| PayPal is an e-commerce business allowing
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| | payment method of choice by more than
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| payments and money transfers to be made
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| | fifty percent of eBay users, and the
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| through the Internet. It serves as an
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| | service competed with eBay’s subsidiary
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| electronic alternative to traditional
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| | Billpoint. eBay has since phased out its
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| paper methods such as cheques and money
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| | Billpoint service in favor of retaining
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| orders. PayPal performs payment
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| | the PayPal brand. Most of PayPal’s
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| processing for online vendors, auction
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| | major competitors have shut down or have
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| sites, and other corporate users, for
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| | been sold; Citibank’s c2it service
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| which it charges a fee. On 3 October
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| | closed in late 2003, and Yahoo!'s
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| 2002, PayPal became a wholly owned
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| | PayDirect service closed in late 2004.
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| subsidiary of eBay. Their corporate
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| | Western Union announced the December 2005
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| headquarters are in San Jose, California,
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| | shut down of their BidPay service, but
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| at eBay's North First Street satellite
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| | subsequently sold it in 2006 to
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| office campus. The company also has
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| | CyberSource Corporation. Some competitors
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| significant operations in Omaha,
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| | which offer some of PayPal’s services,
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| Nebraska; Dublin, Ireland; and Berlin,
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| | such as Wirecard, Moneybookers,
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| Germany.
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| | 2Checkout, CCNow and Kagi, remain in
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| History
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| | business.
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| Beginnings
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| | PayPal’s total payment volume, the
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| PayPal, Inc., as it is known today, is
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| | total value of transactions in Q4 2006,
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| the result of a March 2000 merger between
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| | was $11 billion, up 36% year over year.
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| Confinity and X.com.Confinity was founded
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| | The company continues to focus on
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| in December of 1998 by Max Levchin, Peter
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| | international growth and growth of its
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| Thiel, and Luke Nosek, initially as a
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| | Merchant Services division, providing
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| Palm Pilot payments and cryptography
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| | online payments for retailers off eBay.
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| company. Confinity launched its milestone
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| | As of the end of Q4 2006, PayPal operates
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| product, PayPal in late 1999. X.com was
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| | in 103 markets (including China) and it
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| founded by Elon Musk in March of 1999,
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| | manages over 133 million accounts. PayPal
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| initially as an Internet financial
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| | allows customers to send, receive and
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| services company. Both companies were
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| | hold funds in 17 currencies worldwide.
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| located on University Avenue in Palo
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| | These currencies are the U.S. Dollar,
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| Alto. At Confinity, many of the initial
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| | Canadian Dollar, Australian Dollar, Euro,
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| recruits were alumni of The Stanford
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| | Pounds Sterling, Japanese Yen, Chinese
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| Review, also founded by Peter Thiel, and
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| | RMB, Czech Koruna, Danish Krone, Hong
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| most early engineers hailed from the
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| | Kong Dollar, Hungarian Forint, New
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| University of Illinois at
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| | Zealand Dollar, Norwegian Krone, Polish
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| Urbana-Champaign, recruited by Max
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| | Zloty, Singapore Dollar, Swedish Krona,
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| Levchin. On the X.com side, Elon Musk
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| | and Swiss Franc. PayPal operates locally
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| recruited a wide range of personnel, many
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| | in 13 countries.
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| of whom remain at PayPal today, such as
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| | Residents in 48 new markets can now use
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| Amy Klement and several other members of
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| | PayPal in their local markets to send
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| the senior team.[citation needed]
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| | money online. These new markets include
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| To block potentially fraudulent accesss
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| | Indonesia, the Philippines, Croatia,
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| by automated systems, PayPal devised a
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| | Fiji, Vietnam and Jordan. A complete list
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| system (see CAPTCHA) of making the user
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| | can be viewed at https://www.paypal.com
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| enter numbers from a blurry picture,
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| | worldwide.
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| which they coined the Gausebeck-Levchin
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| | In China PayPal offers two kinds of
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| test; according to Eric M. Jackson,
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| | accounts:
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| author of the book The PayPal Wars,
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| | PayPal.com accounts, for sending and
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| PayPal invented this system now in common
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| | receiving money to/from other PayPal.com
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| use; though, there is evidence AltaVista
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| | accounts. All non-Chinese accounts are
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| used a captcha as early as 1997, before
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| | PayPal.com accounts, so these accounts
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| PayPal existed.
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| | may be used to send money
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| eBay watched the rise in volume of online
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| | internationally.
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| payments, and realized its fit with
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| | PayPal.cn accounts, for sending and
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| online auctions. eBay purchased Billpoint
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| | receiving money to/from other PayPal.cn
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| in May 1999, prior to the existence of
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| | accounts.
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| Paypal. eBay made Billpoint the official
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| | It is impossible to send money between
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| payment system of eBay, dubbing it "eBay
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| | PayPal.cn accounts and PayPal.com
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| Payments", but cut the functionality of
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| | accounts, so PayPal.cn accounts are
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| Billpoint by narrowing it to only
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| | effectively unable to make international
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| payments made for eBay auctions.
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| | payments. For PayPal.cn, the only
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| For this reason PayPal was listed in
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| | supported currency is the Renminbi (RMB,
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| several times as many auctions as
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| | ISO: CNY), whereas PayPal.com supports
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| Billpoint. In February of 2000 there were
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| | Canadian Dollar, Euro, Pound Sterling,
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| approximately an average of 200,000 daily
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| | U.S. Dollar, Australian Dollar, New
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| auctions advertising the PayPal service
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| | Zealand Dollar, Swiss Franc, Hong Kong
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| while Billpoint (in beta) had only 4,000
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| | Dollar, Singapore Dollar, Swedish Krona,
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| auctions. By April of 2000 there were
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| | Danish Krone, Polish Zloty, Norwegian
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| more than 1,000,000 auctions promoting
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| | Krone, Hungarian Forint, Czech Koruna.
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| the PayPal service. PayPal was able to
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| | PayPal’s operation center is located
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| turn the corner and become the first
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| | near Omaha, Nebraska and PayPal’s
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| dot-com to IPO after the September 11
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| | international headquarters is located in
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| attacks.
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| | Dublin, Ireland. The company also
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| Acquisition by eBay
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| | recently opened a technology center in
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| In October 2002 PayPal was acquired by
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| | Scottsdale, Arizona.
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| eBay. PayPal had previously been the
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