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Buskers in London are the first to accept tap-to-pay cards
The move toward a cashless society has created a problem for buskers: how do they get paid when many listeners won't have physical currency? There's now a solution on hand. The Mayor of London's office and iZettle (which was recently snapped up by PayPal) have partnered on a first-ever initiative that lets buskers accept tap-to-pay contributions. Participants plug special card readers into their smartphones and set a fixed donation amount -- after that, you just have to wave your card (or a compatible NFC device) to ensure a street performer gets paid.
Paypal lets you spend money in Gmail, YouTube and more
Android Pay users have been able to dip into their PayPal accounts for a little over a year. Now, the money transfer service has partnered with Google to provide a more seamless way to use it across products like Google Play, YouTube and Gmail.
Samsung Pay finally works with your PayPal Wallet
Samsung Pay support for PayPal was unveiled back in July of last year with promises that it would be ready "soon," but that clearly didn't happen -- you've had to use your regular payment cards in the months since. Whatever prompted the wait, it's ready. PayPal has started enabling support through Samsung's tap-to-pay feature, letting you draw from your Wallet's funds instead of a credit or debit card.
Credit card companies unite for a checkout button to take on PayPal
Even if you don't use PayPal to send money to friends, there's a good chance you've reached for their checkout button in online stores, which is tied to all of your payment information. It's simply easier than getting up and finding your wallet. Now, the major credit card companies -- Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover -- are joining forces for a checkout button of their very own, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg report. And yes, it means the end of Masterpass and Visa Checkout, services that attempted to replicate the easy PayPal experience.
PayPal to launch debit cards and traditional banking services
PayPal is apparently rolling out a number of traditional banking features, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The digital payment giant is offering users debit cards they can use to withdraw from ATMs, the ability to instantly deposit a check to their account by taking a photo of it and the option to have their employers direct-deposit their earnings to their account, among other products. PayPal, which has been testing those offerings over the past months, has teamed up with small banks to make all those possible. A Delaware bank will issue debit cards for the company, another bank in Georgia is in charge of depositing money to accounts of users who upload photos of their checks, while a bank in Utah will provide money for personal and small business loans.
PayPal settles with FTC over Venmo disclosure and transfer policies
The FTC filed a complaint against PayPal over its Venmo peer-to-peer payment service back in 2016. The trade commission alleged that Venmo did not adequately disclose that customer transfers to external bank accounts were subject to review and could be frozen or removed. The FTC's filing also said that Venmo misled consumers around privacy as well as how protected their accounts were and violated the Privacy and Safeguard Rules of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. PayPal has just settled with the FTC around these allegations. No monetary penalties have been levied for the infractions.
Why sneakerheads are leaving eBay for Detroit startup StockX
Buying a pair of new rare sneakers is harder than reselling them on StockX. To buy new, the Yeezy or Jordan gods have to smile upon you, giving you that winning raffle ticket at a local store or letting you beat the bots online. To resell, all you have to do is go to the StockX website and set a price. You don't take photos or haggle with potential buyers. Instead, you look at what price the shoes are selling for and list your pair at whatever amount you think someone will pay for them. Like a stock exchange, buyer and seller identities are kept from one another. StockX acts as a middleman, only releasing payment once it verifies that goods are authentic. It's this simplicity that has helped the company earn so many loyal users. StockX was founded in 2015 after Quicken Loans founder and CEO Dan Gilbert bought Campless -- an online repository for sneaker sales data -- from Josh Luber. As part of the purchase, Luber moved from his native Philadelphia to the Detroit metro area, taking up the mantle of StockX CEO and working from Gilbert's One Campus Martius building downtown. In a little under three years, the company has become the go-to source for buying rare high-end shoes and streetwear.
Peter Thiel might be getting out of Silicon Valley
The Wall Street Journal reports today that Peter Thiel -- billionaire, investor and Gawker-killer -- might be cutting many of his ties with Silicon Valley. The paper spoke to sources it says are familiar with Thiel and his plans and they said that the shift is largely due to the Bay Area's left-leaning politics and what Thiel sees as its intolerance for conservative views. Supposedly, he's considering leaving Facebook's board and plans to move to Los Angeles. Thiel Capital and Thiel Foundation, companies that manage his investments, may also be relocated to LA.
eBay will soon replace PayPal as its main payment option
eBay and PayPal remained tight even after the two headed to splitsville in 2015. That's bound to change in the near future now that the auction site has decided to offer an integrated payment system built by Amsterdam-based company Adyen. The move will give way to a more seamless payment experience -- no need to log into another website to pay -- since Adyen's product (already used by Netflix and Uber) is purely a back-end payment service.
Venmo's 25-cent instant transfers are now available for everyone
Payment sharing services from Paypal, Square and Venmo are great, but it can take some time to move funds from those accounts to your bank so you can use them in real life. Last year, Paypal introduced $0.25 instant transfer fees to make it much faster to move money to your real-life bank. Now Paypal-owned Venmo is doing the same, offering transfers of funds in less than 30 minutes.
OnePlus halts credit card payments on its site after fraud reports
This weekend, reports began to surface that some people who had made purchases on OnePlus' website were seeing unauthorized transactions pop up on their credit cards. OnePlus released a statement on its website saying that it was looking into the issue and today in an update, the company said it's shutting down credit card payments on its site. "This is a serious issue and we are investigating around the clock. As a precaution, we are temporarily disabling credit card payments at oneplus.net," it said. "PayPal is still available, and we are exploring alternative secure payment options with our service providers."
Now you can send PayPal invoices over Facebook Messenger
PayPal has spent the last few months adding more integrations to make sending money easier. Sure, some are gimmicky (like 'friendship gift cards'), but a new feature to keep track of group purchases is nifty. The platform also started allowing folks to send cash over Facebook Messenger -- and now you can send invoices on it, too.
PayPal can help you save and invest money with the Acorns app
PayPal is funding several new digital services lately. You can send cash to your friends via the money service using Facebook Messenger, Skype and even PayPal's own money cards. The company also makes it easy to pool money for gifts and tip Twitch streamers. Now you can fund your Acorn investment account with PayPal, too, making it easier to take care of your financial future.
Tip your favorite Twitch streamer with PayPal
If you want to tip your favorite Twitch streamer, you need to use Bits. The video game-centric streaming service just recently added the tipping system of "cheering" with Bits to its mobile app in hopes that more folks would drop some cash. Now you can fund your Bits account or subscribe to streams with PayPal.
PayPal makes it easy to pool money for gifts
These days, you have a lot of ways to choose from when splitting bills with friends. You can send money through Facebook Messenger, chip in for dinner mid-Skype chat or even pay your debt as an email attachment on Gmail. PayPal has launched another new feature that caters to group of friends and family, but this one focuses on making things easier when pooling money for group gifts or holiday trips. "Money Pools" is PayPal's answer to its 2017 Holiday Money Habits Study finding that most Americans get stressed out when holiday shopping. You can use it to keep track of everyone's contributions and ensure that, say, all your siblings have sent in their share for mom's Christmas gift.
Facebook Messenger's money transfer tool is heading to the UK
Back in 2015, Facebook introduced the ability to send money to friends through Messenger and now it has brought that capability to UK users. It's the first time Facebook has launched the feature outside of the US.
Patreon moves to restrict adult content on its crowdfunding site
NSFW Warning: This story may contain links to and descriptions or images of explicit sexual acts. Patreon is a crowdfunding platform that enables people to receive subscription payments for the work that they do. It's a way of connecting individuals and small businesses with paying audiences, from news websites and YouTube channels through to activists and educators.
Facebook Messenger lets you send cash to friends with PayPal
Messenger started making it easier to pay your friends for dinner back in 2015 when it introduced the option to transfer money in-app with a credit or debit card. If PayPal has always been more convenient, though, you'll love this collaboration: Facebook and the payment service have teamed up to give you a new way to split the bill. You can access the feature the same way you'd pay with a card. Simply tap the blue plus icon and then tap the green Payments button to bring up the two existing options.
The creators of Vine built a trivia show app called HQ
The Vine guys are back, but this time it's with a gameshow app called HQ. However, this app isn't like you're typical trivia game where you can play whenever you want. With HQ, gameplay is live and takes place twice a day. "It's a way to give people a chance to have fun, maybe win, maybe learn something new," Vine cofounder Rus Yusupov told TechCrunch.
Online shoppers can now use Venmo to pay for their new gear
It's already great for paying back friends and splitting the rent, but Venmo is about to get even more useful. In a bid to court a more youthful generation of online shoppers, PayPal -- the popular app's parent company -- announced this morning that over 2 million US online retailers will accept payments through Venmo.
