PayPal Launches Payments Service For Marketplaces, Platforms and Crowdfunding

Just as Google and Facebook are offering new services to capture more revenue and information, so PayPal is applying its expertise to an aspect of the payments market it expects to grow - and where it believes it has a competitive advantage. JL


Sarah Perez reports in Tech Crunch:

PayPal has long supported marketplaces, from its origins with eBay to existing customers like Uber and Airbnb. It has done so using a variety of solutions instead of a single, customizable solution. (This one) is designed for customers operating larger online marketplaces, like ride-sharing platforms, crowdfunding portals, peer-to-peer e-commerce sites, room rentals. It includes insights and operational reports that help with reconciling transactions, understanding money flow, and managing disputes.

PayPal is beginning the rollout of a new product designed for customers operating larger online marketplaces, like ride-sharing platforms, crowdfunding portals, peer-to-peer e-commerce sites, room rentals platforms, and others. The solution, called simply PayPal for Marketplaces, is designed to be tailored to the business’s needs, based on how much risk they want to manage with regard to their transactions.

That means the businesses can decide if they want to handle the payment disputes and chargebacks themselves, or if they want to turn over that responsibility to PayPal to manage instead.
Additionally, the new service allows the businesses to customize their implementation of PayPal to fit their needs. For instance, marketplaces could use the service to add commissions, marketplace holds, fees, partner payouts, and multi-seller disbursements, and can set payout timing. A later version will introduce support for ACH settlements, instead of just to PayPal accounts, and support for guest checkout.
Businesses can also choose whether or not to onboard their customers upfront or upon their customers getting paid.
In some cases, PayPal accounts for sellers may not be right for the company’s business model, and PayPal says it can work with those business customers on a setup that’s right for them, too.
Because of PayPal’s reach, businesses who adopt PayPal for Marketplaces are able to support buyers in over 200 markets and sellers in over 120 markets, thanks to PayPal’s understanding of regional differences in various markets and payment services regulations.
Buyers can also choose to pay on the marketplace sites and in apps using either PayPal or their credit or debit cards.
The new product includes other standard PayPal features, as well, like the above-mentioned buyer and seller protections, risk and fraud detection capabilities, and online checkout solutions like PayPal’s password-free One Touch, now used by more than 70 million shoppers worldwide.

And it optionally includes a variety of insights and operational reports that help with things like reconciling transactions, understanding money flow, and managing disputes – if the businesses handle those internally.
Of course, PayPal has long supported marketplaces, the company notes in its announcement  – including from its origins with eBay to existing customers like Uber and Airbnb. However, it has done so using a variety of different solutions instead of a single, but customizable solution like this.
PayPal has been beta testing the solution ahead of today’s launch with marketplaces Grailed, Rocketr, and AliExpress. They are currently the only three using the solution.
The company has not yet disclosed the pricing for the service.
Today, PayPal for Marketplaces is rolling out globally, and is expected to be available to all markets in the months ahead.