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WePay Drops 600lbs of ice in front of PayPal Conference

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Re: WePay Drops 600lbs of ice in front of PayPal Conference

#51
post #11
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is starting to sound like an adventure game puzzle. You are a security guard at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. There are hundreds of dollars inside a six hundred pound block of ice. You cannot leave your station. How do you get at it? Using an ice pick? Why would a security guard have an ice pick? Maybe if it were Chicago, but this is San Francisco. Use another tool to chip away at it? I dunno, that's a lo…

> Melt the ice somehow? Nice idea, but how? Wait.

Time passes.

>

Re: WePay Drops 600lbs of ice in front of PayPal Conference

#52
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

provide the same basic functionality (perhaps make it easier to use), and improve customer service. i'd be willing to pay somewhat more for the same service if i have more of an assurance that my funds won't get frozen/confiscated/etc., and/or if the product were easier to work with. edit: hell, if wepay is partnering with a bank, if they can set things up so that i can get a debit card associated with that account a…

None of that would disrupt PayPal. You can't just provide the same basic functionality of PayPal. If you could, I'd have done it a long time ago. The problem is with the credit card companies. As for debit cards, those are easy to get. Incredibly easy, and easy to integrate with as well. Again, it's nothing special. I've been there, I've done it. A complete system where you could transfer money into your account tied…

"As for debit cards, those are easy to get. Incredibly easy, and easy to integrate with as well. Again, it's nothing special. I've been there, I've done it. A complete system where you could transfer money into your account tied to a debit card, send money, receive money, automated API, etc."

So...what's left, then, to lock people into PayPal? Are you saying that if you can just get people to use debit instead of credit, it's easy to provide all the same services as PayPal?

Certainly sounds like the necessary infrastructure is in place for whoever wants to take a shot at being a PayPal disruptor at least.

Re: WePay Drops 600lbs of ice in front of PayPal Conference

#53

What a funny way to grab a ton of free press. They must have planned this for some time given the logistics involved and the time it takes to freeze quantity of water that size and get a nice and clear chunk. My own paypal saga isn't over yet, though there have been some surprising developments. I sincerely hope that someone will one of these days replace paypal with a better way of doing peer-to-peer payments, but o…

Hi Jacques, as someone who's had trouble with Paypal, what stops you from using, say, WePay in place of PayPal? I just wanted to understand your thought process regarding this?

I can't speak for Jacques, but as a fellow european, the single one thing stopping me from using WePay is: (lack of) international payments. I've just integrated PayPal in my startup against my own better judgement, but as soon as we pull in a fixed amount of money (1000$ for now), I'm switching to a decent merchant-based solution.

Re: WePay Drops 600lbs of ice in front of PayPal Conference

#54
post #16

The funny part, as TC mentions, is that PayPal pulled a similar guerrilla marketing stunt in its early days by paying people to wear PayPal t-shirts at an eBay conference. Could we say... revenge is a dish best served cold ?

I think you mean PayPal pulled a similar guerilla marketing stunt, unless the people wearing the t-shirts were trained monkeys. ;)

Re: WePay Drops 600lbs of ice in front of PayPal Conference

#55
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use your handy comm system to call several beefy buddies and take the "trash" that someone has left on the building property down to a safe location in the building, and then tell everyone that dinner is being paid by some dumb startup after a bit of ice melts...

Melting a chunk of ice that size will take a long long time.

Only if you decide not to increase the surface area through the judicious use of a hammer...

Re: WePay Drops 600lbs of ice in front of PayPal Conference

#57
It always leaves a foul taste in my mouth when people are promoting themselves by attacking their competitors instead of playing to their own strength. That being said, it made me laugh, even if PayPal is an easy target. So I suppose that makes me neutral about the stunt, instead of as annoyed as I normally am about negative advertising.

Re: WePay Drops 600lbs of ice in front of PayPal Conference

#60
post #8

There are hundreds of dollars below the ice, and they chased down the pallet-mover? Why didn't they just get some ice picks?

This is starting to sound like an adventure game puzzle. You are a security guard at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. There are hundreds of dollars inside a six hundred pound block of ice. You cannot leave your station. How do you get at it? Using an ice pick? Why would a security guard have an ice pick? Maybe if it were Chicago, but this is San Francisco. Use another tool to chip away at it? I dunno, that's a lo…

Put a macbook on top of it for 10 minutes.
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