Office Depot customers at several locations are now being given the option to pay for their transactions using the PayPal point-of-sale system to complete their transaction. News of the test stores comes just days after PayPal announced testing in 51 Home Depot stores.

PayPal executives recently said they would like to have their payment system in place at 20 major retailers before year end however they have remained quiet about which brick-and-mortar locations they would accept.

Using the PayPal “wallet in the cloud” system PayPal users can enter their mobile numbers and PINs at checkout counters and have money for the transaction taken directly from their PayPal account. A PayPal card with PIN can also be used.  Because customers can use their mobile number and PIN there is literally no reason to pull out identification or a physical debit/credit card during the time of purchase.

PayPal has an advantage in rolling out their system over NFC systems for mobile devices in that the company already has a user base of more than 100 million users who access PayPal for personal and business transactions.

In an attempt to receive support for the system PayPal presented the system to nearly 120 retailers in September although they have not said which retailers hoped on the PayPal payment system bandwagon at this time.

The company hopes to offer a nationwide system as they continue to expand their test market and show users the convenience their system offers.

Would you be willing to pay with PayPal at the checkout counter if that option was made available for you?

Office Depot Now Testing Paypal Point-Of-Sale System is a post from: The Inquisitr

As a person who basically routes their entire life through the internet- professional, personal, lifestyle- one of the things that gets me agitated about the whole SOPA brouhaha is how little the average web user is concerned with the ostensible end of the internet as we know it.

The few outside communities like Reddit who are aware of even the existence of SOPA don’t really seem to comprehend how seriously it could impact even basic web use, and many worryingly seem to believe that the delayed passage does not mean- in the words of a Daily Kos writer- that the bill is “favored to pass.” (Which, you guys, it still is.)

The continued failure of the bulk of web users to realize the threat SOPA poses means that the few who understand the impact need to do everything in their power to wake the web up to its imminent potential destruction. And it seems that some of the biggest entities are considering a “nuclear option” to get users active, to spur political action and maybe- just maybe- convince lawmakers to ignore special interests and ditch SOPA.

AOL, eBay, Facebook, foursquare, Google, IAC, Linkedin, Mozilla, OpenDNS, PayPal, Twitter, Wikipedia, Yahoo! and the Zynga Game Network are all members of an organization called the NetCoalition, and there is said to be chatter about shutting off the sites for a time to drive home the message that a future with SOPA sucks for everyone. Daily Kos quotes:

When the home pages of Google.com, Amazon.com, Facebook.com, and their Internet allies simultaneously turn black with anti-censorship warnings that ask users to contact politicians about a vote in the U.S. Congress the next day on SOPA, you’ll know they’re finally serious…

“There have been some serious discussions about that,” says Markham Erickson, who heads the NetCoalition trade association that counts Google, Amazon.com, eBay, and Yahoo as members. “It has never happened before.”

Scarily, not even the action proposed is guaranteed to stop SOPA or the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), but it would be a hell of a newfangled protest and could be a political game-changer.

Are you concerned about SOPA?

SOPA-Opposing Web Giants Consider ‘Nuclear Option’ to Thwart Law is a post from: The Inquisitr

Have you been following the drama over at Regretsy that happened after PayPal decided to freeze all the money donated by Regretsy users to create better Christmases for kids in need?

If you haven’t, Regretsy’s blog post on the matter will bring you up to speed- go ahead, I’ll wait. Or paraphrase- basically, PayPal arbitrarily froze Regretsy’s shit after they received a bunch of donations for a Secret Santa project, and the rep was redonkulously rude and nonsensical about the situation, and Regretsy is a hilarious site that gently mocks questionable Etsy items. So as of two days ago, that was the deal, but the originally post was hilarious and frustrating and goes to show how bad customer service can destroy a whole bunch of people’s opinions on your company, so I do recommend reading it. Two brief excerpts:

PAYPAL: The only way you’d be allowed to sell these as gifts is if you sent them directly to the person who bought them. And we will track your shipments and make sure it goes to the buyer.
ME: That’s discriminatory! You don’t make other retailers send purchases to the buyer only, especially not at Christmas.
PAYPAL: No one but a nonprofit would send gifts to someone else on buyer’s behalf.
ME: What about Amazon?
PAYPAL: We know what you’re doing and we’re through playing games with you.

When I asked how to close my account, he said I had to “refund everything, write a letter saying you understood what you did WAS WRONG AND YOU WILL NEVER DO IT AGAIN, and then request permission to close your account.”

So yesterday, PayPal admitted in a blog post that the situation was not handled well (duh), but the payment processing monopoly hinted the situation was “resolved,” and also implied some vague legal reason mandated they be total assholes about the Regretsy situation. But it turns out, that’s not true either. Regretsy’s Helen got a PayPal executive on the horn yesterday, and the unnamed PayPaller admitted then that the debacle was down to the agent’s discretion:

“The information you were given about using the donation button was definitely incorrect, and at the end of the day, it was an error in judgment on the agent’s part… The normal protocol would have been for the agent to tell you that once you reach a certain threshold, your account is triggered for a review. And when the agent looked at your account and made a subjective decision, he made a very, very incorrect one.”

To which Helen replies on the blog posting about the follow-up:

And I think we all know that Paypal’s apologies and reversals were motivated by the intense scrutiny they’ve been subjected to. If I were Sally’s Soap Shack, I would be waiting out that six month hold right now and wondering how to make Ramen noodles taste like Christmas ham.

Helen also says that an overall corporate mentality is what allows PayPal to run roughshod over common sense and fairness, and muses:

I think this is why this whole thing has resonated so deeply with people. We are all working very hard in a bad economic climate, and every cent we spend really matters. And corporations continue to treat us like they’re the only ones who are hurting.

We see the erosion of customer care in every sector. No one knows your name. No one makes eye contact. No one thanks you. Even doctors are practicing a completely different kind of medicine now. They have to see so many people to make the same money they used to that they’ve become more like mechanics. They forget your cancer is attached to a person. And Paypal forgets your fees are attached to people who are trying to make a living, or facilitate something good for other people. It makes sense doesn’t it? No one in their right mind would crap on poor kids at Christmas, unless they just weren’t paying attention.

In closing, she says PayPal promised to donate to the Regretsy Secret Santa project, and she proposes $100 to every one of the 200 families affected as a fair compromise. Do you think PayPal should pony up $200 for their mistake as well as sticking by their bad decision?

Regretsy PayPal Saga Day Three: PayPal’s Mea Culpa is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ecommerce giant eBay Inc. released its third quarter earnings report today, boasting a 13% increase in profits over the last quarter, and a 32% increase in profits when compared to the same quarter in 2010.

The company reported third quarter earnings of $490.5 million, or 37 cents a share (compared to from $431.9 million, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier), and non-GAAP net income of $628.2 million, or $0.48 per share. Market analysts had been predicting that eBay Inc. would report third-quarter earnings of around 48 cents a share.

eBay Inc. president and CEO John Donahoe attributes the growth in profits to the continuing expansion of PayPal, particularly with PayPal mobile.

“Our company reported another strong quarter, with eBay, PayPal and GSI each performing well,” said eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe. “Mobile commerce continues to accelerate as consumers change the way they shop and pay.

“We expect eBay mobile commerce to generate almost $5 billion in merchandise volume this year and PayPal mobile to exceed $3.5 billion in payment volume. Mobile is one way online and offline shopping are blending into a single commerce environment. We are focused on enabling commerce, helping consumers shop anytime, anywhere, and being the commerce partner of choice for retailers of all sizes.”

eBay Inc. shares dropped down 5.7% after trading hours, coming to a stop at $31.32.

eBay Inc. reports strong third quarter earnings thanks to PayPal is a post from: The Inquisitr

Okay, the user interface sucks, the mafia has better rates and it takes a week to get your own money if they decide to release it at all, but hey- at least there is not one alternative in the whole world and it’s got that going for it, right?

The Benefits of PayPal is a post from: The Inquisitr

In news that should come as no surprise after the auction house announcement, Blizzard announced today that PayPal will be their payment-service for the Diablo III auction house.

With the introduction of PayPal as an option for the auction house will also come the ability to play for Blizzard goods and services all across Battle.net. The service will be available in “many” regions, Blizzard said, but they weren’t willing to say which ones were excluded.

The Diablo III auction house, announced last month, allows players to sell and buy virtual items straight from within Diablo III for real-life cash or, if you prefer, in-game gold.

But don’t expect the auction house to be flooded with useless items up for sale for real cash; in an attempt to stop that very thing from happening – and to make some money in the process – Blizzard will be charging a small fee for listing an item up on the auction house.

The news that players will be able to buy items with real-life cash, this time through legitimate means, wasn’t particularly well-received among Blizzard’s fanbase, to put it lightly. Players argue that being able to buy items potentially upsets the balance of PVP, which Blizzard is putting a focus on with Diablo III‘s arena-like PVP modes.

Diablo III is expected to go into beta sometime this month.

Source: Blizzard

Blizzard announces PayPal support for Diablo III, Battle.net is a post from: The Inquisitr

This is not a repeat from December, 2010.

Credit card giant Mastercard has again been downed by hacktivists for their “fiscal embargo” and “unlawful banking blockade against Wikileaks,” six months after the financial giants got together to shut out the controversial info-dump website. The initial embargo by financial institutions led to a massive international hacktivist attack on Visa, Mastercard and PayPal dubbed “Operation Payback” late last year.

Mastercard.com appears to be up again following the reported distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, and no mention of the service disruption was made by the company on their Twitter account to apprise customers of the situation. (However, Mastercard has tweeted at length about baseball-related discounts.) It is unclear whether further attacks on the financial institutions blockading Wikileaks are in the works, but the organization tweeted:

Hactivists take down MasterCard in protest over the continuing illegal WikiLeaks fiscal embargo mastercard.com

The unlawful banking blockade against WikiLeaks in 6th month: The culprits: VISA, MasterCard, PayPal, Bank of America, Western Union.

The unlawful banking blockade against WikiLeaks continues; we call for de-listing the banks involved http://t.co/LjFqBl6

Mastercard did not officially comment on the attack.

Mastercard Again Taken Down By Hacktivists In Wikileaks Vengeance is a post from: The Inquisitr

News of Google Wallet has been followed with a lawsuit by online payment processor Paypal who filed a suit in a California Superior Court on Friday claiming that former PayPal executive Osama Bedier misappropriated company trade secrets to help build the product.

In the suit Paypal also named Stephanie Tilenius, another former PayPal employee who they say violated the terms of her contract by hiring Bedier.

At this time it’s still unclear which “trade secrets” the company is referring to and the case at this moment appears to be more about hiring practices than anything else.

In the meantime checkout our Google Wallet post for information about the new product.

Paypal Not Happy With Google Wallet, Slaps Company With Lawsuit is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you’re one of the numerous individuals with a website selling World of Warcraft gold, then beware, because you could lose your PayPal account any … day … now. WoW publisher/developer Blizzard has complained to Paypal that gold sellers are violating its IP, and PayPal’s response has been swift.

According to this man, Paypal is offering gold sellers one of three options: either stop selling gold, keep selling gold and lose your Paypal account, or fight your case in the courts. Yeah, good luck with that last one.

Gold selling has been around almost as long as World of Warcraft itself. While there are profits to be made in the selling of virtual currency at inflated prices, the practice is frowned upon by most players, who recognize it can harm an MMO’s in-game economy.

It’s not going to be an easy trend to stop entirely, but a lot of gold sellers could be closing their doors in the immediate future.

[Curse, via WoW Insider]

Paypal shutting down accounts of World of Warcraft gold sellers is a post from: The Inquisitr

Anyone who has been following the whole Wikileaks story will know the organization is facing an incredible adversary who has no compunction in using whatever means possible to shut Wikileaks down. That doesn’t mean that Wikileaks isn’t without its defenders as we are hearing of mirrors for the Wikileaks files showing up around the world on thousands of web connected computers, hell you can even create a mirror on your android device.

While much of this defense of Wikileaks is of the passive nature there is one group at least that is going on the offensive by attacking the companies that have tried to cut Wikileaks off at the knees. These companies range from Amazon (even though they’re still willing to host Kindle versions of the files) to Visa, Mastercard and PayPal.

Chief among these shadowy groups is one known as Anonymous and it is this group that has been leading the charge to bring the opposing companies like PayPal to their knees. Now for the most part this is done through what is called Distributed Denial of Service, or DDoS, which means that the target company has their networks literally flooded with massive amounts of data which leads to their networks crashing.

Generally these attacks are taken against the public facing sites which makes the sites inaccessible for varying periods of time but as effective as that might be it is only short term and really has very little effect beyond the buzz it creates. However these groups are filled with some really smart and tech savvy people and it was inevitable that they would figure out a better method of attack – the money pipeline.

Over the past couple of years we have seen one thing become a backbone of the Web and the services that communicate with each other and the consumer. Whether it be personal data or consumers buying products all this data is going through a type of pipeline called APIs (application programming interface) and they are akin in a lot of ways to being a nervous system of the Web.

Well it appears, according to a post by Brad McCarty at The Next Web, that Anonymous have figured out that attacking the endpoints of these could have a much more drastic effect on their target companies than any other kind of DDoS and are using this method against PayPal.

It is one thing to figuratively splash paint on a corporate headquarters which is really what much of the typical DDoS attacks are like but it is another thing entirely to target the very lifeblood of a company – their financial transaction pipeline. This of course is exactly what the PayPal API is – their lifeblood between them and the consumer.

What this does though, especially if successful over an extended period of time, is how that those APIs that an increasing number of companies are integrating into their system is potentially a major weak point. A weak point that when attacked in the manner that Anonymous is attacking PayPal could have disastrous affect on the entire web.

twitter image courtesy of The Next Web

Latest Anonymous attack shows a huge potential weakness in the Web – APIs is a post from: The Inquisitr

In addition to Visa and Mastercard, online payment processing giant PayPal has been knocked offline tonight by a loosely affiliated group of web users protesting the financial restraints placed on the Wikileaks operation.

As of now, Visa is back up and running and Mastercard appears to be mostly operational. However, PayPal is not accessible- although BoingBoing reports that the service is still functioning despite the site outage.

Mashable posted a list of attacks associated with Operation Payback:

After pulling the plug on payments to WikiLeaks, Mastercard’s website was taken down and remains out of service.

Senator Joe Lieberman’s website was taken down for 12 minutes (the first .gov site to be attacked).

Sarah Palin’s website was taken offline by a small group of Anonymous attackers.

The group sent spam faxes to Joe Lieberman’s office and to PostFinance.

PostFinance was attacked the hardest, leaving customers without the ability to conduct online banking.

They took down the website of the lawyer representing the two women who were allegedly raped/assaulted by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

The group took down Assange’s Swedish prosecutor’s website.

PayPal has not addressed the outage on their Twitter feed as of yet.

PayPal downed by ‘hackers’ for Wikileaks censure is a post from: The Inquisitr

With the increasing presence of “intelligent” or web-connected televisions opening up new ways for us to interact with content PayPal is looking to this new territory as an area ripe for them to bring their service to.

Today the company announced an new initiative that they are referring to as “T-commerce” which will allow consumers to access their digital wallet to buy products using their TV remote. Osama Bedier, VP of Platform, from PayPal wrote about the initiative this morning on the company blog:

Today, I’m happy to say we’re one step closer to equipping every living room in America with T-commerce powered by PayPal. We’re working with Canoe Ventures, which was founded by the country’s leading cable operators to create interactive products and services, to make this a reality.  Other major players that have joined us include Catalina Marketing, Delivery Agent, FourthWall Media and icueTV. Canoe’s “test bed” is Canoe Ventures Innovation Lab, where work is already underway.

Together, we are pushing forward the very future of television as an interactive shopping experience that harnesses the ease and safety of PayPal. Imagine this: lounging on your couch and channel surfing, then finding that perfect birthday present. A few clicks of your remote, and you’ve purchased the gift via your PayPal account. Pretty cool, right?!

We at PayPal believe that the wallet should live and will live “in the cloud.” Internet-connected devices will be the very fabric of the digital lifestyle. And as televisions increasingly become Internet enabled, they open up whole new avenues for new ways to connect and sell to consumers directly. We are proud to support our developers as they push forward with this vision.

PayPal bringing ‘T-commerce’ to a TV near you is a post from: The Inquisitr

Now this is some interesting news that could have a very big impact beyond just the Android marketplace.

It seems that Google and PayPal have been talking and not about the weather. Scott Moritz at The Street has a report posted which lets us know about a pending deal between Google and PayPal that would see PayPal powering the payment system on the Android Market.

The two Net giants had been moving closer to an agreement in recent weeks. Now, sources familiar with the situation say the deal is all but sealed, with an announcement coming as early as Oct. 26 during the PayPal developers’ conference in San Francisco.

The move would not only help smooth a bumpy checkout system on Android Market, it would also bring Google closer to the type of seamless payment process that Apple manages at its iTunes and App Store.

The curious thing about this is that Google has its own payment system, Google Checkout, so one has to wonder why they would consider switching to using PayPal. Don’t get me wrong I personally think this is a great idea but one is left wondering if this is the being of Google Checkout heading the way of Wave, Froogle, and a number of other Google projects that have gotten mothballed.

I know I would love it if Google added the option for content producers to have their AdSense payments sent to PayPal instead of relying of Google sending to bank accounts or mailing out checks.

Could Google Checkout go the way of Wave thanks to PayPal? is a post from: The Inquisitr

We’ve been covering the entire Crunchpad/JooJoo movement over the last couple weeks, now we’ve learned that the company is in violation of PayPal policies, accepting the popular payment method as the sole way of paying for the devices, then delivering them way outside of paypal maximum order/delivery terms.

We doubt it was a malicious move by the company, however Paypal states in their TOS in section II, subsection 4, named “Prohibited Transactions,” that the seller agrees “not to use [a] PayPal account to sell goods with delivery dates delayed more than 20 days from the date of payment.”

Considering the JooJoo units are 8 to 10 weeks away from delivery we’re assuming no one will see the units in 20 days. It could be that they’ve found a way around this restriction. It could also be that with all the JooJoo Legal issues on hand that they’ve simply overlooked this fact. [Gizmodo]

JooJoo Violates PayPal Seller Agreement, Goods More Than 20 Days Away is a post from: The Inquisitr

All you have to do is tweet a small story inspired by the picture below and tag it #piccon by Saturday September 19th 8.00 PM CET (11.00 AM PDT).

I will then pick the winner and announce it here Satuday evening. The $10 will be transferred to your PayPal instantly.

If it’s a success, I’ll see if I can get some sponsors to make future contest even better.

Tommy Ton of Jak & Jil blog took these pictures.

Twitter contest: Write a matching tweet is a post from: The Inquisitr

The end of the month is coming and I’ll have a little bit of money sitting in my PayPal account but it leaves  me in a little bit of a quandary. Like, do I transfer some; or all of it, to my bank account so I can get that Christmas shopping down. If I leave some of it in my PayPal account then I am stuck dealing with the sometimes depressing online shopping experience.

It’s not always depressing; as buying digital goods is fairly simple and painless – at least it isn’t affected by one or more of my following suckage reasons. No – the real pain and agony comes when you head out to shop for non-digital type goodies. You know – those things like hardware, household stuff for the wife or those gaming consoles for the kids. The type of things that need to be paid for and then shipped.

In the spirit of online shopping and the holiday spirit here’s a list of the reasons why I think the whole experience really sucks sometimes.

1. Payment methods

This has to be the biggest bitch point I have with online shopping; but before you get your panties in a bunch let’s make a couple of things clear. Not everyone wants to buy digital goods. Not everyone in the world has a credit card. Not everyone in the world has a VISA debit card. Not everyone lives in the United States. So don’t even bother trying to get me going by bringing those points up in a comment.

There is nothing worse than finding just the right item that you want to buy only to find out that they only accept three major credit cards. What makes it even more maddening though is that you don’t find out until page 5 of their stupid ass payment form. Gee couldn’t you let me know that before you made me enter in all my personal information – guess not.

Then we have the famous VISA style bank debit cards or the virtual credit cards. Whoop-frikken-ee! First with the bank VISA debit cards – chances are if you don’t qualify for a VISA card you won’t for a VISA debit card. You might have a bank debit card but that won’t work. Then there is the fact that even if they accept a straight ordinary bank debit card it had better be one from the U.S. because I have yet to see anyone that accepts a Canadian bank debit card.

Then we have PayPal – but that is another whole separate point.

2. The Big Boys and wanting to pay with PayPal

The short of it is if you want to buy stuff from places like Amazon, the new Microsoft store (for that Xbox deal) or any of the really non-eBay retailers you are screwed unless you have a major credit card. Forget even thinking about paying with PayPal. It ain’t gonna happen.

That is one of the reasons that Amazon will never be an endpoint of online shopping for a lot of people. The other big reason comes later. I can understand to a point why considering that PayPal is owned by eBay that online retailers don’t accept it as a payment option; but it wasn’t always like that. Even before eBay PayPal has never been an option at Amazon and I’m sorry but that is just down right stupid. I can’t count the number of times that I have wanted to buy a book or other goods at Amazon but couldn’t because of this nonsense.

To me this is being exceptionally shortsighted and stupid

3. Geotarding what I can buy

Nothing pisses me off more than finding just the right item and entering all my payment information only to see – No shipping to outside of the U.S.

Screw you. I’m already going to get raped by any shipping costs as it is. If I’m willing to bend over a little further and pay outrageous shipping costs then damn well be willing to take my money and buy those goods.

I see this on Amazon all the time at any point you step beyond the bounds of book buying. If you want to buy that nice little trinket for the wife or maybe a a nice DVD player on sale – forget it if you live anywhere else but in the great United States.

In the Amazon example you can always head to your local geographical version (if there is one) but if that local Amazon site is anything like the Canadian one the pickings are pretty dismal. Where most people seem to make Amazon and other big names a regular stopping point I’m lucky if I remember Amazon even exists outside of any news that shows up about it.

4. Shipping outside of the U.S. – or how FedEx and UPS laugh all the way to the bank

I know everyone touts Amazon’s free shipping horn but here’s a hint. Not everyone buys from Amazon and not everyone lives in the U.S.

The moment there is a border to cross I can just visualize some FedEx or UPS executive eyeing up that new BMW or Mercedes purchase. In-country charges are bad enough but if I get something from the US I pray to all that is holy that it is getting shipped with GIFT splashed across the package. If it doesn’t then I suddenly am having to pay Custom Tariff Fees and then our lovely government gets in the act wanting their share and I have to pay taxes on what they think the item is worth. Suddenly that good deal just cost me an arm and a leg.

Even worse though in some ways is in-country shipping – especially when you are in the same time zone, the same province as where you are buying the goods from. Recently I bought a new mouse from TigerDirect in Canada – great service and I’m very happy with them – but when it came to figuring out how much I had to pay via PayPal I was suddenly faced with a $10.00 shipping fee. For a mouse .. a package that probably didn’t even weight a pound.

Then another time I priced out some RAM memory and again it was a great deal – except for the shipping. Again I was faced with a $10.00 shipping fee for something that fits inside an envelope. Please tell me how this makes sense.

That I think pretty well covers some of the ways that I think online shopping sucks. The things is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Retailers could stop being so myopic about how we can pay for those goods. Retailers like Amazon could easily support us paying by PayPal. In this day and age of the global village and global economy mentality we shouldn’t have to deal with geotarded products. As well we shouldn’t shafted the way we are for the shipping of goods that we buy; after all the more we buy the more that will need to be shipped (DUH!)

Do I think any of the above will change?

Not bloody likely.

4 Reasons why online shopping sucks is a post from: The Inquisitr

First, a little more on the purchases and what they’ll mean: eBay is shelling out $820 million plus $125 million in options to buy online payment service Bill Me Later, and another $390 million to snag two Danish classifieds sites, dba.dk and bilbasen.dk. On the bright side, I guess the 10 percent of eBay employees getting laid off can at least see where their salaries are going.

Bill Me Later will work in conjunction with eBay-owned PayPal, the company says. The service lets you set up an account without a credit card, then gain an option at participating sites to complete your purchase without actually paying. Bill Me Later, as its name suggests, then sends you a bill after the fact. It’s already partnered with online retailers such as Amazon, Borders.com, SkyMall, and dozens of others.

As for the Danish properties, eBay says their addition will allow for the expansion of eBay’s classified services in a previously untapped region. eBay already claims the title of “global leader in classifieds,” citing top spots in Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, and the U.K.

Amidst all this, eBay recently agreed to increase buyer protection for auction-based purchases made with PayPal. Basically, it’ll now offer full refunds to anyone who uses PayPal and gets defective merchandise. British media describe it as the company giving in to “consumer demands.” The Times says U.K. PayPal customers have been calling for the changes for years, flooding sites such as paypalsucks.com and paypalwarning.com with complaints. The new protection plan does still have its limits: “intangible goods” and things purchased from non-eBay sites will not gain additional coverage.

What a Day for eBay: Understanding all the Changes is a post from: The Inquisitr

The acquisition would make eBay a stronger player in payments with Bill Me Later and PayPal under its wings.

Now, here’s the bad news. The company announced that it is cutting 1,000 employees to bring down its workforce by 10 percent. Temporary workers are also expected to go. So, if you’re hoping to land a job at eBay, look somewhere else as the company is reducing open positions as well. Come again another day.

eBay Acquires Bill Me Later; To Cut 1,000 Jobs is a post from: The Inquisitr

HourTown announced the $1 million in new funding today, from NBC along with Baseline Ventures, Hatch Ventures and a handful of Silicon Valley angel investors — some of the same companies, HourTown’s founder points out, that initially got behind Google and PayPal in their early days.

HourTown lets clients manage appointments with small business owners through its Web-based interface — so if you were, say, a music instructor, you could have students log directly onto the site to schedule or change appointments. Founder Ryan Donahue describes it as “Web 2.0 for your yoga instructor.”

The service is available in a limited capacity for free, or with expanded features starting at about $20 per month. HourTown is based in Palo Alto and launched in early 2007.

NBC Invests in Online Scheduling Startup is a post from: The Inquisitr

The web-based mail service will now authenticate any e-mails coming from paypal.com or ebay.com. The move is an effort to combat the large number of spoofed messages that appear to originate from those domains. Now, any e-mails claiming to come from Paypal or eBay that don’t check out won’t even make it into your inbox.

The authentication process will use DomainKeys and DKIM technology to confirm legit messages. Google says it’s been testing the process for a few weeks already.

Gmail Amps Up Phishing Protection is a post from: The Inquisitr