Paypal UK

dahamsta

Dear Adam Beecher,

PayPal, Inc. is pleased to announce that we are preparing to introduce PayPal (Europe) Ltd., a company incorporated in the United Kingdom, as the service provider for PayPal customers in the European Union.

This is a positive development that would help us provide our European customers with improved services to satisfy local needs, both online and through our new European Customer Service Centre in Dublin.

We anticipate that PayPal (Europe) Ltd. will begin operating in February 2004, subject to receiving authorisation from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the UK. Please note, no action will be necessary on your part. You will be able to continue using your PayPal account as you do today.

Your existing relationship

Until PayPal (Europe) Ltd. begins operating, your customer relationship continues to be with PayPal, Inc., a US company regulated as a money transmitter by various states in the US, under the PayPal User Agreement governed by California law.

In June 2003, we applied to the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) for authorisation for PayPal (Europe) Ltd. to operate as an Electronic Money Institution (ELMI). This process is still in progress.

A new customer relationship

With the introduction of our new UK company, your customer relationship would automatically reside with PayPal (Europe) Ltd. instead of PayPal, Inc. We would also introduce a new User Agreement and Privacy Policy, similar to the current agreements but without US-specific references and modified to comply with UK financial services and consumer protection requirements.

While this transition is at least 45 days away, we encourage you to:


understand your rights and obligations. Please preview the PayPal (Europe) Ltd. User Agreement and Privacy Policy


learn about the key changes and how they may affect you. Please visit the PayPal (Europe) Ltd. FAQs page


If you do not wish to hold a PayPal (Europe) Ltd. account and would prefer to continue your relationship with PayPal, Inc., you may only do so if your primary address in your PayPal account, as of 1 February 2004, is a legitimate postal address within the United States.

If your primary address is not in the United States and you do not wish to receive services from PayPal (Europe) Ltd., you may close your account at any time, either before or after the transition. To do so, log in to your PayPal account and click 'Profile' to access the relevant link.

As we await authorisation from the FSA, we wish to inform you in advance of our plans and how these may affect you. We will notify you of further developments in the coming weeks. Until then, thank you for using PayPal.

Yours sincerely,

PayPal, Inc.


This PayPal notification was sent to paypal@beecher.net. PayPal reserves the right to notify members of important legal information that may affect their PayPal accounts. To modify your notification preferences and unsubscribe, go to https://www.paypal.com/uk/PREFS-NOTI and log in to your account. Changes may take several days to be reflected in our mailings. PayPal will not sell or rent any of your personally identifiable information to third parties. For more information about the security of your information, read our Privacy Policy at https://www.paypal.com/uk/privacy. Replies to this email will not be processed.

Copyright© 2003 PayPal, Inc. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.

DMT

Beat me to it. Grrr.

Here's the main difference between the new and old User Agreements:

From paypal.com

The key differences between the US and EU User Agreements are:

• subject to authorisation of PayPal (Europe) Ltd. by the UK Financial Services Authority, you will receive services under a new agreement with PayPal (Europe) Ltd., a UK entity licensed as an e-money institution, instead of PayPal, Inc., a US entity licensed as a money transmitter by States in the US
  
• any balances you hold will represent direct claims against PayPal (Europe) Ltd. which is required by law to redeem your e-money on request (subject to anti-fraud measures), and is subject to strict regulatory requirements to ensure your money is kept safely. Currently, your claims are against US banks where PayPal, Inc. placed your money. However, your claim against PayPal (Europe) Ltd. would not be insured by any government agency. Currently, your US dollar claims against US banks may be insured by the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in the event of the banks' insolvency
  
• PayPal members with a Personal account will be informed when their PayPal balance approaches £1,000. PayPal is required by law to inform members that the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme does not apply to claims in respect of e-money issued by PayPal. Therefore, in the unlikely event that we become insolvent and the e-money balance in your account becomes unusable, you might lose your e-money. You would need to tick a box in a pop-up message to acknowledge that you understand this and are content for your balance at any time to exceed £1,000
  
• notices of amendments to the User Agreement will continue to be posted in the Policy Updates section of the PayPal website, and notice of material amendments will continue to be posted 30 days in advance of their effective date. In addition, EU members will receive email notice of material amendments 30 days in advance, unless they actively choose to opt out. Under the US Agreement, members must actively choose to opt-in for this email notice
  
• disputes against PayPal not settled through PayPal Customer Service would be resolved through the UK Financial Ombudsman Service or the courts of England. Under the US Agreement, these disputes must be resolved through arbitration in the US or in the courts in Santa Clara County, California. Disputes you may have against your counterparty concerning sale of goods or services will continue to be governed by the terms of your agreement with your counterparty
  
• PayPal (Europe) Ltd.'s liability will be limited to the greater of the amount of fees paid by the customer in the last 12 months, or the amount of the transaction or the balance in dispute. Under the US Agreement, customers agree to limit PayPal's liability to the amount of direct damages caused by PayPal's negligence or breach of the User Agreement, and to exclude all other damages such as lost profit

dahamsta

Of course the eternal question of whether Irish customers will be able to withdraw to their banks (or credit cards) still remains. I've made queries to eBay and gotten a definite "no" and a definite "yes". Next time I'm trying for a "maybe".

adam