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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

#101

Post by mseebach »

hugh3 wrote: post #86
mseebach wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would it be real money in there? It's not hard to fabricate bills that would look like real money through the ice, but not once thawed - not to mention cheaper. Say, using over-size, laminated cardboard and not printing the back.

I don't know. All I have to go on is the news report which states that it's money, and a photo which looks kinda like money. It's a better marketing stunt if it's actually money, though. Leaving a significant (but not implausibly large) sum of money out in the open but apparently completely inaccessible -- it motivates people like us to think about ways to get the money out, and here we are talking about a company wh…

Actually, there are three bills across and 10-11 on the long end. So it's $30-$33, which isn't really that significant considering the coverage it "bought". Also, it seems they probably brought it back with them.

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

#103

Post by cosmicray »

olegkikin wrote: post #77
scythe wrote: post #23

Whenever people whine about PayPal, I usually mention AlertPay, and get maybe one upvote and otherwise I'm ignored. What's wrong with AlertPay? They seem like a pretty honest business and I've never had any trouble with them, though I've only ever bought things, not sold them.

Paypal charges 2.9% + 30c AlertPay charges 4.90% + 25c WePay charges 3.5% (50c minimum) (for credit card processing)

PayPal also has a micropayments feature: 5.0% + 5c

The dividing line (between the traditional macropayment and the micropayment) is supposed to be $12. The only drawback is that you have to run it from a different PayPal account.

For a $2 transaction, the macro works out to 30.058c fee, while the micro is 15c fee. For small stuff, it may be a better deal.

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

#104

Post by hugh3 »

mseebach wrote: post #101
hugh3 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. All I have to go on is the news report which states that it's money, and a photo which looks kinda like money. It's a better marketing stunt if it's actually money, though. Leaving a significant (but not implausibly large) sum of money out in the open but apparently completely inaccessible -- it motivates people like us to think about ways to get the money out, and here we are talking about a company wh…

Actually, there are three bills across and 10-11 on the long end. So it's $30-$33, which isn't really that significant considering the coverage it "bought". Also, it seems they probably brought it back with them.

They look like $5 bills to me.

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

#105

Post by RobertL »

bobf wrote: 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 checked out their site and services. Not all that impressive. Some useful but very basic stuff. Not seeing where they can even be classified as competition to PayPal.

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

#106

Post by jasonlotito »

noodle wrote: post #78
jasonlotito wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> sometimes its about timing, and at this point in time, there are a lot of people who are really angry with paypal. "At this point in time" has been for more than a decade. People have always been angry with PayPal. > in what way do you think wepay right now is disruptive? I don't think it is. It's not at all disruptive to PayPal. And I'm not even talking about the biggest limiting factor right now for WePay: lack o…

> People have always been angry with PayPal. and yet people don't have a viable alternative that provided the same or similar serivces. i'd stop using it almost immediately if had one. > I don't think it is. It's not at all disruptive to PayPal then why does it matter if it pivots or not?

> then why does it matter if it pivots or not?

You've lost me. I never said anything about this. Maybe your confusing me with someone else?

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

#107

Post by jscore »

bobf wrote: 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 ?

More like an unprovoked incident. eBay and PayPal were involved in a serious war back then.

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

#109

Post by hugh3 »

evgen wrote: post #24
hugh3 wrote: 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…

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...

How many beefy buddies does it take to lift six hundred pounds? And remember that it's ice, so getting a good grip is a serious problem.

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

#110

Post by hugh3 »

AlexBlom wrote: post #47
johnrob wrote: post #37

Someone should start a PR firm that focuses only on stunts! If the press is willing to write articles about stunts, that legitimizes the method in my book. Think how much people pay to get press, and think about how cheap these gags are.

That's what the good PR firms do. They exist.

Good PR firms do a lot more than stunts.

This would be a whole new category of firm. Stunt marketing. You give us money, we get you attention.

Hey, that actually sounds like a pretty fun business to run.

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