Paypal President's Bitcoin Fascination

[Kprawn]

One of the fundamental parts of paypal is the ease in which a transaction can be reversed if the customer is not pleased. Bitcoin transactions are irreversable. Many websites that currently accept paypal may be cautious about this. So that means Paypal will have to take the heat if something goes wrong in a transaction. Something I don't see happening.

Yeah that is very true. The irreversible nature of bitcoin would change how Paypal currently operates with the ability to dispute transactions. Could definitely be a concern for websites such as ebay where you are purchasing products from someone want a guarantee that you get what you paid for.

I think you hit the nail right on the head... Consumer protection would be a concern with the use of Bitcoin in PayPal. If they can implement a system, where they can control disputed transactions, they would have already used it.

Or they could simply build in a disclaimer in their ToS for Bitcoin transactions for all disputed transactions. {Give the consumer the option, but wash your hands when the shit hits the fan} 

[Rampton]

One of the fundamental parts of paypal is the ease in which a transaction can be reversed if the customer is not pleased. Bitcoin transactions are irreversable. Many websites that currently accept paypal may be cautious about this. So that means Paypal will have to take the heat if something goes wrong in a transaction. Something I don't see happening.

The fiat payments are usually not reversible either but it's paypal's system that is the weak link. Paypal doesn't actually take the money back out of your bank account they just minus the balance from your account and then you owe them the money so they essentially take the heat until you pay back. If they handled bitcoin payments it would probably work in a similar way. Either that or they will just hold the money as some sort of escrow until the transaction has been successfully completed.

[Q7]

One of the fundamental parts of paypal is the ease in which a transaction can be reversed if the customer is not pleased. Bitcoin transactions are irreversable. Many websites that currently accept paypal may be cautious about this. So that means Paypal will have to take the heat if something goes wrong in a transaction. Something I don't see happening.

That's a very good point raised. Even if they act as an escrow service, charge back could still take place 1 month down the road especially when some for items that involve international shipping, that would take even longer and changeback could still happen more than a month after that. So they can't just hold on to the bitcoin for that long because once released it is not reversible. After reviewing the point, yeah, I don't think we'll ever see a paypal bitcoin currency account for that matter

[RTRC]

One of the fundamental parts of paypal is the ease in which a transaction can be reversed if the customer is not pleased. Bitcoin transactions are irreversable. Many websites that currently accept paypal may be cautious about this. So that means Paypal will have to take the heat if something goes wrong in a transaction. Something I don't see happening.

The fiat payments are usually not reversible either but it's paypal's system that is the weak link. Paypal doesn't actually take the money back out of your bank account they just minus the balance from your account and then you owe them the money so they essentially take the heat until you pay back. If they handled bitcoin payments it would probably work in a similar way. Either that or they will just hold the money as some sort of escrow until the transaction has been successfully completed.

Actually it does. I sold multiple items on eBay and some buyers submitted a claim that the item was not as promised or not as delivered. Immediately after the claim was filed, the transaction that put money into my account was instantly frozen and I was not allowed to access the funds. When eBay took support of the buyer, the same transaction was reversed.

PayPal can always act as an escrow service. But the money would be held for an enormous amount of time and buyers would have to send some sort of conformation that the item is as described and that they are satisfied with it to prevent a chargeback. Something that doesn't really seem realistic in the business world. Also, when you reach a negative in a PayPal account, youre more or less going to pay up since a typical PayPal account is very transparent. Bank accounts, credit cards, even SSN numbers are linked to peoples accounts. You can't just abandon the account and expect to start a new one. But what about bitcoin? Really the only information you would need to put up is your bitcoin address. You get debt in a bitcoin PayPal account its no big deal. This is why PayPal would probably request you link a lot of personal information in order for you to buy stuff with btc. Something a lot of bitcoin users may not be all to happy about doing. 

[Rampton]

One of the fundamental parts of paypal is the ease in which a transaction can be reversed if the customer is not pleased. Bitcoin transactions are irreversable. Many websites that currently accept paypal may be cautious about this. So that means Paypal will have to take the heat if something goes wrong in a transaction. Something I don't see happening.

The fiat payments are usually not reversible either but it's paypal's system that is the weak link. Paypal doesn't actually take the money back out of your bank account they just minus the balance from your account and then you owe them the money so they essentially take the heat until you pay back. If they handled bitcoin payments it would probably work in a similar way. Either that or they will just hold the money as some sort of escrow until the transaction has been successfully completed.

Actually it does. I sold multiple items on eBay and some buyers submitted a claim that the item was not as promised or not as delivered. Immediately after the claim was filed, the transaction that put money into my account was instantly frozen and I was not allowed to access the funds. When eBay took support of the buyer, the same transaction was reversed.

They can freeze your funds in your paypal account but they can't do anything if you had transferred the money into your own bank account. Your Paypal account balance would go into negative but they can't reverse the actual payment, only you can do that if you choose to pay it which you don't have to and can fight it. If the money is still in your paypal balance they'll take it though.