
Paypal Looks to Crush Amazon’s Fledgling Payment Service With A New, Secret API - vaksel
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/06/paypal-looks-to-crush-amazons-fledgling-payment-service-with-a-new-secret-api/
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MicahWedemeyer
I've used both PayPal and FPS. PayPal allows you to get on your feet quickly,
but limits what you can eventually do. FPS has a massive feature set, coupled
with a massively complex API.

Amazon needs to tackle the complexity issues. FPS has a thousand error states,
and payments fail all the time with little to no explanation. Good luck with
the resolution process, too. Here's my most recent attempt at getting some
help on failed transactions:
<http://files.getdropbox.com/u/145070/fps_error.png>

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gizmo
I can't help but notice the attitude you show when filling out the support
form. The guy on the other end reading it probably isn't the one at fault for
the lack of clarity in the error message. Answering messages like yours all
day long really sucks.

Cryptic error messages are frustrating, but there's no need to be nasty.

~~~
Xichekolas
I agree about his tone, but he does have a point about the API complexity.

On the surface, FPS is quite simple, but when researching all the ways to use
the marketplace API, it seemed like, more often than not, the only way to
figure out if the API could do what I wanted was to ask in the forum and hope
the FPS people answered me. Thankfully, they often do, so at least we know
they care.

(The last time I seriously looked at this was almost a year ago, so take my
anecdote with a fist-full of salt.)

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MicahWedemeyer
The lack of a full-featured web console means that you're pretty much still
right.

They need a way to log into your account and run some of the API operations,
like making a Caller token. As it is, you have to script up some kind of
kludge. You end up spending several hours just getting off the ground.

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newsio
"Crush" seems extreme. It seems like PayPal is trying to build hype while
undermining its prime competitor by leaking documents to a pliant TechCrunch
writer. It would have been nice to have comment from Amazon or developers who
actually are considering these types of services.

Edit: Developers out there considering such a payment service -- does the fact
that Amazon offers other useful cloud services (EC2, and the storage service)
potentially make its FPS more attractive than PayPal's offerings? In the
enterprise IT world, some companies like to go through one vendor to
streamline vendor points of contact (or they are forced to go through one
vendor, owing to a lack of interoperability) -- is there a similar desire
among small, online-oriented companies that might use these payment services?

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rjurney
For one thing, to use Amazon payments person to person, you had to hook a bank
account to your account. Which makes it basically useless - most people won't,
they like using paypal credit card based cashes.

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tybris
Paypal has brought very little innovation since they were acquired by eBay.
I'd be surprised if this suddenly changed.

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frossie
Me too. But there was a suggestion floating around the Internet that eBay
management is "tired" of eBay (which many would argue they have ruined with
their changes in the last few years) and looking to PayPal to be their main
cash cow. In which case, they do have to at least keep up with their
competitors.

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quizbiz
Both brands can go much, much further. We can't predict much about the web 10
years down the road but it's pretty safe to say that more and more buying and
selling will be occurring on the web. If I was in charge of ebay, I would
slightly rebrand to form an online commerce umbrella.

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netsp
Back to the paypal/ebay vs Amazon, I think you're right. These are both really
online commerce enablers.

I would place my bets on Amazon coming through on top. They have a stronger
history of innovating & consistent improvement over time.

Paypal & Ebay have this aura of scaling down to the 'I'll sell you my hat'
level. They do. But I wonder how much of Ebay's (or paypal's) bottom line
comes from the not-a-business crowd vs from actual businesses.

