Its PayPal Service Is First Online Payments Provider to Remove Risk From Internet Transactions
PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- [X.com] Corp. ( [
http://www.X.com] ), the world's first and largest online payments network and provider of the popular PayPal service, became the first such service to protect consumers from online transaction fraud today, with the announcement of the company's new Buyer Protection Guarantee. Consumers who send online payments through [X.com] to recipients that have verified their account with the company will now have their transaction 100% guaranteed against fraud.
``[X.com] provides consumers with a quick and easy way to make payments online,'' said [X.com] founder and CEO Elon Musk. ``With our Buyer Protection Guarantee, we also guarantee those payments against fraud. If you send a payment to a verified [X.com] recipient, we will guarantee that transaction.''
[X.com], which is the leading Web-based payments network with 2.9 million users, allows people to send money instantly and securely to anyone with an email address. To open an account, individuals visit [
www.X.com] and fill out a simple one-page registration form, providing name, address, phone number and email address. Payments are made by entering the email address of the recipient and the payment amount, and can be funded from an individual's bank account or billed to a credit card. Recipients are notified by email of the payment, and can instantly send or spend the money online, or request the funds be deposited into their bank account or mailed to them by check.
In order to receive the Buyer Protection Guarantee, people using [X.com's] service must send payment to a recipient who has verified his or her [X.com] account by providing the company with a legitimate bank account number. After [X.com] has confirmed the bank account information, the person's [X.com] account is verified and payments to that account are covered against fraud, including the failure to ship purchased goods. When sending a payment, users can confirm that a recipient is verified from member information provided on the Web page.
``The amount of online transaction fraud committed by individuals using our service is already well below the industry average for e-commerce sites,'' said Mr. Musk. ``And it is virtually nonexistent among our verified accounts. So to give buyers a better sense of security when making online transactions, we decided to remove any lingering sense of risk consumers may feel. Your payment information is already safe with [X.com], now your transaction will be, too.''
[X.com] is the clear market leader in the online person-to-person payments space with its PayPal service. PayPal is the preferred online payment service for online community and group websites, including eGroups and eCircles, and the online event-planning service Evite. PayPal is also the leading payment service for online auctions, accepted by more than 40 percent of all auctions on [eBay] -- more than any other payment service.
[X.com's] PayPal personal accounts, available to anyone with a U.S. email address, are free to consumers and provide the ability to send and receive funds online free-of-charge. [X.com] also offers accounts with additional features and services to businesses and individuals. These Business and Premier accounts, which pay a 1.9% transaction fee to receive payments online, can accept [X.com] payments directly at any site on the Web, make large batch payments simultaneously, download their transaction logs into accounting software, and receive [X.com] customer service by phone or email 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a week. [X.com] began offering these enhanced, paying accounts in mid-June and has already registered 70,000 of them, the vast majority being small online businesses.
[X.com] is the #1 financial website and the 52nd most-visited Web property, according to PC Data Online. [X.com] users conduct over 100,000 transactions per day, with an annualized transaction volume of $1.6 billion. The company plans to expand its service internationally in the fall.
About [X.com] Corporation
[X.com] provides an instant and secure online payment service, integrated with consumer and business financial services. With a customer base of more than 2.9 million, [X.com] is the largest Web-based payment network, and the #1 financial site on the Internet, according to PC Data Online. [X.com] provides the preferred payment service for online auctions and online community and group Web sites. [X.com's] service, free to consumers, can be used from PCs or Web-enabled mobile phones. Founded in March 1999 by Elon Musk, [X.com] is a privately held company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. [X.com] was recently named one of the 50 Most Important Private Companies in the World by Red Herring magazine and one of the Top 25 New Companies by Fortune Small Business.
SOURCE: [X.com] Corp.