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Send Money to Friends in Messenger

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Re: Send Money to Friends in Messenger

#281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Credit cards enable theft at, or fraud by the merchant because you give the merchant your CC info; Bitcoin fixes this flaw by design as it cryptographically authorizes only transactions of specific amounts to specific addresses. CCs and Bitcoin solve different issues with fraud and theft. I argue that the protection offered by CCs is overrated. For example plenty of people everyday are happy to use a system that does…

>I don't see you running around warning people to not use cash because it offers no protection People are happy to use cash because in almost all cash transactions they are able to verify the receipt of the product or service immediately or have a known location within reach to access the seller incase it doesn't happen. >I don't see you running around warning people to not use cash because it offers no protection. B…

We warn about mailing cash to dubious/untrustworthy recipients.

But paying a very trustworthy merchant by mailing cash would probably be fine in terms of risk of theft: mailing a $100 bill is no different than mailing a $100 item, yet people ship millions of $100+ items every day through the postal system and few get stolen.

It's just stupid to mail cash because faster ways of sending money exist.

Re: Send Money to Friends in Messenger

#282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Admittedly, my dark web remark was an exaggeration, however, it remains a practical truth for every day life. In the overwhelming majority of locales, bitcoin cannot be used to pay for groceries, insurance, utilities, rent/mortage, fuel, student loans, daycare, tuition, taxes, medical expenses, phone service, car payments or pretty much any of the common expenses someone might need to pay for. Newegg, Tiger Direct, M…

All systems that require adoption are, initially, impractical. Bitcoin is becoming more and more practical as more and more merchants adopt it. Again: 100,000 merchants accept Bitcoin today, and this number is (so far) increasing rapidly.

> All systems that require adoption are, initially, impractical.

I agree with that. It seems we agree that bitcoin is currently impractical, which is the crux of my argument. Bitcoin is not a practical way to send money unless the recipient already has a bank account and a bitcoin exchange account.

Re: Send Money to Friends in Messenger

#283
post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PayPal didn't start as an anti-fraud system? It was a payment system that developed a pretty novel anti-fraud system and which was the foundation for a different company that does a ton of anti-fraud.

It most certainly did. "Confinity Inc. is best known as the creator of PayPal. It was founded in December 1998 by Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, and Luke Nosek, initially as a Palm Pilot payments and _cryptography_ company. Confinity launched its milestone product, PayPal in late 1999." [0] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confinity

Oh wow. That's crazy how it seems never to be mentioned in the history of the "PayPal Mafia," or at least not the ones that I've read. Cool info, thanks.

Re: Send Money to Friends in Messenger

#284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never understood how the hell Square does it. It's an awesome experience though.

They (ab?)use the transaction that occurs when money is refunded to a debit card. http://jonbwhite.tumblr.com/post/66853226398/how-square-move...

Well I knew that they used the refund rails, but I was curious how they protect against fraud. This seems to imply that there's nothing magical regarding the anti-fraud: they just try stay on top of it.

Re: Send Money to Friends in Messenger

#285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I don't see you running around warning people to not use cash because it offers no protection People are happy to use cash because in almost all cash transactions they are able to verify the receipt of the product or service immediately or have a known location within reach to access the seller incase it doesn't happen. >I don't see you running around warning people to not use cash because it offers no protection. B…

We warn about mailing cash to dubious/untrustworthy recipients. But paying a very trustworthy merchant by mailing cash would probably be fine in terms of risk of theft: mailing a $100 bill is no different than mailing a $100 item, yet people ship millions of $100+ items every day through the postal system and few get stolen. It's just stupid to mail cash because faster ways of sending money exist.

We don't warn against mailing cash only because it might be stolen in transit we warn against it because of the lack of tracking. How do you know the store received the cash? What happens if your envelope is delivered but falls off the mail cart somewhere and is lost? The merchant isn't going to take your word that you mailed them cash no matter how trustworthy they are.

Re: Send Money to Friends in Messenger

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely second transferwise. I use it all the time, and it's fast and easy without seeming skeevy like Western Union or whatever.

What's the catch?

So far, none that have caught up with me. It does what it says on the tin, and it's cheap and fast. I'm not sure there is a catch.

Re: Send Money to Friends in Messenger

#287
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The total for both of us was $55, so you owe me $27.5." "OK, here is some random bank's ATM which charged me $44 to get $40 (2 x $20) out, and now you say you don't have $12.5 in change on you ... well, shit." ... "What will you prefer: GWallet or FB ?"

"OK you say you owe me a beer from last week so here's a $20 and we're even" "Oh you need the full $27.50 because your life will collapse due to a lack of $7.50 in cash although nobody uses cash, well, there's an ATM in the lobby thats free on my network, I'll spot you $30 on the $27.50 and you owe me a can of soda next time" The problem with a bazzilion services all trying to extort small transactional fees either s…

There is absolutely no fee on Venmo/Square Cash/PayPal as long as you use debit card/bank account.

I am okay with rounding off amounts with my close friends. But with other people there is that social angle with being comfortable enough when I tell them I will buy you soda next time. Plus consider this "buying soda next time" with 10 people at the same time in either direction. The question is not about $2.50 being a small amount. I like being exact about money and so do lot of my friends. May be I am from a different background where $2.50 is still money that should be cleared.

Re: Send Money to Friends in Messenger

#288
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your 70 year old dad is an exception in a sea of people that don't want to learn.

One comedian put it this way: You can't fix stupid. Point being: Learning is a lifelong pursuit, and if you don't want to learn then you will be left behind using Facebook Messenger to send money. Kidding, but you hopefully get the gist.

But at what expense? The existing system is not that broken for majority of the world so why should they care about learning this?

Re: Send Money to Friends in Messenger

#289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We warn about mailing cash to dubious/untrustworthy recipients. But paying a very trustworthy merchant by mailing cash would probably be fine in terms of risk of theft: mailing a $100 bill is no different than mailing a $100 item, yet people ship millions of $100+ items every day through the postal system and few get stolen. It's just stupid to mail cash because faster ways of sending money exist.

We don't warn against mailing cash only because it might be stolen in transit we warn against it because of the lack of tracking. How do you know the store received the cash? What happens if your envelope is delivered but falls off the mail cart somewhere and is lost? The merchant isn't going to take your word that you mailed them cash no matter how trustworthy they are.

[deleted]

Re: Send Money to Friends in Messenger

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We warn about mailing cash to dubious/untrustworthy recipients. But paying a very trustworthy merchant by mailing cash would probably be fine in terms of risk of theft: mailing a $100 bill is no different than mailing a $100 item, yet people ship millions of $100+ items every day through the postal system and few get stolen. It's just stupid to mail cash because faster ways of sending money exist.

We don't warn against mailing cash only because it might be stolen in transit we warn against it because of the lack of tracking. How do you know the store received the cash? What happens if your envelope is delivered but falls off the mail cart somewhere and is lost? The merchant isn't going to take your word that you mailed them cash no matter how trustworthy they are.

> lack of tracking

Are you joking? The entire shipping industry offers tracking services, delivery confirmations, etc.

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