Is Amazon set to launch a PayPal killer?

Interesting article over in Barrons that heavily references a report from Derek Brown.  The main speculation is that Brown believes Amazon could be close to launching a payment service similar to Paypal.  Brown dug into some job listings and other sources to fuel the speculation.

Comments

[Jason Mueller]

TechCrunch has great coverage,

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/19/amazon-said-to-be-preparing-a-paypal-killer-wait-it-already-tried-that/

However, I think Amazon has a huge edge because 1) They take a huge proportion of net sales, 2) They have the top kickback revenue model of any online distributor.

[gg]

Huh??? They already have a payment system and honestly it sucks:

https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/index.htm

Here are a few short reasons why:

-Merchants are given a name by Amazon for the buyer when they make a purchase, nothing more. You do not have a billing address or a shipping address to compare with what was entered on your website. It is a cc thief's dream system! You have no idea if the account that is paying is owned by the person you are shipping to....

-Customer support is via email and email is rarely responded to. If I have a payment issue I want it resolved.....

-Amazon declines a high number of payments which would be ok.... But they reverse the declines days after without notification to the merchant

-Fees are calculated to 5 decimal places like .33333 so you can have a $42.64567 account balance mental!

Bottom line it is a joke. I know it is hard to imagine a payment system worse than paypal but Amazon has designed it!