I think the narrative is a little different. eBay got big, and at the beginning you did the usual terrible American mail-order payment methods-- personal chequ

I think the narrative is a little different. eBay got big, and at the beginning you did the usual terrible American mail-order payment methods-- personal cheques and money orders. I can recall getting money orders because they'd usually clear faster and I might get my item in a couple weeks! PayPal was one of several competitors in the early 2000s, but they were by far the most successful; I suspect this was because they did a lot of "we'll give you and the recipient USD5 as a referral fee" growth hacking. Eventually, they merged with eBay and the "they're the dominant choice" became "they're the only choice."