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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
I received marketing email from PayPal today. "5% cashback!"
Looks great on the surface but this is PayPal, a company notorious for its draconian practices, after all. To say I was suspicious would be an understatement.
I give the email text a cursory look and find out that the promotion is valid for the first £50 (I made this account when I lived in England). 5% of £50 is a measly £2.50, which is hardly worth anyone's time, especially if we actually have to spend money in the firsts place. If my account were based in the States, this amount would presumably be $2.50, an even smaller amount. No thanks PayPal, I'll continue to not use you unless absolutely necessary.
Two takeaways.
First, it's frustrating that we often really have no choice but to use PayPal even though we'd desperately like to use an alternative (ex: ebay). As a buyer, sellers often only allow us to pay via PayPal. As sellers, PayPal is often the choice that makes the most financial sense (especially if you're running a business online and process many transactions. For instance, PayPal is by far the cheapest for micorpayments.). There are new entrants to this space like Stripe or WePay, but neither of them come close to matching PayPal's ubiquity or price points.
Second, it's made me realize (for the umpteenth time, embarassingly) that we're constantly bombarded by these sorts of advertisements throughout the day. Coupons that come in the mail, daily deals that are shared with us on our social networks (though this is far less prevalent these days), signs all over the supermarket proclaiming their discounts at us, and on and on. These promotions take up mindshare and often cause decision fatigue. Constantly being exposed to this kind of information noise and feeling like we need to properly parse it all takes its toll on us. As a matter of fact, just thinking about it in the abstract as I write this is making me weary. JC Penny's no sales plan totally failed, but a world where that was the nom would actually be quite nice. But then again, all this promotion must surely be backed by some kind of psychological theory, so we're unlikely to ever see the end of it.
The upshot of all of this? Take 30 seconds to unsubscribe from these emails.
click click click...
 
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Good point about the mindshare.
I like paypal tho, I don't use it often but I use it without having an account there, like for subscribing to GOM TV I enter my credit card into paypal and it pays to GOM without any additional cost for me, and also in my currency so my bank don't charge me 10€ for its computer doing a multiplication.
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i know poker players who use these cashback promotions to make quite a bit of money. you just gotta be very bold about it and have enough money online.
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
On June 20 2013 21:38 beg wrote:
i know poker players who use these cashback promotions to make quite a bit of money. you just gotta be very bold about it and have enough money online.
IMO that's an entirely different situation since it is a "once and done" arrangement. It is much like buying a house or a car, rather than worrying about penny savings in everyday purchases.
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On June 20 2013 21:38 beg wrote:
i know poker players who use these cashback promotions to make quite a bit of money. you just gotta be very bold about it and have enough money online.
I thought Paypal doesn't allow transactions to poker sites for whatever moral/image reasons? But yeah anything that increases your rakeback in any area is basically what you live on for poker.
A little off-topic sorry. 
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On June 20 2013 22:55 TheLink wrote:Show nested quote +On June 20 2013 21:38 beg wrote:
i know poker players who use these cashback promotions to make quite a bit of money. you just gotta be very bold about it and have enough money online. I thought Paypal doesn't allow transactions to poker sites for whatever moral/image reasons? But yeah anything that increases your rakeback in any area is basically what you live on for poker. A little off-topic sorry.
i dont know about paypal. the promotions i'm referring to are from neteller or skrill. i thought there might be a similar way to exploit paypal.
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Not to say you're bad at math but the $50 is the cap on the actual cash back, so you'd need to spend $1000 to get capped.
There may be limits per transaction or something dumb like starting from your second purchase, but its not as bad as you think it is.
I have 4 credit cards with cycling 5% cash back every 3 months on crap like gas/groceries/amazon/etc and they all work around those limits. I usually don't hit the cap per 3 months on normal stuff like gas or groceries but once I splurged and bought a TV off amazon and hit the cap that holiday season - No tax, free shipping, 5% cash back = I fell into their trap! Which is why I have 4 cards -_- I'm asian so I never carry a balance lol
Edit: this is from my Chase Card FAQ:
Earning your 5% cash back - Chase Freedom Card
Q. How does the 5% promotion work?
A. You’ll earn a full 1% cash back on all purchases. In addition, you’ll earn 4% cash back on up to $1,500 in purchases made between July 1 and September 30, 2013 in the bonus categories. That’s a total of 5% cash back, which means you can earn up to $75 cash back ($15 cash back plus your $60 bonus cash back). You must activate your 5% cash back by September 14, 2013 and use your card between July 1 and September 30, 2013 in the bonus categories to earn bonus cash back.
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United States24705 Posts
What amazes me is how persistent they are. They've been delivering the good news to me, practically weekly, for months, that I have been selected to accept some special offer to use Billmelater. Yay? I ignore it every time, and it doesn't deter them XD
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United Kingdom13775 Posts
The worst kind of spam is the kind that comes from sites that send something useful 50% of the time, and spam 50% of the time so that you can't block them.
Good thing Paypal at least has an unsubscribe button.
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Not to mention some sites have an unsubscription option which, when clicked, only exposes you to even more spam because you have just confirmed that you are a responsive reader of your email.
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A couple of my friends and I use stripe instead of Paypal for billing online.
Much less hassle and flat rates. No need to use paypal or it's derivatives and be subject to said draconian practices.
But yeah, not as good for micropayments as paypal unfortunately when mass orders come through.
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TLADT24920 Posts
On June 20 2013 19:54 thedeadhaji wrote:
As a buyer, sellers often only allow us to pay via PayPal. As sellers, PayPal is often the choice that makes the most financial sense (especially if you're running a business online and process many transactions. For instance, PayPal is by far the cheapest for micorpayments.). There are new entrants to this space like Stripe or WePay, but neither of them come close to matching PayPal's ubiquity or price points.
yes, more options would definitely be nice. Having said that, paypal is very easy to use and it's quite safe as well so I don't have much problems when people default to using it as the only method of payment.
On June 20 2013 19:54 thedeadhaji wrote:
Second, it's made me realize (for the umpteenth time, embarassingly) that we're constantly bombarded by these sorts of advertisements throughout the day. Coupons that come in the mail, daily deals that are shared with us on our social networks (though this is far less prevalent these days), signs all over the supermarket proclaiming their discounts at us, and on and on. These promotions take up mindshare and often cause decision fatigue. Constantly being exposed to this kind of information noise and feeling like we need to properly parse it all takes its toll on us. As a matter of fact, just thinking about it in the abstract as I write this is making me weary. JC Penny's no sales plan totally failed, but a world where that was the nom would actually be quite nice. But then again, all this promotion must surely be backed by some kind of psychological theory, so we're unlikely to ever see the end of it.
mindshare and decision fatigue? aren't you exaggerating just a bit? I mean, ya, there are a lot of coupons, signs for discounts, advertisements, etc... but how fast does it take to even look through all those things? heck, you can make a list of things you need for your place then only look at advertisments/coupons etc... that are relevant to that to save yourself time.
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Fun fact, the creator of paypal is ALSO the creator of Tesla Motors
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United Kingdom13775 Posts
On June 21 2013 03:12 Race is Terran wrote:
Fun fact, the creator of paypal is ALSO the creator of Tesla Motors
He is one of the many cofounders of Paypal, yes.
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GoCardless is the solution for companies and stuff I guess ~~
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These promotions take up mindshare and often cause decision fatigue. Constantly being exposed to this kind of information noise and feeling like we need to properly parse it all takes its toll on us.
I adblock everything on the internet, yes, even this site, sorry elly. If I listen to a podcast, I'll either subscribe or pirate it so I don't hear ads. TV and Radio are no-nos for me. When I go to a store, I generally already know what i'm buying - I read the flyer online before I leave and try to take in as little additional advertising information as possible. Information Noise really fucking bothers me.
I only get coupons I request, I only see prices of products when I want to, and the rest of the time I spend shielding myself from being influenced. There was a time when advertisements were informative - this was back in the 40s and 50s. It was found that persuasive advertisements were much more effective and I'm not interested in being persuaded, especially not subliminally.
You know there are people who fall asleep with the TV or radio blaring at them all night? Just think of all the infomercials that have made their way into people's dreams.
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On June 20 2013 19:54 thedeadhaji wrote:
Two takeaways.
Second, it's made me realize (for the umpteenth time, embarassingly) that we're constantly bombarded by these sorts of advertisements throughout the day.
[These promotions take up mindshare and often cause decision fatigue. Constantly being exposed to this kind of information noise and feeling like we need to properly parse it all takes its toll on us. But then again, all this promotion must surely be backed by some kind of psychological theory, so we're unlikely to ever see the end of it.
You've answered your own query there. The less your ability to weigh up the pro's and con's of simple decisions the more likely you are to follow impulse, which is usually buybuybuy. Most psychology on marketing is about creating a product that stands out in your mind and influences your decisions to purchase. It's even worse for parents, who have tangible pressure to consume small goods being targeted specifically at them.
You mention Paypal's practises as being draconian. Just wondering if there are any quick articles on them. I've used paypal for years, but only with debit and bank accounts so I've never had a surcharge or interest payment.
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Paypal is full of shit, I had my account suspended for no reason and they demanded that I send them all this documentation to prove that I actually owned the account. I couldn't be bothered and just deregistered in the end, if I need to pay for something I just get my dad to do it using his account =/
I would avoid them wherever possible.
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I never really got the paypal hate. I've used it countless times to pay for things on ebay and other sites. Never had a single problem with it, never felt like I was bombarded with spam. It's far more convenient than having to pull out my card and fill out all the annoying crap. I'm actually happy when I see I can pay with paypal on a site.
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had to sign up for paypal to get tl+ interesting timing on this blog
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I've been using PayPal for about eight years with only positive things to say for it, a few horror stories aside about incorrectly locked accounts I think most of the gaming world is very glad to have paypal. It's a great way to also pay companies you might not yet trust with your card. It's great for gamers who are into gold selling/buying/trading and all of that sword and shield market type stuff. I do however agree with the points made about PayPal sending us email advertisements that are basically the online equivalent of sleezy banking techniques. I think it is best just to delete them, unsubscribe and move on to using PayPal the same way we always have.
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United Kingdom13775 Posts
Only problem I've ever had with Paypal is a dispute or two filed against me that I had no ability to challenge because of a purchase made online.
Moral of the story: attach a tracking number to anything that involves a substantial sum of money, regardless of what it is.
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That's nothing, PayPal sent me an email that said something like "You're lucky, we transferred 500 eur to your paypal account", just to send another email a bit later on that said "whoops, sorry, technical error, we didn't mean to send that email to YOU". [No phishing, no scam, actual paypal]
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Paypal let's you transfer money for free for personal transactions. That's pretty amazing, especially knowing that a big company like that isn't suddenly going belly-up any time soon. There are other companies, but I'll let them have a little more track record before I use them to transfer money. Paypal is great for paying rent in my book. It was also noted that PP is great if you sell lots of stuff on the internet, and it's absolutely true. Agreed on the commercial emails from PP though, I would never open them.
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I get a lot of "job offers" about programming. At a time when I'm awaiting internship emails and the like it's very frustrating. The last one I got was offering me a position at the company WarCraft, lol.
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EPT
