-- On 3 Aug 2003 at 0:34, Bill Stewart wrote:

Paypal gave people who wanted to occasionally sell things on the net a way to receive payments online, quasi-immediately, without going to the major hassle of becoming a registered credit-card-accepting business,

There is a big problem in that "quasi" Because paypal payments are reversible, Paypal finds itself very reluctantly in the business of arbitrating disputes, a potentially expensive and unpopular business which it does very badly indeed. The integration with Ebay was intended to reduce this problem, since ebay does rather well at arbitrating disputes, but paypal's arbitration is still universally loathed. If your business model sticks you with performing arbitration, you find yourself up against the credit card companies, the eight hundred pound gorilla of arbitration, who do it well, and more importantly, do it a lot cheaper than you can. This provides a strong argument for making your payment service truly irreversible, that is to say, Chaumian. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG wPTF3iJd+YV5zLY6lEBVNFkcGnmNYeC0BBOiAKnK 4B0UcuuS/khYebiuvTgWDuOOyEiINiAP276pz+oZe