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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

#61

Post by rradu »

jacquesm wrote: post #46
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.

http://www.google.com/search?q=alertpay+fraud Nothing wrong with alertpay per-se that I'm aware of but fraud is rampant there. This is to be taken with a grain of salt, but a search for 'paypal fraud' turns up 2 million results, about twice as much as alertpay, and given the relative size of the companies that's worrisome.

That's not really an effective way to compare the two.

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

#62

Post by bobf »

mlinsey wrote: post #54
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 think you mean PayPal pulled a similar guerilla marketing stunt, unless the people wearing the t-shirts were trained monkeys. ;)

You mean guerrilla (thanks, edited the original).

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

#63

Post by johnrob »

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.

I was under the impression that good PR firms cost 10k/mo or more, which is much more than one should be paying for stuff like this.

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

#64

Post by jasonlotito »

jimbokun wrote: post #52
jasonlotito wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 cre…

No, no, I'm not saying that. Sure, anyone can get debit cards for their company, but you still have to have people deposit money into that account. And why are they going to do that? You'd have to have merchants. Credit cards work because they are widely accepted. If no merchants accepted credit cards, they wouldn't be as useful.

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

The infrastructure is there. That hasn't been the problem for a long time now.

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

#65

Post by mseebach »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #4

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

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.

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

#67

Post by jacquesm »

rradu wrote: post #61
jacquesm wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.google.com/search?q=alertpay+fraud Nothing wrong with alertpay per-se that I'm aware of but fraud is rampant there. This is to be taken with a grain of salt, but a search for 'paypal fraud' turns up 2 million results, about twice as much as alertpay, and given the relative size of the companies that's worrisome.

That's not really an effective way to compare the two.

Yes, that may have been why I included the 'take this with a grain of salt' bit.

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

#68

Post by jasonlotito »

noodle wrote: post #36
jasonlotito wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

being disruptive doesn't necessarily imply success. in what way do you think wepay right now is disruptive? plus, its not like paypal was the first online payments system. sometimes its about timing, and at this point in time, there are a lot of people who are really angry with paypal.

> 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 of support for non-US payments.

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

#69

Post by wheels »

hugh3 wrote: post #8
TallGuyShort wrote: post #4

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…

A water hose is all you need.

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

#70

Post by citricsquid »

I don't get it? Wepay and Paypal are different. Paypal markets itself as a sort of online bank account, whereas Wepay markets themselves as a place to get money from your room mates. Their comparison page includes DonorsChoose, why would I (assuming I'm an online retailer looking to accept payments) care for DonorsChoose?

They need to change their product and/or marketing direction if they want to compete with Paypal... Paypal are not a place to pay your room mates.

They should have somewhere I can compare them and Paypal like for like, feature to feature.

edit: oh and it gets worse, they ONLY allow US payments. Seriously who thought they're anything like Paypal or are suitable as a replacement? https://www.wepay.com/about/faq#thirteen

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