Assignment #2: Paypal

1. Visit Paypal's website and scroll down to see the information about the service and determine what they do. IN ONE SENTENCE describe as much as you can about what Paypal does and why it is so popular.
Paypal is the trusted leader in online payments that allows you to make online purchases, keep your information on hand to shop and pay conveniently, keep your connected bank accounts secure and organized into one place, and more!

2. How does Paypal keep you safe while shopping at ALL OF THE ONLINE STORES that are possible to shop at these days? (think about your identity) Paypal organized many ways to keep it's users interested and also very safe! Although the company stores your information for your benefit and allows you to make purchases easier, it is overall a very safe system. When you create an account with PayPal, they will ensure that the full name, birthday and residential address that you provide is correct using their electronic method, but if that doesn't work out, you must submit two documents proving you're information to be true. They do this to ensure that you are the rightful account owner, rather than someone else trying to take your identity. Also, with PayPal, you can view your purchases and view the amounts of money being added and taken from your account. This is very important to your security because if money is being taken without your consent and you are unaware that it has happened. PayPal will look into the issue and resolve it for you. They are trusted by a multitude of online stores and are even the preferred method of payment by the entire eBay company!

3. How does Paypal make money if they aren't charging the buyer? 
Since PayPal is such a huge, widespread company, they make a lot of money over time with it's users paying small fees at a time. PayPal has two different ways of doing this. They are: The fees PayPal charges to a payment's recipient. Although most transactions are free, its users pay a fee for each transaction. The fee is usually thirty cents plus a 1.9% to 2.9% surcharge fee. The second method they use is by earning interest against the money that its users have sitting in their account. Knowing that there are over 100 million members on PayPal, if every member kept $5 in their account for a year and PayPal gets an interest rate of 1.75%, they would make $8,750,000 a year. The person who owns the account does not make any interest by letting their money sit in there.

4. If you buy something from Asia or Russia and it doesn't arrive how does Paypal protect you? This question may require internet research.
If you make a purchase from a foreign country like Asia or Russia and it doesn't arrive, PayPal has a section on their website where you can "open a dispute" where you log in to your account and the process allows you to get in contact with the company and, if you provide the proof, you will get your money back. I think that this is a very important for PayPal to give its users this ability because if your identity is stolen and purchases are made that don't arrive to you, you can get refunded for the stolen money.

5. If you started a business would you allow payment using Paypal? Why or why not?
If I started a business, I would allow PayPal as a payment option because of its huge popularity. PayPal is said to be the leader of online payment options and if I were to create a business that had an online feature I would definitely allow PayPal, but also any sort of credit and debit cards because it's very inconvenient that the majority of online shopping sites don't have the option to pay with a debit card.

6. Visit https://www.google.ca/wallet and compare Paypal to Google Wallet OR Search for "APPLE PAY" and compare it to Paypal. Which do you prefer and why? Give 2 reasons. 
Personally, I prefer Apple Pay because I use it very often for different points cards at many different stores and it's helpful if you tend to forget your extra cards but remember your phone! The app comes with the more recent versions of the iPhone and you just plug your information into the app and it allows you to carry your entire wallet on your phone. I still like carrying a wallet however because that's just my personal opinion, the same as I still like paying with cash, but this app has saved me many times when I could have wasted getting points that add up to free stuff in the long run!