[Wikipedia-l] paypal

[Erik Zachte]

Erik Zachte wrote:
>> So maybe we could open a Wikimedia Paypal account in several
countries.
>> Electronic transfer to a US Paypal account would be uneconomical due
to
>> high bank fees.

Jimbo wrote:
> I'm perfectly willing to do that, if that's the right thing to do, but
> my reading of the Paypal website doesn't suggest that I really need to
> do it.  Is there something that I'm not understanding?

It has nothing to do with Paypal's policies.

Tranferring money through Paypal from Europe to US or vice versa is easy
and in my view Paypal's fee is reasonable compared to international
money orders/bank transfers.

My point was this: this only works for people who have a Paypal account
already or are willing to open an account just for this transaction.
Both groups are still small in Europe, as far as I can tell.

However a money transfer to any national bank account is free and a one
minute job, if and only if no borders are crossed (and cheaper and
easier within EU boundaries than outside). This is why I suggested to
have a local Paypal account in some countries. 

Transferring money directly from Europe to the US Paypal account is
something most people will have no idea how to it in the first place and
some bank will charge a big fee before the money reaches Paypal. In fact
it would not make much sense to upload it to Paypal at all.

I checked one major bank they charge $10 for a money transfer outside
Europe, which would make someone think twice before donating say $20.

To summarize: local bank transaction to upload money to national Paypal
account, Paypal to ship money over the ocean. Maybe Germany would be a
good starter for a second Paypal account, lots of German wikipedians to
give it a go, then we can try if a bank transfer from say the
Netherlands to Germany is affordable (new EU rules will make it cheaper)
and easy to do.  

Erik Zachte