PayPal has launched a peer-to-peer payments service called PayPal.me that allows you to request money online from people you know through a personalised link. This makes it a lot easier to ask friends and family to pay you back for small amounts of money they owe to you, minus the awkwardness of having to ask them in person.
According to PayPal, adults worldwide are owed more than US$51 billion in unpaid, small debts from friends and family, mainly because people are too afraid to ask for money back, especially when it’s in small amounts. The company wishes to make the process of retrieving owed money easier with this new service.
Payments are made through PayPal accounts but PayPal.me lets you set up a personalised link to send to people which will guide them through making the payment to you, regardless of what device they’re using. The recipient enters the amount they want to send to you.
The service isn’t just useful for chasing down friends who owe you money for dinner the other week. It can also be used to organised payment for group gifts.
PayPal.me is available in 18 countries, including Australia. It’s a free service but be mindful that if you are sent money in other currencies, a conversion fee may apply. You can start your using the service by creating a unique link over at PayPal.me.
[Via PayPal Stories]
Comments
3 responses to “PayPal.me Makes Chasing Down Owed Money Less Awkward”
haha, that’s a pretty passive aggressive approach… can just see the “what the hell is with this Paypal email thing John? I said I’d pay you back when I can!”
I am terrible at asking for money back so I’m going to give PayPal.me a go 😛
Signed up for this a couple of nights ago. Managed to get PayPal.me/*myfirstname*