The Rise and Rise of Paypal

For pretty much any e-commerce web design company setting up a new shop, the inclusion of PayPal is now considered highly important. PayPal was formed in March 2000 and has since achieved hug commercial success, largely attributed to its co-operation with eBay, which bought the firm in 2002. The UK alone is responsible for 20 million accounts. The reason for this substantial growth is largely down to it being the first to get there. By offering skeptical Internet users the opportunity to refrain from entering their credit card details on every site they wish to purchase from, they had provided a simple and safe payment system for anyone to use – and this resulted in a internationally-known, reliable brand.

However PayPal hasn’t been without it’s critics. There’s no doubting people’s disappointment with the charges made to the users when transactions are made, meaning sellers are not receiving the full amount for their sales. Users of PayPal are also the victims of unprecedented levels of phishing which have already cost unknowing users huge amounts of money. PayPal’s support system has also been largely criticized as their customer helpline is often very unresponsive, not to mention the unpredicatble freezing of accounts with no prior warning.

PayPal still seems like the most secure payment method available and I would urge all e-commerce sites to have it as an option alongside standard credit card transactions.