Bitcoin Forum

Is there already a discussion somewhere on these forums about the likelihood that Paypal might begin accepting bitcoin, and what the effects on bitcoin might be were this to happen?

TIA...

There's a few in Bitcoin discussion, but I guess you can't post there yet.

Tons of them, one is this one https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=399775.0  :)

Thanks!

There is a new paypal tv ad campaign in the uk at the minute.  They are advertising the benefits of paypal which they dress up a little like bitcoin, obviously without mentioning bitcoin.  They neglect to advertise the robbing fees they charge though.  If bitcoin gets too big to ignore then they'll probably have no choice but to accept bitcoin if they want to keep their customers.  

I agree. If people had any sense Bitcoin should destroy PP.

I've not seen that advert. You got a link?

This doesn't talk much about the prospects for bitcoin were Paypal to actually begin allowing bitcoin to be purchased over Paypal, and/or were eBay to begin allowing people to buy and sell over eBay using bitcoin.

That's what I'm looking for...

There's not really any prospects for Paypal and eBay to begin allowing buying/selling Bitcoin yet.

I've bought bitcoin on ebay. If you get on at the quiet times you can often pick it up for below market price.  Do your sums before bidding and you can come away with savings on exchange fees etc.  People often ignore ebay because they think it is all over priced, a lot of it is but there are great deals to be found if you look. 

Well, I don't even have a bitcoin address yet, even though I signed up for Coinbase over two days ago, or I would too.  Great idea!

I've never seen them cheaper than marketprice. Doesn't even make sense to do this with ebays fees and risks of being scammed.

I can't see Paypal accepting Bitcoin any time soon as it's  against their tos.

You need to look harder :P
Sometimes they are badly listed so not as many people see them but if I'm up late then that's the time to check.  Bitcoin is usually listed for really short auction durations so they are easy to miss.  The lowest I've had was 80% of the then market price.  You don't get charged fees to buy on ebay, it's only the sellers. Buyers are really well protected on ebay which is more of a problem for the sellers.  It's those sellers that get scammed with the paypal refund trick.  I always confirm my wallet in a message with payment and a separate message after.  My feedback shows I am honest too so I've never had any problem.  

It's simple: change their TOS.


I bought my first Bitcoin on ebay for £70 when it was worth about £60 and that was a great deal at the time. I know buyers are protected well, but the sellers aren’t, so there's no worry for you.

I've been both a buyer and a seller on eBay for a few years, and it is absolutely true that sellers always get the shaft.

------

On this potential Paypal/eBay-Paypal thing...If this were to happen, it would be a total gamechanger, IMHO.  Easy overnight double for bitcoin value and a 10-bagger in the near term.  Sky would be the limit, over the longer haul.

Yup, the paypal chargeback thing has caused many people to get scammed.

I've sold a few things on ebay but it still makes me laugh how paypal won't let me have my money for a week after.  They even say it could be up to 21 days in some cases.  Oh and then they make you wait 3 days after requesting a withdrawal to a bank account before they say it's ok for you to have your own money. Then you have to wait another 2-24 hours for it to finally land in your account.  It's literally quicker to walk to the buyers house for a cash transaction (obviously not practical though)

Ha, rant over now.

Everybody forgets the porn industry.  That will increase bitcoins adoption and use no end.  I keep using the vhs/betamax argument but its a valid one.  VHS was inferior yet porn adopted VHS and we know the rest.  Same as blueray vs HD-DVD.  Sex is an industry that is totally recession proof and will always make a profit. Sex will always sell and now bitcoin offers the opportunity to access this without giving any personal info at all. Your wife will never find out now ;)  

Very unlikely on short-term. First because they will lose money considering there %+0.3x$ fees and that BTC's is a competitor to them and adopting to it means changing there whole system. Not to mention the current policies they follow regarding verification and sources of money might not fit with the anonymous nature of BTC's.

I find it odd they even permit people to sell bitcoin on eBay...

I betcha there is something going on, gradually, behind the scenes.

They don't permit it technically, but they don't seem to do much about it either or only on occasion.

Oh really, are you saying there is actually a policy against it?

That would be very interesting if there were, and yet they were permitting it to go forward.

I mean, it would be a very simple thing to flag anything with "bitcoin" in the subject line for deletion, and yet there are thousands of entries there right now.

They would lose more money by not doing so.  Paypal is a successful business and most successful businesses base there decisions on growth and profit. There is nothing to stop paypal setting up their own kind of exchange where you convert bitcoin to a credit in your paypal account that amounts to the fiat value of the bitcoin you send them.  This would take the anonymity out of it too.  I would wager that their general view on bitcoin is if they can't stop it then they may as well profit from it.

I agree. Great post and sound thinking.

Can someone tell me how to get google searches for: "Bitcoin" AND "Paypal" sent to my email inbox?

I heard there is a way to do that, and I want to keep an eye on that daily.

Paypal accepting bitcoin would make the value of bitcoin even higher than it is now ... after the news of zynga potentially accepting bitcoin for payment for their social online gaming, btc hit 1000 usd ... i don't even know what would happen if paypal accepted bitcoin LOL if the higher ups of paypal were smart, they would adopt bitcoin! it's time to evolve

It seems like paypal could just cut down on their costs if they used the bitcoin network to transfer money instead of going through ACH and the banking system.  Adopting bitcoin as the intermediary payment network could cut down on costs and transaction times on deposits and withdrawals.

Seems the problem is they will be unable to reverse Bitcoin withdrawals from stolen PayPal accounts