eBay have appointed Alyssa Cutright as their new Vice President of Global Payments. Alyssa will lead eBay’s global strategy and operations of billing and payments.
That’s quite an interesting position considering that eBay was forced to float off their PayPal payments business and it’s now a totally separate company, albeit with a multi-year operating agreement to service eBay payments and penalties if eBay divert too many payments through other methods.
On the other hand the Turkish situation with PayPal has just highlighted how fragile online business can be. With PayPal banned from operating in Turkey at the moment, Turkish residents need alternative payment methods and most eBay sellers simply don’t offer an alternative.
PayPal is, let’s face it, bloody brilliant at what they do and I can’t see any reason why I personally wouldn’t pay for eBay purchases with PayPal if the status quo remains in the UK. But PayPal have some holes in their arsenal – The French still favour paper cheques. The Germans love bank transfer. Other cultures want cash on delivery and expect to pay the courier (perhaps even trying the goods on first to decide if they’ll return them or pay for them on the door step).
Alyssa spent 10 years at PayPal when it was an eBay company, so she’s no stranger to the eBay marketplace and what buyers and sellers want. It’ll be interesting to see what changes she brings to eBay and whether that will be in partnership with PayPal or if alternative payment methods will be introduced.
