LOS ANGELES — The adult industry has a long and checkered history when it comes to its relationship with peer-to-peer payment processor PayPal.
Once a popular option for amateur and other adult websites, changes in PayPal’s policies towards adult subscription sites dramatically lessened the company’s importance to the industry. Although PayPal can still be used for adult transactions under very limited, specific circumstances, it has largely fallen by the wayside in this arena — but that may be about to change — unofficially of course.
Recent problems with some other P2P processors commonly used by adult companies for transactions such as affiliate payouts, content purchases, and server leases, are causing some firms to look elsewhere for their fund distribution needs.
Couple this with significant changes in adult business models, where for example, a performer needs an easy way to accept “gifts,” or to monetize a Skype show, perhaps under the guise of “consultation fees,” and it becomes clear that the world’s demand for easy, inexpensive and mobile friendly global payments will only increase.
Enter today’s announcement of PayPal’s partnership with Xoom.
According to Xoom VP John Kunze, sending money abroad has traditionally been a cumbersome process for everyone involved.
“Both a sender and a recipient typically have to travel to a store, wait in long lines; pay high fees, and then stress over whether or not their money will arrive safely,” Kunze explains, adding that “The cross-border flow of money transfers is ripe for disruption.”
Kunze says that now less than a year after PayPal acquired Xoom, it has released several new product innovations to help make the movement and management of money easier for folks around the world.
“Xoom is making it easier than ever for PayPal’s 87M U.S. users to send money to loved ones outside of the U.S.,” Kunze says. “With a new integration within the PayPal website available today and the PayPal mobile app coming soon, users will see new options and countries to send money internationally.”
PayPal users can now send funds to 10 new countries, including Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Guyana, India, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
“With PayPal and Xoom, you can now send money to over 200 markets worldwide,” Kunze explains. “In addition to sending money to PayPal accounts, you can use Xoom to securely deposit money into bank accounts, send money for cash pick-up, pay bills and reload mobile phones for loved ones in more than 50 countries.”
The new services ease the reverse flow of funds, where rather than burdening senders, a new “request” feature allows users outside of the U.S. to use Xoom to request a money transfer, bill payment, or a mobile reload from 29 countries including the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico and the Philippines.
“No more wondering what the best location is for your money transfer or having to write down complicated account information and potentially delaying payments from mistakes; no more calls to check account numbers for bill payments or mobile reloads,” Kunze concludes. “This information is directly entered by recipients and saved on their accounts for future requests.”
There is no charge for making a request, and the whole process is smooth via mobile device — perfect for cammers on the go.
While it may be questionable under the service’s TOS, it is doubtless that PayPal/Xoom are coming soon to a cam girl near (or not-so-near) you...
A pair of videos available here and here will help explain the process more fully.