PayPal could be the best thing for World Cup 2010
by Mike Saunders on 30/03/10 at 7:22 am
5 comments
PayPal is now available in South Africa. Most of us don’t really understand what this means and why it’s so significant so I thought it would be a good topic to jump into. Previously, it has been fairly difficult for South Africans to trade over the internet with each and with the rest of the world.We were able to make payments into a PayPal account to buy something but were never able to receive payments. This was primarily because PayPal had no formal presence in South Africa to distribute these funds.
Now FNB, the innovative guru-like bank, have opened up the channel for PayPal to distribute funds in SA. This means that South African entrepreneurs now has access to the PayPal’s customer base of more than 81 million active accounts in 190 markets around the world and move the proceeds to their FNB accounts.
Now I am not sure about you, but being able to access 81 million people who can purchase products and services online, is a pretty exciting venture to me.
One small, tiny catch
“According to Chris Savides, Innovation Manager from eBucks and a key player in brokering the deal between FNB and PayPal, South African users will only be able to interact with their PayPal accounts in US Dollar format. For this reason the bank has incorporated a live foreign exchange quote into its online banking portal when topping up an account.” – mybroadband
Think about how this change affects 2010
Now South African business people can accept a payment from a PayPal account. This can be more appealing to the customer because it is much safer than using a credit card. In my opinion every single B&B, Tour Operator and Hotel needs to get this facility inline before the World Cup.
I have been speaking to many tourism and hotel owner who are looking for ways to make themselves more appealing for the World Cup visitors. There is a general feeling that we are not going to get as many tourists as anticipated and this is a scray thought because many tourism companies have invested into additional resources in order to deal with the large influx of people into South Africa. If the numbers are lower than expected then competition is going to be fiercer than previously anticipated. PayPal will add another dimension to your business and create the potential for tourists to choose your accomadation over the competitions.
Unique Selling Points
Here’s a quick overview of the USP’s for sellers and buyers using PayPal. I got this from the PayPal website:
Great USP for sellers from PayPal Website
- Accept payments directly in your selected currency
- Manage multiple currency payments using your current PayPal account
- Hold one currency balance and still accept payments in multiple currencies
Great USP for buyers from PayPal Website
- Pay for purchases in your selected currency
- Payment is automatically converted to your desired currency
- No need to hold a balance in another currency to send a payment
What’s the South African experience like so far?
I already know that Arthur Van Wyk has his PayPal account setup and I am sure that a couple of our tech-savvy Ideate readers do as well. I would love to know what the FNB service level is like here and what the public think about this service. Feel free to comment below.
Mike is the CEO of DigitLab, a digital marketing and social media agency, as well as Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach at TomorrowToday. An internet strategy consultant by day, and blogger by night on www.mikesaunders.co.za, Mike is the guru on all things digital and provides training, presentations, and consulting on strategy, social media, social business, internet marketing, and the new world of work. View more articles by Mike Saunders.
Tags: Entrepreneurial Ideas, fnb, internet business, Marketing, mike saunders, online business, paypal
Marc Forrest
Mar 30th, 2010
Great article Mike. i was fortunate to attend the launch last week and I agree 100%. It is imperative that South African businesses get PayPal integrated into their businesses ASAP. This is game changing in South Africa.
I have managed to setup & link my PayPal, although I’m still having 1 or 2 hiccups which FNB are sorting out.
fred hatman
Mar 30th, 2010
Thanks for the insightful info, Mike. Very helpful for me. And for those who should be taking full advantage of PayPal before the World Cup.
Lee
Mar 31st, 2010
Monsterpay.com (formerly Setcom), although not as well known as PayPal, have been offering this kind of service for quite a while already. I have accepted payment in US dollars and ZA Rands for products since 2009 using monsterpay.com.
And I have read that South Africans need to register a NEW Paypal account to partake in the new service. There’s always a catch to doing business in South Africa…
Kayden
May 25th, 2010
Have had some major problems with FNB and Paypal , due to the fact that you cannot link PayPal to an FNB account that is less than 6 months old and it can only be linked to transactional accounts , ask questions when choosing which account to set up.
PayPal in Soth Africa is also susceptable to higher tariffs than other countries making the PayPal facility that is so reveaerd abroad less appealing , we remain in the shadows and stunt our potential for e-commerce growth as this country continues to operate on above average tariffs for everything from cell phone to banking charges. It’s high time legislation was passed in this country that prevented this inseccant greed from hindering the growth of this fantastic nation
Kgole
Jun 15th, 2010
If what Kayden has said(cannot link your paypal account with your fnb online banking account) is true,which i think is a fact,then thats not good customer care!For five days now i ve been trying to link the two but failed and since my fnb account is less than six months young i dont really feel enthusiastic about this internet banking proved by fnb!I cannot afford to wait five months just to make a simple transaction time is against me.I dont understand why one has to wait for so long.!