PayPal officially launches its mobile payment service

PayPal, the online payment company owned by eBay Inc., announced the availability of its text message-based service for the US and Canadian customers at CTIA 2006. The new service, called PayPal Mobile, allows mobile phone users to send and receive money, make purchases and charity donations just by using their handsets. PayPal Mobile also includes Text to Buy service, which enables users to buy different items, such as CDs, DVDs, shoes and apparel, by sending product codes via text message. Currently items from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Bravo, MTV, and the NBA Store can be purchased via Text to Buy.

In order to use PayPal Mobile service consumers have to activate their mobile phone by logging into their accounts on the PayPal website and choose Personal Identification Number (PIN). When they want to send money, they have to send a text messages, including the amount of money they want to transfer and the recipients number to 729725 (the numeric spelling of PayPal). Then PayPal contacts the sender to confirm the transaction by entering his PIN an afterwards sends the money to the recipient. When consumers want to buy something through Text to Buy, they send a text message, containing the code of the product, to the same number. After the merchant receives the payment, the item is sent to the address, saved in the user's PayPal account.

PayPal Mobile users' financial information is protected both by the PIN and the PayPal's state-of-the-art fraud prevention system. It is never shared with the recipient. The information also is stored on the PayPal's secure servers, so it remains secure in case user's handset is lost or stolen.

Source: PayPal