$1,500,000,000 for PayPal

Just read that Ebay is buying PayPal for $1.5 Billion.

I guess the philosophy is: "If you can't beat'em, then buy'em!"

PayPal has been a thorn in Ebay's side for a long time. It will be interesting to see how long Ebay runs with PayPal before they raise fees up to the level of Ebay Payments, or maybe even combines the two services.

I wonder if the guy/gal who started PayPal envisioned an exit strategy of selling a simple idea for $1.5 Billion?

Makes you want to put your thinking cap on, doesn't it...

JDB


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> Just read that Ebay is buying PayPal for
> $1.5 Billion.

That's outrageous. Where can I get in on this game where money isn't real to people? (maybe my thinking in that way is holding me back from the big money)

My big problem with all this is that Ebay could have, with their brand name weight, effectively taken almost all of the market right out from under paypal's nose.

Imagine this scenario: What if ebay had started their own branch to handle payments the way paypal does? An ebay shootoff like this wouldn't have the problem of people being afraid to register, because, "hey, it's ebay...". Everyone knows ebay.

They could have even have went so far as to refuse to allow seller's to use paypal to pay for auctions:) Or they could have went the more civil route and simply undercut paypal's rates (but what's the fun in that?)

> Makes you want to put your thinking cap on,
> doesn't it...

It does, John. Too bad I lost it somewhere in my garage. I'll just have to go with the goofy looking beret.

Success,

Erik Lukas

for each of PayPal's customers - if my math is correct.

> That's outrageous. Where can I get in on
> this game where money isn't real to people?
> (maybe my thinking in that way is holding me
> back from the big money)

My cousin didn't think money was real. That's how he was able to drop $1,500.00 on a dog without batting an eyelid. And how he didn't care one iota when it ran sixth.

The trick is to not work for it in any way, shape or form. - Get it from relatives, friends, welfare, etc.

What's $1,500.00 or $1,500,000,000.00 when it's not really your money and you personally didn't work for it?

> My big problem with all this is that Ebay
> could have, with their brand name weight,
> effectively taken almost all of the market
> right out from under paypal's nose.

Certainly, given enough time and money. But at only $375 per customer, I think eBay figured it was better to buy an instant money making business instead of trying to set everything up from scratch and then steal away all four million PayPal customers. (Of course, I could be wrong. People do funny things when it's not their money and money is not real to them :o))

> Imagine this scenario: What if ebay had
> started their own branch to handle payments
> the way paypal does? An ebay shootoff like
> this wouldn't have the problem of people
> being afraid to register, because,
> "hey, it's ebay...". Everyone
> knows ebay.

Personally, I would stay away from this. I like to spread my business around. Prevents me from being 'trapped' into something I don't want or like. (That's why I try to use as few Microsoft products as possible. - And most certainly NOT Outlook Express HA!)

> They could have even have went so far as to
> refuse to allow seller's to use paypal to
> pay for auctions:) Or they could have went
> the more civil route and simply undercut
> paypal's rates (but what's the fun in that?)

Hey, undercutting PayPal's rates would have been interesting. It would have, could have, been the first genuine Price War online between Big Players. I would have liked to have seen that. It'd be Battle of The Browsers all over again.

> It does, John. Too bad I lost it somewhere
> in my garage. I'll just have to go with the
> goofy looking beret.

Hey, Berets are cool because no one else wears them.

Michael Ross.


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> My big problem with all this is that Ebay
> could have, with their brand name weight,
> effectively taken almost all of the market
> right out from under paypal's nose.

They did, in 1998 E-Bay purchased "Billpoint" as their own pay system but it didn't work out as well as E-bay expected.

> Imagine this scenario: What if ebay had
> started their own branch to handle payments
> the way paypal does? An ebay shootoff like
> this wouldn't have the problem of people
> being afraid to register, because,
> "hey, it's ebay...". Everyone
> knows ebay.

Like I said, it didn't quite work out this way.

> They could have even have went so far as to
> refuse to allow seller's to use paypal to
> pay for auctions:) Or they could have went
> the more civil route and simply undercut
> paypal's rates (but what's the fun in that?)

I'm not sure about the rate comparison thing but had they refused to allow people to use PayPal for auctions they would have had a very large mess on their hands.