In March 2000, X.com and Confinity merged together to for what we know today as PayPal. It was conceived as an Internet financial services company with strong cryptographic capabilities. Its reputation is so strong that users all over the world trust the brand name and make online purchases fearlessly. Take the example of eBay where online auctions take place. eBay literally phased out their own system called Billpoint and embraced PayPal as the official payment method to encourage and reassure users about online transactions. Other Internet financial institutions such as Wirecard, Moneybookers, 2Checkut, CCNow and Kagi are far behind PayPal in terms of transactions handled. PayPal made transaction amounting to an astounding $11 million in just the last quarter 2006. With the growth rate going steady, PayPal is growing in leaps and bounds.
PayPal today operates in 103 markets, has local presence in 13 countries, deals in 17 currencies and over 133 million accounts. In China there are two types of PayPal accounts, the PayPal.com account which is used for international payments and the PayPal.cn which is used only in the renminbi currency. The official headquarters of PayPal is in San Jose but it has a strong presence near Omaha, Nebraska where the company has more than 2000 employees. The International headquarters is located in Dublin, Ireland. PayPal recently opened its technology center in Scottsdale, Arizona.
In the United States of America, PayPal is a licensed money transmitter. It is subjected to all the rules and regulations applicable in the financial industry including regulation E consumer protection and many others. PayPal offers the PayPal Buyer Protection Policy which states that the customer can file a complaint within 45 days from the date of purchase in case the product was not delivered or was different from what was described. PayPal also protects its sellers from being harassed by baseless complaints by formulating the Seller Protection Policy. Customers do not get chargeback just based on their complaint. It is ‘designed to protect sellers against claims by buyers of unauthorized payments and against claims of non-receipt of any merchandise. Please read both the policies carefully before you start to use PayPal.
PayPal also introduced an additional security key to its users. This is a six digit key entered by clicking on the electronic pad so that even key loggers fails to identify the digits entered, thus giving it additional security over conventional pin numbers and typed digits. Because of its huge popularity and the sheer number of growing users, there are a percentage of users who are new to online transactions and who are not familiar with safety guidelines. This makes PayPal one of the most targeted sites for email phishing. To counter this PayPal has developed several counter methods but the most basic and important one is customer education on safety and precautions. The users are educated through mails and online help support post which the customer is lead through a email test to check their risk levels. Apart from online payments, PayPal can also be used for other purposes like investing funds in a money market.
|
