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Good news to Filipinos! PayPal has now opened its full system to Philippine-based account holders. Previously, we could use PayPal only for remitting or paying, but not for accepting funds online. Now, we can accept moneys via the Internet, as well as make use of PayPal’s industry-strength and secure payment gateway facility. This is indeed a very welcome development, especially for those of us who are into technopreneurial activities.
I have yet to implement the PayPal shopping cart and payment gateway on one of my sites, but after reading through the documentation, I’m confident that PayPal can offer Filipinos a myriad opportunities for doing business online. What’s more, the basic system is practically free — except for the minimal transaction charges, there aren’t any setup fees or recurring monthly charges. Credit card purchases made on your site, for example, carry a minimum 2.5% charge, plus a US$0.30 fee per transaction.
I wonder what precipitated this. What has recently transpired that prompted PayPal to finally allow Filipinos to accept incoming online fund transfers? Has our overall credit rating increased? Have our banking and government financial policies improved to the point of being on a par with international standards? Whatever the reason, the results will certainly be hopeful for the Philippines. For one, PayPal’s move could signal to the world that the Philippines has now come of age, in terms of our standing in the global e-commerce arena.
Janette Toral, acclaimed as the mother of e-commerce in the Philippines, has raised this concern in light of this PayPal development: ‘What will happen to existing Philippine-based payment gateway facilities?‘
Well, I anticipate that such services will necessarily become competitive. Filipino e-commerce providers, such as YES Payments and Your One Stop Shopping Network, will have to shape up or ship out. Presently, these companies offer similar payment systems, but at rather prohibitive rates, on top of stringent restrictions. I expect that much streamlining and repackaging will come into effect as a result of the PayPal initiative.
Funds received via PayPal can be withdrawn to a debit card, such as UnionBank’s EON card. If you’re an EON account holder, it will be very easy for you to start setting up a PayPal account. See www.unionbankph.com for more details.
This entry was posted on Monday, 1 October 2007 at 6:16 pm and is filed under E-commerce, Technopreneurship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
What EON?
@confusion — Hello there! That’s UnionBank’s cyber account product. Please check out this link to read about eon.
Hey lots of topics added since my last visit here. Yeah paypal has made it possible for fund transfers without limits here in the Philippines. I was grateful for that – made my online transactions easier. I already have my own website, an online store, and others.