“If you’re someone who’s buying products on the web, we know who is buying the products where, and we can leverage the data,” Grether said in a statement to the WSJ. He also said that PayPal will receive shopping data from customers using its credit card in stores.

A PayPal spokesperson tells the WSJ that the company will collect data from customers by default while also offering the ability to opt out.

PayPal is far from the only company to sell ads based on transaction information. In January, a study from Consumer Reports revealed that Facebook gets information about users from thousands of different companies, including retailers like Walmart and Amazon. JPMorgan Chase also announced that it’s creating an ad network based on customer spending data, while Visa is making similar moves. Of course, this doesn’t include the tracking shopping apps do to log your offline purchases, too.

  • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    6 months ago

    Is it just me or are cheques still the best, cheapest, most secure, and generally universal way to send money from one person to another?

    I’ve been thinking about this a lot the past few weeks.

    • Assuming all parties have a bank account, you normally can get checks for free or some nominal amount.
    • Checks can be deposited via a bank’s mobile app.
    • They don’t require you to download a separate app.
    • You can stop a check by calling your bank
    • Since your money doesn’t leave the bank, it’s FDIC insured

    Yes I know that the MIRC line isn’t secured but your account is still protected by the bank for any fraud. You don’t get those same protections from venmo or cashapp.

    The closest I’ve seen is zelle but not every bank supports it.

    Every bank supports depositing in a check.

    • peregus@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Cheques? Who uses those anymore? I see them useful maybe for a down payment for a house. I don’t think that there is a merchant today that would accept them.

    • kungen@feddit.nu
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      6 months ago

      most secure

      Yeah because it’s really secure anyone can take out your cash via ACH or whatever by your account numbers on that piece of paper.

      your account is still protected by the bank for any fraud

      Your bank is required to investigate and such, yeah? And you will most likely get your money back - after a while - if their investigation determines it was fraudulent. But a long process that’d be avoided by having a safer electronic transfer system. And what will you do if the bank thinks it’s some friendly fraud?

      Not worth it. I don’t even like direct debit. No one should initiate taking money from my account other than myself.