Paypal, eBay's online payment business already lends financing to its online shoppers. Now, in a bold move, it would be financing merchants who would be selling it in the company's online market platform.
The program has already been tested in the UK and similar market testing would soon be conducted across the pond in 2013. According to Gary Marino, Senior VP for Paypal's Global Financial Services, "Marketplaces is a great innovation lab for us to test new experiences. We've done it successfully with credit and we are experimenting with many new capabilities which will drive share like small business lending."
The focus of the program would be on merchants selling on eBay.com. The UK test was undertaken with a pre-selected number of merchants. Paypal saw that post-2008, online shopping and the lack of credit for small online merchants were key elements of growth as this is the new marketplace for the future.
Marino added, "The pilot program has now ended, We are working on full roll out plans."
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