TameBay Morsels for 27th May 2009

VC Fred Wilson wonders why PayPal isn’t more popular: he doesn’t really draw any conclusions, but I suspect the comments may get interesting.

More interesting comments as Venture Beat asks Can eBay rebrand itself as the Web’s Wal-Mart? I’d say yes, it can, but should it want to? Steve “Genuine Seller” Lindhorst, on the other hand, is off to WalMart to shop.

HuffPo reports that Meg Whitman is writing a book about the “core values” that helped her build eBay. It’s currently untitled but is due out next February, as California goes to the polls.

And multi-millionaire dragon Duncan Ballantyne sells his stuff on eBay.

5 Responses on "TameBay Morsels for 27th May 2009"

1. 1
   EventHorizon1984 says:

   May 28, 2009 at 3:56 am

   > why PayPal isn’t more popular

   PayPal’s growth is tied to eBay’s fortunes (or misfortunes). Until there’s a separation of these siamese twins, or eBay shrivels up into an appendage of PayPal, people shouldn’t expect titanic changes in market share.

   Let’s do some ’sums’ shall we?

   http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2009/tc20090311_318128.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_news+%2B+analysis
   March 12, 2009
   “Donahoe pointed out that e-commerce is just 6% of real-world retail.”

   eBay being a slice of that 6%.

   I take the following statistics with a Utah salt mine.

   http://news.ebay.com/fastfacts_paypal.cfm
   “PayPal’s Total Payment Volume in 2008 represented nearly 9 percent of global e-commerce and 15 percent of US e-commerce.”

   That’s 91% of the planet NOT using PayPal, and 85% of us Yanks using something other than PayPal. For e-commerce.

   Soooo (insert Bill Cobb sound byte here) world wide PayPal’s “real-world retail” popularity is 9% of that 6%. Or maybe John Donahoe meant the U.S., making it 15% of 6%.

   Either way that’s rather small. And unpopular.

   “It’s not the size of your planet, it’s how you use it!”
   Emperor Todd Spengo, Mom and Dad Save The World (1992)
2. 2
   Lino says:

   May 28, 2009 at 8:35 am

   Fred Wilson thinks paying with Paypal is “an awesome experience”

   This guy should get out more.
3. 3
   whirly says:

   May 28, 2009 at 9:19 am

   #2 it made me cringe also.
4. 4
   Bunchy says:

   May 28, 2009 at 10:32 pm

   why PayPal isn’t more popular.

   Because I am forced into using it.

   Because on occasion I have been shafted by their policies helped along by an out-of-date system and a work-force so inept it defies belief.

   Those are just 2 reasons off the top of my head. I can’t speak for everyone, but I am quite sure I am not alone in my reasoning.
5. 5
   Lino says:

   May 29, 2009 at 9:37 am

   A guy in our office sold a pair of concert tickets on eBay last week for over £200. He’s had an eBay and Paypal account for 4 years, but doesn’t use it often. When the buyer paid by Paypal, Paypal sent an email saying he should post the tickets but that they were holding the money, his money, for 21 days.

   He now doesn’t ever want to use Paypal again.