PayPal just rolled out a fun little mini-site called Do Stuff for Money. The basic premise is that you can send one of your friends an offer, either through Facebook (using Facebook Connect) or e-mail, to do something of your choosing for some sum of money. For example, a recent offer reads, "Laura offered Adam $10.00 to 'Write all the thank-you cards from our wedding.'" If your friend accepts and does what you have asked, you can instantly pay them via PayPal, without having to mess with cash.
Somehow I don't think Steve Jobs is going to take me up on this offer.
(Credit: Screenshot by Harrison Hoffman/CNET)Do Stuff for Money is more of a novelty promotion than anything else, but PayPal has really been trying to push these sorts of smaller transactions between friends. Since the service is mostly used for purchasing things online, PayPal would love for people to get used to pulling out their phones and sending a friend money when they say, "Hey, you owe me five bucks." PayPal needs to break into some of these other markets if they want to continue to expand. They are already a dominant player in e-commerce transactions, so expanding their presence in everyday life and the real world is a good route to explore.
- prev
- 1
- next
