as banks insist on printing fiat currency and we continue to accept the lie.

    --
    Operation Guillotine is in effect.
  19. Re:No thanks by Magic5Ball · · Score: 3, Informative

    > fraud and straight up money laundering

    Whereas this app only funnels a commission through http://connectionpoint.ca/sendmoney and other intermediaries, so that you end up using PayPal as an external service anyway. This app is pointless for anyone in civilized countries where direct account to account transfers or things like Interac are free through your bank's online services.

    --
    There are 1.1... kinds of people.
  20. Bad Feeling by FranktehReaver · · Score: 1

    Does anyone else think this doesn't sound like a good idea?

  21. Time for new friends by winsurfer · · Score: 1

    So I guess it's time to friend Julian Assange?

  22. Re:the end of capitalism by Hazel+Bergeron · · Score: 1

    Well, we replaced social democracy with it in Europe during the '80s and '90s. We can return to social democracy.