Posted 08/11/09 at 02:25:47 PM by Paul Lilly

As if Paypal critics needed any more ammunition, the online payment service has been assessing new fees to personal accounts since June, and you probably didn't even know about it. That's because the fees -- 2.9 percent on purchases marked "goods" or "services" -- were only announced in an email that said they had changed their Terms of Service (ToS), but you had to actually go read re-read the ToS page to be made aware of the fee change.

Sounds rather sneaky, doesn't it? But according to Paypal, there was nothing underhanded going on.

"We didn't want to make a huge formal communication out of this pricing change, because we weren't really adding any fees, and we were hoping it would be a more useful experience for people,"  said Charlotte Hill, Paypal's PR manager.

Take from that what you will, but we've heard slicker sales pitches on used car lots, and you probably have too.

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Posted 08/05/09 at 01:25:45 PM by Paul Lilly

Paypal might not be the only online e-commerce game in town, but if you frequently buy and sell items online, the Ebay-owned payment system might as well be. Other payment systems have come and gone, and some, like Google Checkout, still remain, but none have been able to duplicate the success and widespread acceptance that Paypal has. But what if Apple were to enter the fray?

According to chatter on Wall Street, Apple executives can barely restrain themselves from spilling the beans on a new service that would allow iTunes Store account holders to use those accounts to make purchases on participating third-party sites, Silicon Alley Insider says.

If such a service would ever come to fruition, Apple would become a competitor to Paypal overnight, bringing with it a huge existing install-base of potential users. And it wouldn't be as much of a leap as some might think. iPhone owners can already use their iTunes accounts to purchase virtual and subscription goods in third-party iPhone applications, albeit at 30 percent per transaction.

For now it remains just gossip, but with lots of users eager for a true Paypal alternative, someone is eventually going to fill that void, Apple or otherwise.

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Posted 07/30/08 at 12:14:26 PM by Paul Lilly

Paypal and relative newcomer Google Checkout will both face off against a new contender in the online payment arena as Amazon jumps into the ring with a service of its own. Called Checkout by Amazon, the new service gives online retailers the option of letting Amazon manage their payments, along with some compelling reason for letting them do so.

Surfers who already have an account registered with Amazon (and who doesn't?) will be able to pay for goods at sites using Checkout by Amazon using billing and shipping details already on file with the mega e-tailer. Sites using the service can also offer customers the same '1-Click ordering' as Amazon, order tracking and management, Amazon's purchase protection policy, and other nuances associated with shopping directly at Amazon.

Learn about fees and another payment service being launched after the jump.

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Posted 07/11/08 at 04:41:32 PM by Pulkit Chandna

A man of ordinary sanity doesn’t need sophisticated e-mail filters for egregiously unconvincing messages from someone lodged in a war torn African country, informing the recipient of how the sender miraculously found him, of all Homo sapiens, and a deal worth millions awaits him. But, unfortunately enough, perfectly sane people do fall prey to such messages, and don’t fare too well against the slightly more plausible fake eBay and Paypal e-mails either.

eBay and its cognate company Paypal have tied-up with internet behemoth Google to immunize Gmail users from phishing attacks. Fraudulent e-mails, claiming to be from eBay or Paypal, would be purged by using DomainKeys and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM). However, Paypal admits that the technology still needs some polishing. DomainKeys has been used for a while now and, in fact, most Yahoo Mail users might recall e-mails from some major domains including Paypal having a stamp of approval from Yahoo Domain Keys: Yahoo Domain Keys has verified that this message was sent by XYZ.com. All said, this is a good move.

Tip: If you want to be absolutely sure about your precious Paypal and eBay accounts, don’t ever click through to these websites from links embedded in emails, no matter how credible they might appear to your untrained eye. Also change your password as often as you can, preferably, as often as once a month.

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Posted 06/24/08 at 08:30:53 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Despite all the Web 2.0 rhetoric the internet still has no sure-fire answer for rampant phishing frauds. Microsoft, PayPal and Google – the who’s who of the internet – have laid the cornerstone of the Information Card Foundation to confront some of the most daunting and taunting online security challenges. The organization has as its immediate goal to replace each individual’s myriad of online passwords with a single ID card.

Such an ID card will be a person’s key to the internet and will only transact information absolutely necessary for accessing a website. It can certainly put a lid on phishing fraud. The technology required for these information cards is present as we speak but there aren’t enough compatible websites. Also don’t forget it is easier to treasure – or even venerate - a single all-purpose ID card than innumerable passwords.

Did You Know: eBay-owned online money transaction major PayPal has been offering a cheap security device called Security Key, which is effectively a key generator, since early 2007 to its customers. Security is paramount for PayPal as any lapse or breach can result in serious monetary damage to its users. PayPal offers this device for $5 to all its users except business members for whom it is free.

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