PayPal Going International

[sportshobby]

According to a current e-mail from X.com, the popular PayPal service will be going international starting sometime next month.

PayPal is a setup for sending money by e-mail address. If the e-mail recipient does not have a PayPal account, he can set one up easily upon receiving the notification message.

PayPal became even more useful this past year as it was bought out by X.com, an online banking service administered by First Western National Bank. They allowed the users to link their online bank account at X.com to their PayPal account, allowing instant transfers between the two.

This service costs nothing to either the sender or the recipient. And unlike the NETeller setup, one could get funds from and to their bank account instantly (as opposed to several days).

I'd imagine that security and privacy would be disadvantages for using PayPal to transfer funds to/from offshore sportsbooks. But on the other hand it could turn out to be very useful in some cases.

[sportshobby]

I'm surprised there were no comments on this subject. Is there a reason that the PayPal service won't work for sportsbook deposits and withdrawals?

[Jeff K]

PayPal will work for sportsbooks, but they will have to sign up for it. I use it at eBay, and it's very convenient. You have the option of using your credit card, bank account, or you can leave funds in your PayPal account.

[sportshobby]

Jeff, thanks for the response. I also got my first introduction to PayPal when my son sold his Pokeman collection through E-Bay (just in time, of course, before they became almost worthless).

I'd really like to see some sportsbooks look into this seriously. If it can work, it will beat most other methods hands down. I accept the possibility that there may be some reason that it won't.

[ShiftySheik]

It won't work unless Paypal uses foreign banks for the sportsbook accounts. No sportsbook would want their money in a US institution.

[bucky]

Any new news in this area? How about infinity? Are there any books using that? I wish all the books had one of these money transfer options. The neteller is a fantastic tool but not enough books have it.

[sportshobby]

Shifty, I suppose you're right as far as direct transfers go. But even now players send checks drawn on U.S. banks, and receive checks payable through U.S. banks. So maybe some kind of indirect method is possible here (e.g. send to a trust account instead of directly to the sportsbook).

[FatBoy]

I'm using;

my money<-->paypal<-->neteller<-->sportsbook

Works great. Unfortunately, I only have 5 outs using neteller. If more sportsbooks get on board this can work out quite nice.

[sportshobby]

Fatboy, you're right. I've enjoyed the convenience of NETeller, and it would be great if more books would implement it.

The costs are considerably less than even an international FedEx shipment. Books like GrandCentral that are gracious enough to reimburse me for those incoming shipping costs could save some money with NETeller. Plus, they could save me a trip across town.


[This message has been edited by sportshobby (edited 10-03-2000).]