Why isn't PayPal more successful?
Fred Wilson is a venture capitalst who I've never had the pleasure of working with, but I read his blog regularly and he posited an interesting question today about why PayPal isn't actually more wide-spread than it is.
As is frequently the case with Fred's posts, the real value-add is in the comments.
Give the post+comments a read as I think eBay Strategies readers will find it of interest as well.
Do you think PayPal has a big brand/customer service problem out there?
Just yesterday we were talking about the PayPal's brand issues. All our partners agreed that the name is a real problem. We need a similar service that is more corporate-like. I'm going to look at RipplePay which Alex suggested.
Posted by: Susan Gauff | June 04, 2009 at 02:10 PM
Because they have the same terrible management and customer service (or lack thereof) as ebay!
Posted by: Bob | June 03, 2009 at 06:52 AM
Because they suck!
Posted by: Phil Thompson | June 01, 2009 at 01:12 PM
I dont know about you Scot, but why does it really need to be any bigger than it already is? You and I would both love to have their business!
Posted by: Frank Rizzo | June 01, 2009 at 12:13 PM
I think since Jeff Jordan bailed, everything has gone to hell. And what is up with all these system updates and "not available maintenance". I thought they were only doing it on Thursdays. Why on a Saturday? Is it bad enough they just changed the layout so it looks like your credit card statement
and most importantly, paypal isn't as successful because they don't have to be. They've bought every body off. They've freaked buyers out with all their propaganda.
Posted by: fruity | May 30, 2009 at 10:39 PM
The first time I heard the name PayPal I thought it was a horrible moniker. It sounds very un-professional, very mom and pop. Of course we now know that it is a legitimate company, but I really think they need to do something about that name.
Let's say that you were asking a Fortune 500 company to pay you for a very large order. Would you really want to ask them to pay by PayPal? I'd be embarrassed to do so base solely on that name.
Posted by: Steve | May 30, 2009 at 07:48 PM
I've been looking for alternatives to Paypal.
I found this
https://ripplepay.com/
Looks interesting.
Alex
Posted by: Alex | May 28, 2009 at 04:00 AM