Having failed in last year's attempt to become a compulsory payment mechanism for eBay, PayPal is eyeing off a new source of potential cash: charities and schools.
At a series of developer events around Australia, PayPal has been promoting the notion that the non-retail sector represents its next big opportunity to add a few more dollars to its current $US60 billion annual turnover.
"Our next wave of growth is going to come from non-traditional markets" like government, education and charities, Glenn Lim, PayPal global head of alliance marketing, told attendees at the Brisbane event. Lim noted that few Australian non-profits currently have any kind of payment functionality on their sites.
"Here in Australia, 81% of charities have a web presence, but they're mostly informational. Only 22% will accept a donation."
To get PayPal 'donate' buttons whacked on all those school and charity sites, the eBay-owned service is going to need to beef up its local developer presence. While PayPal has run a developer scheme since 2001, there are only four Australians currently certified under the scheme.
If the plan works, it will help PayPal meets its stated goal of doubling its revenues in three years, a projection that's going to be hard to meet purely from auction sales.
While local listings on eBay must now offer PayPal as an option, eBay's controversial plans to make it the sole payment mechanism were ditched after concerns from the ACCC. Two of the key architects of the widely mocked plan — managing director Simon Smith and trust and safety director Alastair MacGibbon — have since left the company.