Morals Or Money

Instapundit suggests that Paypal are becoming the Web Morality Police:

Beginning Friday, PayPal will begin penalizing users who buy things it doesn't want them to: prescription drugs from unverified pharmacies, material with even a whiff of sex and gambling or lottery services. . . .

Its policy on adult materials is especially stringent, banning not only any material or services suggesting sexual activity but also "non-adult services whose Web site marketing can be reasonably misconstrued as allowing adult material or services to be purchased using PayPal."

I rather suspect that this has nothing at all to do with morality - and everything to do with customer complaints. Unverified pharmacies? Read "scam artists". (And spam artists, judging from the state of my inbox.) There are legitimate (if that's the word) adult services online - Playboy now has an online service - but the area is rife with scammers and spammers as well, because it has a solid track record of actually making money. I don't know whether online gambling is profitable, but it has attracted the spam-and-scam crowd too.

I don't think Paypal give a damn about what you spend your money on; what they do care about is giving refunds. They hate giving refunds.

And note these paragraphs from the article at inernetnews.com:

A year ago, eBay paid $10 million to settle charges by the U.S. District Attorney that it violated the U.S. Patriot Act by transmitting funds earned through online gambling. When it announced the acquisition, eBay said it would stop PayPal's gambling payments.
Merchants using PayPal to sell pharmaceuticals online must be certified by the National Association Boards of Pharmacy's Verified Internet Pharmacy Practices Site program.
It's not about morals, it's about money.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 06:22 AM

Comments

1 But why penalize the buyers? Why not penalize the sellers? ie, refuse to accept their business in the first place?

Posted by: Rachel Ann at September 26, 2004 06:29 AM (/gLIx)

2 How do they get off penalizing anybody? It's not like they're a governmental body or anything - or are they?!

Posted by: Xrlq at September 27, 2004 04:44 PM (6DLYC)

3 I thought PAY PAL was a great way to send and receive money thru the internet but lately I have been rethinking that and this just verify's what I was already thinking.

I stumbled onto your blog and thought I would add my two cents before I leave. Have a good day!

Posted by: Ro at September 29, 2004 11:08 PM (e0ReQ)

4 Pixy... correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't PayPal just facilitate sneding/receiving money? If you purchase something from an individual (or company) and are unsatisfied, why would PayPal have to refund anything... wouldn't that be the responsibility of the seller... isn't PayPal going to charge someone something for the additional transaction... anyway, what would the content of any particular sale or product have to do with issuing a refund... now, they are totally within their rights to run their business as they see acceptable, as are we, as consumers, free to do business with another company if we don't like the rules PayPal wants to enact and enforce...

Posted by: Madfish Willie at September 30, 2004 01:39 AM (Ql9J6)






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