From owner-freebsd-chat Mon Dec 31 10:57:11 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from swan.prod.itd.earthlink.net (swan.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.123]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EE1DA37B434 for ; Mon, 31 Dec 2001 10:57:05 -0800 (PST) Received: from pool0439.cvx21-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net ([209.179.193.184] helo=mindspring.com) by swan.prod.itd.earthlink.net with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 16L7cN-0002TM-00; Mon, 31 Dec 2001 10:57:04 -0800 Message-ID: <3C30B503.54AEF8B7@mindspring.com> Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2001 10:57:07 -0800 From: Terry Lambert X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en]C-CCK-MCD {Sony} (Win98; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Brett Glass Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Confirm Your PayPal Membership References: <4.3.2.7.2.20011226145226.021974b0@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20011227092550.01c87ae0@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20011231011757.01d72730@localhost> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Brett Glass wrote: > At 07:16 PM 12/30/2001, Terry Lambert wrote: > >The PayPal approach is very similar to any company that provides > >factor financing services, or any other service resulting in a > >rediscounting of the paper: they take the float in exchange for > >their service. > > "Float" is one thing. Forcibly tying up people's money without > their consent is quite another. Read the "terms of service"; you gave your consent. Also, as was noted, the same is true of gas station credit card purchases, and the "tie up" is transient. In the PayPal case, you *can* get the money released, so it's not "forcibly tying up", it's just a royal pain. > I suspect that if there were ever a "run" on PayPal's accounts > it would be discovered that it did not have the funds to cover > what it owed. They aren't a bank; they don't lend; and they are legally prevented from touching the principle for operating costs (they can only have the interest on the float). You need to become a little better acquainted with the rules that govern the financial services industry in the U.S., I think (I have relatives in this industry, and have helped with analysis of packages). -- Terry To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message