CoinPal beta - Buying bitcoins with PayPal

[mndrix]

As some have requested, I've added a rudimentary API (I hesitate to even call it that).  It lets you pre-populate a CoinPal order form with a bitcoin address and an optional amount.  It also lets you show a recipient name instead of the full Bitcoin receiving address.

For example: donate 10 BTC to the EFF.  Of course, there's no authentication on who the Bitcoin address really belongs to, so you can also donate to The Human Fund on my behalf

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[em3rgentOrdr]

I'm worried that "CoinPal" will get sued by "PayPal" for trademark violation.  I've heard so many nasty stories about companies like "Facebook" suing any social networking site with "Face" or "Book" in the url.  And I remember the Liberty Dollar was ultimately taken down under the pretense that it violated the US trademark on "Dollar"...

[mndrix]

I'm worried that "CoinPal" will get sued by "PayPal" for trademark violation.

I haven't been able to find specific information about PayPal having a trademark on *Pal, but enough people have expressed concern, that I'm going to change the name.  Any suggestions?

I'm leaning toward Copal, which portmanteau-ishly suggests what the service does, is an existing word so it can't be trademarked and goes well with the name Cowalla (the planned name for a future Dwolla->BTC service).

[Anonymous]

There used to be a service called Gunpal.

I dont think they ever got sued by paypal so we might be wrong about this.

I suppose you could always approach paypal and ask about it. If they dont respond or send a form letter you will have the out that you told them but they ignored it.

[nanotube]

I'm worried that "CoinPal" will get sued by "PayPal" for trademark violation.

I haven't been able to find specific information about PayPal having a trademark on *Pal, but enough people have expressed concern, that I'm going to change the name.  Any suggestions?

I'm leaning toward Copal, which portmanteau-ishly suggests what the service does, is an existing word so it can't be trademarked and goes well with the name Cowalla (the planned name for a future Dwolla->BTC service).

i might suggest to stay away from 'pal' completely. how about something nice and generic, like 'bitcoinsource'
then you can use the same site for paypal, dwolla, $anything else.

[Anonymous]

I'm worried that "CoinPal" will get sued by "PayPal" for trademark violation.

I haven't been able to find specific information about PayPal having a trademark on *Pal, but enough people have expressed concern, that I'm going to change the name.  Any suggestions?

I'm leaning toward Copal, which portmanteau-ishly suggests what the service does, is an existing word so it can't be trademarked and goes well with the name Cowalla (the planned name for a future Dwolla->BTC service).

i might suggest to stay away from 'pal' completely. how about something nice and generic, like 'bitcoinsource'
then you can use the same site for paypal, dwolla, $anything else.

+1

I like bitcoinmeter but someone already owns it....

[em3rgentOrdr]

I would stick with CoinPal. It's a great name! If and when you get a nasty letter from PayPal's lawyers, that's when you need to consider changing the name. Not before.

That doesn't seem wise.  Planning ahead is one of the great abilities us humans have.  We should use it to anticipate potential problems so we can avoid them.

[S3052]

I would stick with CoinPal. It's a great name! If and when you get a nasty letter from PayPal's lawyers, that's when you need to consider changing the name. Not before.

That doesn't seem wise.  Planning ahead is one of the great abilities us humans have.  We should use it to anticipate potential problems so we can avoid them.

Agree with you. You may be forced to pay damage fees bo PayPal if they enforce it.

[Babylon]

I would stick with CoinPal. It's a great name! If and when you get a nasty letter from PayPal's lawyers, that's when you need to consider changing the name. Not before.

Pay Pal will sue for profits, which have likely already been spent.

[Mahkul]

CoinBuddy? CoinChum?

[Ricochet]

But changing the name is such a minor thing that it might as well be done to be on the safe side.  It will have little impact on the operation and traffic of the site, whereas in your example if Mt Gox had chosen not to accept PayPal, that would have been a severe change in the operation of the site.  Here, it's just a name.  Perspective is key.

As for the name itself, Nanotube's suggestion of Bitcoin Source sounds good to me.

[srf21c]

The bigger and more established a business and/or trade name is, the more painful it usually is to change. 

If the above premise is true, and the coinpal name is more or less guaranteed to draw legal fire from Paypal down the road, it would stand to reason that the earlier a name change "course correction" is made, the better. 

[mndrix]

Thank you all for your thoughts on the CoinPal name.  As suggested above, I've contacted PayPal for clarification on their trademark policy.  Until I get official notice, I'll retain the current name in the spirit of avoiding premature optimization.

A few more people have contacted me about increasing volume limits for specific buyers.  I'm testing a feature which could increase limits for buyers who provide sufficient proof that they are the rightful owners of the associated PayPal accounts.  I agree with nanotube and am in no hurry to increase the limits if it has any risk of shutting down the service because of fraud.  Aside from my one beta tester on this identity verification feature, no one else is likely to get a higher limit until at least March.

[gohan]

I know it's too early but here's a feature request: Sending micropayments to PayPal users using BitCoin.

[mndrix]

I know it's too early but here's a feature request: Sending micropayments to PayPal users using BitCoin.

Good idea.  Something similar is on the drawing board.  It'd work roughly like this:

• user populates a form with a PayPal address and preferred currency
• CoinPal responds with a new Bitcoin address
• Any Bitcoins sent to that address are automatically converted into a PayPal payment to the associated PayPal address

The PayPal payment would use Mass Pay so the fee would be 2% but never exceed $1.  That's the lowest PayPal fee I know of for automated transactions and it should work decently for microtransactions.

[gohan]

the fee would be 2% but never exceed $1.

Yes, this is an additional benefit for all of us who pay very high fees when sending. I can't wait to use it.

Though, I, for instance, would use it to send money to arbitrary addresses, therefore, instead of generating a new address for each transaction, being able to deposit directly to CoinPal and taking it from there would suit me most. However, the way you plan to implement it obviously addresses the majority use case, so I'll just hope it will be implemented in the far future.

EDIT: I just realized that a payment option via a service like MyBitcoin is almost the same in effect. 

Thanks for this great service.

[mndrix]

The scammers have arrived.  CoinPal will be closed for the next few days while I analyze a batch of fraudulent orders from this weekend and make any necessary changes to the site.  Any financial losses were well within expected ranges, so this is actually good news for CoinPal.  It's hard to build fraud-prevention measures without experiencing some fraud.

[Sultan]

The scammers have arrived.  CoinPal will be closed for the next few days while I analyze a batch of fraudulent orders from this weekend and make any necessary changes to the site.  Any financial losses were well within expected ranges, so this is actually good news for CoinPal.  It's hard to build fraud-prevention measures without experiencing some fraud.

I am saddened to hear that. My condolences, but I agree with your conclusion and positive attitude.

[caveden]

Could you, please, publish the addresses where the bitcoins from the fraudulent transactions were sent?

+1
Not that it will change much right now, but it would be good to develop such practice.

[Anonymous]

I honestly hope you defeat these douchebags