“If you’re someone who’s buying products on the web, we know who is buying the products where, and we can leverage the data,” Grether said in a statement to the WSJ. He also said that PayPal will receive shopping data from customers using its credit card in stores.

A PayPal spokesperson tells the WSJ that the company will collect data from customers by default while also offering the ability to opt out.

PayPal is far from the only company to sell ads based on transaction information. In January, a study from Consumer Reports revealed that Facebook gets information about users from thousands of different companies, including retailers like Walmart and Amazon. JPMorgan Chase also announced that it’s creating an ad network based on customer spending data, while Visa is making similar moves. Of course, this doesn’t include the tracking shopping apps do to log your offline purchases, too.

      • lemmytellyousomething@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        7 months ago

        Paypal was the fast way to transfer money until 2024 in the EU.

        But the EU has recently made it mandatory for banks to offer free SEPA instant payments. 15 seconds to send up to 100k as far as I know.

        BTW: Look at the share price and how it went down and did not recover…

        • sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          7 months ago

          I’d never heard of SEPA. That’s actually quite cool. Does that mean no more seeing payments pop up six days later.

          • lemmytellyousomething@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            edit-2
            7 months ago

            SEPA is actually what we had so far. That is how the employer sends you the money. That’s how you pay rent. That’s how you pay off debts. That’s how your insurances take money from you.

            SEPA instant payments is what’s new and it allows to transfer money to someone in under 15 seconds. It existed for a few years, but usually cost money and was not even available for all banks. That’s changing now. Step 1 is making it free and force all banks to offer it. Step 2 will be replacing the old, slower system with it completely.

            • sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              7 months ago

              Thank you so much for taking the time to explain. It’s posts like this why I enjoy Lemmy so much. Thanks for educating me.

        • veroxii@aussie.zone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          7 months ago

          Same happened in Australia. A few years back they brought in osko payid. Which means you can send money from your bank directly to others via their email or phone number. And it arrives in seconds.

          Also free.

        • peregus@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          7 months ago

          As much as I’d like PayPal to have competition, I’ve seen the share chart and there’s a flexion just this month (not a so small one, but it’s just a month).

          What the EU has done with instant bank transfer is great, but I think that the 15 seconds limit is too much for that function to be used by other apps (Satispay) to transfer money. I mean, 15 seconds is nothing, but waiting in line at the supermarket standing still for 15 seconds will fill an eternity!

          • lemmytellyousomething@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            7 months ago

            The 15 seconds are more like a maximum. It’s usually faster. Taking out you phone and maybe entering the phone PIN, opening the banking app and entering a PIN for that takes some time, too.

            The advantage that Paypal still has: It’s like a social network. People are connected and it might be easier to use it instead of first asking people for their IBAN code to send the money…

            • peregus@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              7 months ago

              If it’s less than that, it could work. The problem about asking the IBAN could be bypassed by QR codes in shops. I think that the instant bank transfer (if very fast) could help the rise of other apps that don’t have to pay fees to the credit card circuit and so be competitive and compete with PayPal.

        • sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          7 months ago

          The closest you will get is a prepaid credit card. The reason why PayPal are so big is because they’re universally accepted.

      • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        7 months ago

        Is it just me or are cheques still the best, cheapest, most secure, and generally universal way to send money from one person to another?

        I’ve been thinking about this a lot the past few weeks.

        • Assuming all parties have a bank account, you normally can get checks for free or some nominal amount.
        • Checks can be deposited via a bank’s mobile app.
        • They don’t require you to download a separate app.
        • You can stop a check by calling your bank
        • Since your money doesn’t leave the bank, it’s FDIC insured

        Yes I know that the MIRC line isn’t secured but your account is still protected by the bank for any fraud. You don’t get those same protections from venmo or cashapp.

        The closest I’ve seen is zelle but not every bank supports it.

        Every bank supports depositing in a check.

        • peregus@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          7 months ago

          Cheques? Who uses those anymore? I see them useful maybe for a down payment for a house. I don’t think that there is a merchant today that would accept them.

    • smeg@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      7 months ago

      Just using a debit/credit card? I still choose not to do this when there’s a PayPal option though, just feels riskier!

      • Jimmycakes@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        7 months ago

        You know when you use your credit card and it shows the last 4 digits on the receipt big data collects all that and knows exactly who you are and where you shop and is used for targeted ads and demographic research. If you ever used your credit card where they know your name/ delivery address and even if you didn’t they know exactly who you are. This technology is old as dirt not even sure why PayPal announced this like it’s a big deal.

        • smeg@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          7 months ago

          That sounds pretty illegal under the GDPR though, hence why I usually feel fine paying by card if the website feels like they obey the law.

          • Jimmycakes@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            7 months ago

            I don’t mean online where gdpr applies I mean in physical stores. My company uses a service called bridg but there’s others. If you swipe your card to buy something at my business and I don’t know anything about you except that card swipe. I can find out who you are, where you live, your approximate income etc. Then cross reference that with any other database that can be bought or other bridg partners to know your spending habits. Then I can say find me more customers matching op profile for my business and that’s how you get targeted in the real world. Online it’s 100x easier for them because you are typically getting something mailed.

            • smeg@feddit.uk
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              7 months ago

              GDPR isn’t just an online thing, it applies everywhere so I don’t know how your bridg software is getting away with that!

      • variants@possumpat.io
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        7 months ago

        I really miss the fake credit card number paypal used to have for sites that didn’t take paypal