The Micropayment Jingle

When was the last time you, or someone you know, bought something online? Transferred money? Booked a holiday? Lost a hand of poker? These are just some of the many types of online transactions Irish internet users utilise every day. Although, for such a “connected” country, we were very slow adopting e-commerce. A 1997 Revenue report stated we spent £10 million that year, with a forecast of £400 million for the year 2001, whereas in the UK, approximately £4 billion sterling was spent in that same year.

In 2008 online spending on goods and services had risen to €2.5 billion, representing 2.6% of our national consumer spend of €93.6 billion. And whilst overall consumer confidence in internet transactions and security has risen, there is one particular company the Irish have taken a shine to: eBay. Even older Irish people are getting in on that “scene”!






Part of the reason eBay has become so successful is its acquisition of PayPal. PayPal, along with the prepaid credit card company 3v, has enabled many Irish people become businesspeople, selling everything from antiques to duvets.

But what has it meant to people like you and I? PayPal isn't exclusive to eBay. Recently, my girlfriend ordered some clothes from an English online retailer. They were running a 3for2 offer on certain items, but hadn't updated their billing procedure to accommodate the extra delivery charge needed to send a larger package. So, two days after paying for her items through PayPal, she received an email from them, apologising for their error but also asking her to cover the shipping. Not a problem, she said, as she clicked the PayPal link they provided to send them the extra £20, finalising her still bargain find.

PayPal are taking this usability even further. Recently, at the PayPal X Innovate 2009 Conference held in San Francisco, an Irish woman working from PayPal’s European headquarters in Dublin, won an in-house competition, developing a mobile app utilising PayPal accounts. It now seems only a matter of time before PayPal begin their campaign to move their payment processing facilities to the real world.





Further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micropayment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal_Mafia
http://www.btgtm.com/BTGlobalTelecomNewsFixed/Article.asp?ArticleCode=14513680
http://www.iftf.org/node/3385
http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/digital-imprimatur/