[2014-05-13] eBay CEO Asked About Amazon, Bitcoin and Unpopular Seller Policy

[BitChick]

It looks promising that integration will come at some point.  Here was a quote from the Q&A session: Carl Davis, Jr of the Silicon Valley Black Chamber of Commerce asked Donahoe what he thought of Bitcoin in regards to global trade. The CEO called it a new, exciting and emerging technology. "We think Bitcoin will play a very important role in the future. Exactly how that plays out, and how we can best take advantage of it and enable it with PayPal, that's something we're actively considering. It's on our radar screen."

http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y14/m05/i14/s01

[hilariousandco]

We think Bitcoin will play a very important role in the future. Exactly how that plays out, and how we can best take advantage of it and enable it with PayPal, that's something we're actively considering. It's on our radar screen."

Which is code for once we've worked out how to take our extortionate cut. Obviously I'm all for ebay and other merchants adopting/accepting Bitcoin and also taking their tiny cut in fees etc, but I've got a feeling it won't even be worth using Bitcoin with them once they've got their claws into it. I suppose it'll save them money on creditcard fees as well, so maybe they can pass the savings back onto the users of Bitcoin.

[bryant.coleman]

I don't trust this guy. Ebay fully owns Paypal, and I don't think that they will ever do anything (including accepting Bitcoins), which can cause serious harm to their subsidiary.

[barney_stinson]

I'm supporting merchants accepting Bitcoin, but in this case I don't trust to their initiative.

[BitChick]

I don't trust this guy. Ebay fully owns Paypal, and I don't think that they will ever do anything (including accepting Bitcoins), which can cause serious harm to their subsidiary.

But what if they just purchase Bitpay?  

[hilariousandco]

I don't trust this guy. Ebay fully owns Paypal, and I don't think that they will ever do anything (including accepting Bitcoins), which can cause serious harm to their subsidiary.

But what if they just purchase Bitpay?  

Wouldn't surprise me if they tried. Some giant will buy it if Bitcoin really takes off, though if PayPal bought it they'd probably try ruin it by hiking up the fees or something.

[bryant.coleman]

But what if they just purchase Bitpay?  

The chances for that are too remote. Paypal is currently worth tens of billions of USD. Why should Ebay throw their weight behind a completely new payment processor, at the risk of losing the already established one?

[LiteCoinGuy]

http://www.coindesk.com/ebay-ceo-actively-considering-bitcoin-integration/

[hilariousandco]

But what if they just purchase Bitpay?  

The chances for that are too remote. Paypal is currently worth tens of billions of USD. Why should Ebay throw their weight behind a completely new payment processor, at the risk of losing the already established one?

If they had any decent business acumen it'd be worth trying to buy these companies whilst they're relatively cheap. Better to spend millions now on acquiring them than billions later. If Bitcoin is going to go mainstream then these type of processors are likely going to become the big billion dollar businesses of the industry.

[erono]

You know bitcoins had always been viable as a payment system for  Seller and buyer.

[mercistheman]

As BTC becomes more mainstream then auction sites like cryptothrift become more of a threat to ebay...  sooner than later they will not be able to ignore the demand.