Wednesday, August 15, 2007

PayPal - Pay later in the USA - undoubtedly the plan here in Europe as well...

Paypal announced earlier this month that they would start offering their US merchants the option to allow customers a deferred payment at the check-out. Thus tempting customers to buy even if they don't have the money (yet). In order to allow for this credit-mechanism, Paypal works together with GE-Money.

My guess is that somwhere in the next 12 months we will see this feature popping up in Europe as well. And that may be one of the reasons why Paypal chose to move from an e-money license in the UK to a banking license in Luxembourg. As a bank they can do credit; as an e-money institutions they don't have the same manouvering space (as well as more stringent liquidity rules).

By the way, Papyal has also just opened up a blog to keep in touch with the customers. As such they may be the first official bank to so openly embrace the blogging-concept. It may have it's dangers (particularly if Paypal would too often revert to their cavaet: we may, in our sole discretion, reject and delete any comments without notice if they are abusive, defamatory and offensive or for any other reason we deem appropriate), but on the other hand, better create a central blog-space for your own brand (and explanation) than have those autarkic bloggers and linkdumpers get the upper hand in the dialogue with users.....