01-02-2004, 04:02 PM
Hi, WarLocke,
PayPal is definitely not non-profit.
Although the sources of funds mentioned by others are probably significant - now - when PayPal first started up, their proposed source of funding was the 'float' (at least, I think that's what business/financial types call it, my memory might be confused on the issue :P ).
In other words, even though your money is in their possession for a very short time, and even if it's a small amount, multiply that by the total number of their users, and it adds up to a hefty sum. They can make money by using that money of yours, even if it's only in their account(s) for minutes.
When they proposed their business model, some venture capitalists/businessmen were very skeptical that it would work, but enough bought into the idea to get it off the ground, and seem to have been proven right.
I don't know for sure if they have their own team of money managers to use this 'float' or if they contract this out to some independent money-managing business, but I think they keep it in-house. I think somewhere on PayPal's website, they mention this is how they make most of their money. There's also an extra step you can take, if you regularly keep money in your PP account, where they will, IIRC, pay you some interest on the money. I've not paid much attention to that since I don't regularly keep money in my PP account.
Yes, you can sign up with them by providing a rather minimal amount of information. I've noticed lately, though, an increasing number of sellers will only take PayPal if you be have a verified account (I don't yet).
I'm not sure there is a way to use PP without having a checking account, or something similar, since that is one of the main pieces of info they ask for. Still, if you are still interested in PP, but don't want to get into the whole banking thing, it might be worth an e-mail to the PP staff to see if there is some other way to handle things.
I've read a few horror stories about PayPal; they do have some disgruntled ex-customers. However, most of these stories I've read involve business accounts, or larger sums of money, and/or the people writing the diatribes come across as being one of those unreasonable types that all businesses run into now and then.
I've used PP about 4-5 times, without any problems so far. I think as long as you stick to small amounts of money, there's not much chance for trouble. I think I might hesitate to use PP for amounts over a couple of hundred dollars or so, but maybe that's just me... (heh, of course on my current budget, that's all hypothetical anyway :D).
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Dako-ta
"What is the good of being a genius if you cannot use it as an excuse for being unemployed?"
-- Gerald Barzan
PayPal is definitely not non-profit.
Although the sources of funds mentioned by others are probably significant - now - when PayPal first started up, their proposed source of funding was the 'float' (at least, I think that's what business/financial types call it, my memory might be confused on the issue :P ).
In other words, even though your money is in their possession for a very short time, and even if it's a small amount, multiply that by the total number of their users, and it adds up to a hefty sum. They can make money by using that money of yours, even if it's only in their account(s) for minutes.
When they proposed their business model, some venture capitalists/businessmen were very skeptical that it would work, but enough bought into the idea to get it off the ground, and seem to have been proven right.
I don't know for sure if they have their own team of money managers to use this 'float' or if they contract this out to some independent money-managing business, but I think they keep it in-house. I think somewhere on PayPal's website, they mention this is how they make most of their money. There's also an extra step you can take, if you regularly keep money in your PP account, where they will, IIRC, pay you some interest on the money. I've not paid much attention to that since I don't regularly keep money in my PP account.
Yes, you can sign up with them by providing a rather minimal amount of information. I've noticed lately, though, an increasing number of sellers will only take PayPal if you be have a verified account (I don't yet).
I'm not sure there is a way to use PP without having a checking account, or something similar, since that is one of the main pieces of info they ask for. Still, if you are still interested in PP, but don't want to get into the whole banking thing, it might be worth an e-mail to the PP staff to see if there is some other way to handle things.
I've read a few horror stories about PayPal; they do have some disgruntled ex-customers. However, most of these stories I've read involve business accounts, or larger sums of money, and/or the people writing the diatribes come across as being one of those unreasonable types that all businesses run into now and then.
I've used PP about 4-5 times, without any problems so far. I think as long as you stick to small amounts of money, there's not much chance for trouble. I think I might hesitate to use PP for amounts over a couple of hundred dollars or so, but maybe that's just me... (heh, of course on my current budget, that's all hypothetical anyway :D).
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Dako-ta
"What is the good of being a genius if you cannot use it as an excuse for being unemployed?"
-- Gerald Barzan