RSS'Overpriced' BlackBerry apps spark renewed skepticism over PayPal links
By Tim Conneally | Published March 10, 2009, 4:19 PM
An undue amount of attention is being paid to BlackBerry App World's "overpriced" $2.99 minimum charge in the soon-to-be-released app store, when there's the specter of PayPal and eBay lurking just behind it.
And where they go, dissatisfied users follow.
Since PayPal is not a bank, its security and policies have frequently come into question, and hundreds of user complaints can be found with scant effort.
"Merchants finding themselves on the wrong end of a frozen PayPal account will still have to find some way to pay their obligations and fill orders for the weeks and months while the account is restricted. A domino effect occurs when a merchant's account is frozen, leaving them with No Means To Fill Orders. Those orders are then disputed by customers, creating more chargebacks and the illusion of fraudulent activity on the part of the merchant. "Welcome to the PayPal Nightmare." The Best Solution?: Get a Real Merchant Account." --Paypalwarning.org
PayPal has a reputation as a risky means of exchanging money anywhere outside of eBay. The two services are so closely tied together that they were cited by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission as being anti-competitive.
EBay CEO John Donohoe acknowledged that PayPal is a more valuable asset than eBay, and that the company will be putting increased emphasis on the PayPal business. Many career eBay sellers conversely feel that the new executive has destroyed the eBay brand with changes to the user feedback policy, and JP Morgan Chase analyst Imran Khan called it the "fall of a franchise." Stockholders and sellers went so far as to petition for Donohoe's termination.
People are worried about a two dollar premium on their BlackBerry apps when they have this to worry about? eBay will host its annual shareholder's meeting tomorrow, where Donohoe will speak about the company's plans to take PayPal further into the mobile sector.
Ebay has become a sad ghost of its former self. Greed has a way of making companies stupid and self-destructive, and there's usually a small number of execs to blame.
Score: -1
|I'm confused, how do the potential risks of using PayPal to receive money relate to RIM requiring users to use PayPal to send money? There's really no possibility of a domino effect on the users here, as if their accounts are under review, they simply won't be able to buy a pointless program that allows them to "knock on wood" for $3.
Score: -1
|I have used PayPal with modest success for years. I think that it should be at least one option and not an exclusive tool for paying online. RIM's pricing is a whole other ball of wax. I am not certain that tiny apps for the Storm and other RIM devices will be worth 3 bux. However, I don't think that amount is excessive if the app is worthwhile.
Score: -1
|Well, i never have problem with Paypal, until recently I went travelling to Singapore, and try to use paypal to pay for some voip service.
My account is suspended after that, and I can unsuspend by verifying using my registered USA mobile phone. Well I dont have roaming service, So I could not use that in Singapore.
Alternative option, they send a letter to my home, well. I cant wait for the snail mail to arrive.
So I use Visa finally, and when I reach home in USA, I manage to unsuspend by entering the code they sent to my home, and the first thing I do is to withdraw all my money from Paypal back to my Bank account.
Not saying that I hate paypal, but its kinda frustating at that time.
So if you are a big merchant, Dunno what happen if you can not access your funds :P.
Score: 0
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