5 ms·

What exactly were all those people doing? I've been using PayPal for years and it looks, feels, and works exactly the same now as it did five years ago. The pro

by Osiris 14y ago

What exactly were all those people doing? I've been using PayPal for years and it looks, feels, and works exactly the same now as it did five years ago. The process to setup Buy Now buttons hasn't changed. The complexity of setting up the advanced payment system hasn't changed. So what exactly were those guys working on to actually improve the business for their customers?

timjahn 14y ago
My thoughts as well. Other than the recent front end redesign, PayPal's interface and overall product has not changed since I started using it 5 or 6 years ago.
- thornofmight 14y ago
  Has that made it any less usable?
  - timjahn 14y ago
    In my opinion (and experience), it was barely usable the first day I started using it. I'd think by now they'd have thought about making it any amount of slightly more usable.
- jonknee 14y ago
  They've had a lot of new mobile stuff recently.
ahelwer 14y ago
The quote about PayPal (and all institutions which deal with money) being like an iceberg ring true here. Anyone have the link?
reinhardt 14y ago
Checking transactions manually, one by one.
gus_massa 14y ago
I really don't know, but nevertheless I will make some guess: * Improve the scam detector * Reduce the false positives of the scam detector * Test the interface in all the new versions of all the major browsers * Maintain the localization for a worldwide service * Fix the interface every time a second class bank in a third world country decides to change the internal system * Fix the tax algorithms and another law related restrictions for every state/country. * Do we really need a backup system? None of them are very visible outside the company, but they are vital.
dangrossman 14y ago
The fact that the Buy Now buttons haven't changed in years is called stability, something you want from the company processing payments on tens of millions of websites. A couple of the things they've done for their quarter billion users since the eBay acquisition: * Lowered transaction fees for volume merchants to 1.9% * Partnered with many of the largest payment gateways to add PayPal to their services * Introduced PayPal mobile and NFC phone-to-phone payments * Introduced micropayments * Introduced two-factor authentication * Got their European Union banking license and expanded to 100+ new countries * Began offering PayPal Buyer Credit (transactional lines of credit) * Moved into retail stores, accepting PayPal at credit card terminals in-store of 6 national retail chains and growing * Began offering a mobile card reader to accept payments into a PayPal account * Introduced student accounts with parental controls * Opened their API for development of peer-to-peer payment services * Introduced virtual, one-time-use credit card numbers * Began offering merchant gift certificates * Introduced a "storefront widget" that could be embedded in websites * Began offering SMS-based authentication * Began offering a virtual terminal for manually keying in offline/phone orders * Introduced PayPal Pro and the ability to store payment authorizations you can charge against in the future (i.e. a payment vault with permission controlled by the customer). I'm sure there's lots I'm forgetting. They still operate in dozens of countries where there are zero alternatives for individuals/small businesses to accept credit and bank payments online. Operating in 190 countries, many of which regulate them as a full-fledged bank, takes a lot of offices and a lot of staff. 10 years ago you could add a Buy Now button to your website. Today PayPal covers just about any payment scenario online and off: * Take payments on your website, redirecting to PayPal for zero PCIDSS compliance burden * Take payments directly on your website with PayPal's multiple server-side APIs * Handle micropayments, recurring bills and usage-based bills with a payment token you only have to authorize once * Take payments at your cafe with a swipe reader on your smartphone or tablet * Take payments by phone or mail order with the virtual terminal * Mass pay others by uploading a spreadsheet/CSV or by API * Pay friends or send gifts from your smartphone * Pay with PayPal at major retail chains with your phone number and PIN code * All with a lower effective transaction rate than at least 90% of most small businesses would pay anywhere else So they're doing more than ever before, for more businesses than ever before (judging by their revenues), while reducing their fees instead of increasing them. Why does the sexiness of their developer documents or New Buy Now Button Wizard matter more to you? https://www.x.com/products https://www.x.com/products

by Osiris 14y ago

timjahn 14y ago

My thoughts as well. Other than the recent front end redesign, PayPal's interface and overall product has not changed since I started using it 5 or 6 years ago.

thornofmight 14y ago
Has that made it any less usable?
- timjahn 14y ago
  In my opinion (and experience), it was barely usable the first day I started using it. I'd think by now they'd have thought about making it any amount of slightly more usable.
jonknee 14y ago
They've had a lot of new mobile stuff recently.

ahelwer 14y ago

The quote about PayPal (and all institutions which deal with money) being like an iceberg ring true here. Anyone have the link?

reinhardt 14y ago

Checking transactions manually, one by one.

gus_massa 14y ago

I really don't know, but nevertheless I will make some guess: * Improve the scam detector * Reduce the false positives of the scam detector * Test the interface in all the new versions of all the major browsers * Maintain the localization for a worldwide service * Fix the interface every time a second class bank in a third world country decides to change the internal system * Fix the tax algorithms and another law related restrictions for every state/country. * Do we really need a backup system? None of them are very visible outside the company, but they are vital.

dangrossman 14y ago

The fact that the Buy Now buttons haven't changed in years is called stability, something you want from the company processing payments on tens of millions of websites. A couple of the things they've done for their quarter billion users since the eBay acquisition: * Lowered transaction fees for volume merchants to 1.9% * Partnered with many of the largest payment gateways to add PayPal to their services * Introduced PayPal mobile and NFC phone-to-phone payments * Introduced micropayments * Introduced two-factor authentication * Got their European Union banking license and expanded to 100+ new countries * Began offering PayPal Buyer Credit (transactional lines of credit) * Moved into retail stores, accepting PayPal at credit card terminals in-store of 6 national retail chains and growing * Began offering a mobile card reader to accept payments into a PayPal account * Introduced student accounts with parental controls * Opened their API for development of peer-to-peer payment services * Introduced virtual, one-time-use credit card numbers * Began offering merchant gift certificates * Introduced a "storefront widget" that could be embedded in websites * Began offering SMS-based authentication * Began offering a virtual terminal for manually keying in offline/phone orders * Introduced PayPal Pro and the ability to store payment authorizations you can charge against in the future (i.e. a payment vault with permission controlled by the customer). I'm sure there's lots I'm forgetting. They still operate in dozens of countries where there are zero alternatives for individuals/small businesses to accept credit and bank payments online. Operating in 190 countries, many of which regulate them as a full-fledged bank, takes a lot of offices and a lot of staff. 10 years ago you could add a Buy Now button to your website. Today PayPal covers just about any payment scenario online and off: * Take payments on your website, redirecting to PayPal for zero PCIDSS compliance burden * Take payments directly on your website with PayPal's multiple server-side APIs * Handle micropayments, recurring bills and usage-based bills with a payment token you only have to authorize once * Take payments at your cafe with a swipe reader on your smartphone or tablet * Take payments by phone or mail order with the virtual terminal * Mass pay others by uploading a spreadsheet/CSV or by API * Pay friends or send gifts from your smartphone * Pay with PayPal at major retail chains with your phone number and PIN code * All with a lower effective transaction rate than at least 90% of most small businesses would pay anywhere else So they're doing more than ever before, for more businesses than ever before (judging by their revenues), while reducing their fees instead of increasing them. Why does the sexiness of their developer documents or New Buy Now Button Wizard matter more to you? https://www.x.com/products https://www.x.com/products