PayPal Trumps Square’s Deal With Starbucks by Partnering With Discover

Sorry, but I as one of those 50 million Paypal users will continue to refuse to do business using Paypal unless absolutely necessary for ease of use (sadly there still is no easier way to have people pay me for services besides PayPal from various other countries in the world).<p>I don't trust them with my money, and I certainly don't trust them to handle it correctly.

But PayPal still refuses to be regulated like a bank, right? And how long will it be before "PayPal is holding my funds" stories go mainstream?

As with many new technology advances in the finance sector, I predict this to be use for crime.<p>Right now it's easy for criminals to get money into paypal accounts, but difficult to get money in their hands, because it often requires steps that involve tying a transaction to a bank account or something traceable.<p>If someone can just walk into a store and type a couple of numbers into a keypad and walk out with items worth cash, it gives the criminals an easy gateway to spend their ill-gotten funds.

Part of where I get confused here, is that Paypal already has a debit card... Given the prevalence of places that accept debit cards to buy things, how is this a revolution?<p><a href="https://personal.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&#38;content_ID=marketing_us/debit_card" rel="nofollow">https://personal.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&...</a>

Fry: Do you take Visa?<p>Clerk: Visa hasn't existed for 500 years.<p>Fry: American Express?<p>Clerk: 600 years.<p>Fry: Discover Card?<p>Clerk: Sorry, we don't take Discover.

Fry: Do you take Visa?<p>Clerk: Visa hasn't existed for 500 years.<p>Fry: American Express?<p>Clerk: 600 years.<p>Fry: Discover Card?<p>Clerk: Sorry, we don't take Discover.

I think Starbucks are more common than places that take Discover.

PayPal recently turned off my account because I was unable to verify my address with a call to a landline ( don't have one ). I have little faith for their future. This discover partnership is something that should have been done years ago. It's too late now IMO.

This makes it sound like PayPal's proxying through Discover; building within their platform. I don't see any potential way this could backfire when Discover decides it wants to do it's own mobile payments. None at all.

If the stereotypes about Starbucks customers being hipster technologists* are true, then Square is still ahead of PayPal here. The crucial difference between the Square deal and the PayPal deal is that the people who go to Starbucks are more likely to adopt a new technology than your average Walmart shopper.<p>* I imagine this is not accurate, but it is the sense I've gotten from online jokes about Starbucks. Either way an average Starbucks customer is likely better off than an average Walmart shopper, just based on how necessary Starbucks vs. Walmart is in terms of goods sold.

Starbucks using pay-by-name will be a breakthrough, assuming that's where the Square partnership is going. Since Starbucks is already asking for your name when you order coffee, it could turn into a great customer experience that would build broad momentum for pay-by-name.<p>Is this PayPal agreement just adding a new and more complicated option to the existing terminal base? Will retail clerks even know what it is, and will there be any reason for a consumer to migrate from credit card use?

this is wrong. Only because it's not that different from most payment mechanisms already in place. Squares goal, it seems, is to allow vendors to build a better relationship with their customers, which can hopefully increase sales. In the longer term, it's a software play and I think Starbucks realizes this. PayPal is just another method of paying for your stuff and leaving the store, maybe never to return.

This news is exciting because it marks the beginning of offline wallet-less transactions. You can go to a store with nothing and end up buying something with your phone number and a pin code.<p>PayPal retains its crown for convenient payments. Making offline payments with your phone number and a pin code indeed seems like the future.<p>Its unfortunate however that PayPal is not vendor friendly.

Square is a way for businesses to accept credit cards. Paypal is a "bank" that offers a type of credit card. I fail to see how they are really competitors. Square takes Discover so the way I see this is Square just got the ability to accept Paypal?

PayPal stopped innovating a long time ago. This isn't going to save them.