eBay Stock Is On Fire Meme – 2013 Part Deux

eBay Stock Is On Fire Meme – 2013 Part Deux
EventHorizon1984
1 January 2014

“MasterCard Inc. (MA), the second-biggest bank-card network“
Dakin Campbell and Elizabeth Dexheimer, 10 December 2013

The full quote, from Bloomberg News is:

“MasterCard Inc. (MA), the second-biggest bank-card network, said its board of directors approved an 83 percent dividend increase and a 10-for-1 stock split.“

Which got us thinking about previous articles on finance and stock prices.

We’ll keep this short.  Here’s a list companies and stock prices mentioned over the years.

	3/31/2008*	12/31/2013	$ Increase	% Increase	Dividends
eBay	$29.87	$54.87	$25.00	83.70%	No
Amazon	$70.25	$398.79	$328.54	467.67%	No
Apple	$143.27	$561.02	$417.75	291.58%	Yes
Google	$435.64	$1,120.71	$685.07	157.26%	No
Starbucks	$17.06	$78.39	$61.33	359.50%	Yes
Hewlett-Packard	$47.59	$27.98	-$19.61	-41.21%	Yes
Visa	$62.36	$222.68	$160.32	257.09%	Yes
MasterCard	$222.99	$835.46	$612.47	274.66%	Yes
American Express	$43.72	$90.73	$47.01	107.53%	Yes
Discover	$16.70	$55.95	$39.25	235.03%	Yes

* 31 March 2008 is the date John Donahoe became CEO of eBay INC.

The current CEO of Hewlett-Packard is Margaret Whitman.  Margaret “Meg” Whitman was the CEO of eBay INC prior to John Donahoe.

Meg Whitman became HP CEO on 22 September 2011.  Here’s the head-to-head during the appropriate time frame.

	9/22/2011	12/31/2013	$ Increase	% Increase	Dividends
Hewlett-Packard	$22.80	$27.98	$5.18	22.72%	Yes
eBay	$31.67	$54.87	$23.20	73.26%	No

Consistent.

Hope you chose the right stocks.

Happy New Year!

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“He chose poorly.”
Grail Knight (Robert Eddison 1908-1991), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

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Corri McFadden v. Midley, And The Winner Is …

Corri McFadden v. Midley, And The Winner Is …
EventHorizon1984
20 December 2013

“Well, frankly I told you guys at the start of this matter that it’s going to be an expensive case and that’s the reason why the parties should resolve it earlier rather than later. And the problem with SLAPP motions in general is that I don’t find in my personal experience that SLAPP motions help the situation. SLAPP motions wind up making things more expensive in the long run for litigation. It is a statute which is ill thought out, ill advised, and I understand why Kazinski wants to get rid of it in federal court.”
United States District Court Judge George H. Wu, 20 May 2013

In the matter of eDrop-Off Chicago LLC and Corri McFadden v. Nancy R. Burke; Midley, INC. dba Pursebloge.com; and Does 1 through 10, inclusive, Case No. 2:12-cv-04095-GW

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and eDrop-Off Chicago LC, et al. v. Midley, Inc., et al., Case No. 1:12-cv-03632

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Merry Christmas

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to Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP and Greenberg Traurig LLP.

As by our humble estimates, the total legal bill for both (May 2012 to December 2013) cases, is between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000.

Oh.

The cases were settled.

United States District Court
Central District of California
Document 145
Filed 12/18/13

“TO THE COURT AND ALL PARTIES IN THIS ACTION:
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the parties have reached a settlement of the above-captioned matter and are currently in the process of executing the agreement. The parties anticipate that a stipulation of dismissal will be filed within 15 days.”

United States District Court
Central District of California
Document 146
Filed 12/19/13

“Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure a1(a)(1)(AXii), Plaintiffs eDROP-OFF CHICAGO LLC and CORRI MCFADDEN (collectively, “eDropoff’ or “Plaintiffs”) and Defendant MIDLEY, INC. dbc PURSEBLOG.COM (“Purseblog” or “Defendant”), by and through their respective counsel of record, hereby stipulate and agree that this action, including all claims asserted by Plaintiffs against Defendant in the complaint and first amended complaint, are hereby dismissed with prejudice as Plaintiffs and Defendant, by confidential settlement agreement, have reached an acceptable resolution of all matters related to this action. Plaintiffs and Defendant are to bear their own costs and attorneys’ fees in connection with this action.”

United States District Court
Northern District of Illinois
Document 77
Filed 12/19/13

“MINUTE entry before the Honorable Matthew F. Kennelly: Telephone status
hearing held on 12/19/2013 with attorneys for both sides. Pursuant to settlement, the case is dismissed with prejudice and without costs. Civil case terminated.”

Documents obtained through the services of PACER, Public Access To Court Electronic Records.

For the moment, publishing protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act remain intact.

“the Court is no party’s advocate”
United States District Court Judge George H. Wu, 19 September 2013

On a final note, eBay INC’s involvement was solely a matter of past history.

Greenberg Traurig LLP

Ian C. Ballon

• “Lead counsel for eBay, Inc. in Inman v. Technicolor USA, Inc., 2011 WL 5829024 (W.D. Pa. 2011) in obtaining judgment in a toxic tort and product liability case brought in the Western District of Pennsylvania based on federal preemption under the Communications Decency Act (CDA).”
• “Lead counsel to eBay, Inc. in copyright infringement, DMCA, and Lanham Act cases in the Central District of California.”

And here is the opinion of Tabberone about Greenberg Traurig.  Tabberone having won “80%” of their Federal cases.  Abet the opinion is directed toward an attorney who no longer works for the firm.

Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP

The sister company Edwards Wildman Palmer UK LLP had represented eBay INC.

• “Acting for eBay in eBay v L’Oreal Trade mark litigation matter before the High Court of London“

That’s All Folks.

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“Court would make several observations designed to advance the parties’ discussion at the status conference. Due in no small part to the added procedural complexities impacting an anti-SLAPP motion filed in federal court (and the parties’ strategic calculations and miscalculations in the opening weeks of this litigation), the Court is utterly convinced that the parties have already spent far more time and money on this case (and this motion) than warranted. To the extent a limited amount of further briefing on this motion could avoid an exponential increase in the devotion of time and resources that would be necessary on an appeal, the option is inherently attractive.”
United States District Court Judge George H. Wu, 10 October 2013

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Stories PayPal Told Me; Would You Believe??

Stories PayPal Told Me; Would You Believe??
EventHorizon1984
26 November 2013

“I have you surrounded by the entire mounted 17th Bengal Lancers.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Would you believe the First Bengal Lancers?”
“No.” Khan (Bill Dana)
“How about Gunga Din on a donkey?” Faversham (Don Adams)

Recently in a 72 hour time frame, various associates had their online sites hit by multiple “PayPal shoppers”.

The typical modus operandi was:

• Direct email contact.
• Made a 25% or so offer on a product, with free shipping.
• And/Or the buyer tells the shop, if they had PayPal the buyer would have bought the item.
• Buyer gives one or more reasons why the shop should carry PayPal.

The commonality was the sites did not offer PayPal.

Years back one enterprising individual, unrelated to this site, moved off eBay and setup two online shops with no name connection to their eBay store.  Both sites had mostly the same products.  Both were setup with merchant accounts to accept major credit cards.  One had Google Checkout as an additional payment option, the other had PayPal as an additional checkout option.

The site without PayPal was hit by “PayPal shoppers”, the other site was not.  Nothing unusual there, but a few days later a purchase was made from the shop hosting PayPal.  The owner figuratively scratched her head; something was familiar with the item purchased.

Hmmm.

• It was one of the items fingered by a “PayPal shopper”.
• Direct checkout.  Paid full price.  Paid full shipping.
• Same IP address.
• Payment was not through PayPal.  Something about Karl Malden.

Moving along, and just what were the pithy PayPal pitches spread by the “PayPal shoppers”?

Read on.

“Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.“
Man in Black/Wesley, Princess Bride (1987)
‘Most shops accept PayPal.‘ (“PayPal shopper” paraphrased)

In the United States (U.S.), False.

The actual answer to what most United States shops do not accept is surprising:

According to the Forbes 16 August 2013 article, “Why Don’t More Small Businesses Accept Credit Cards“:

• “55 percent of the nation’s 27 million small businesses do not accept credit cards.”

To restate, ‘most U.S. shops do not accept PayPal, or any form of credit.’

In the United Kingdom (U.K.), False.

According to the Tamebay 13 November 2013 article “PayPal: SMEs that don’t take cards are missing out on £800m“, this is what PayPal says about credit acceptance in the U.K.:

• “A PayPal survey”
• “The research says that just over a third (36%) of the businesses surveyed currently accept card payments”

To restate, According To PayPal ‘most U.K. shops do not accept PayPal, or any form of credit.’

On the other hand if you happen to be a seller who only accepts PayPal, be aware of this tip from Community Merchants USA:

“69% of consumers aged 18-34
58% of consumers aged 35-44
say they will only shop at businesses that take multiple forms of payment”

PayPal exclusivity has a price.

What about the rest of Planet Earth?

As whether PayPal is most used by the rest of the planet, read the next section.

“Don’t leave home without it.”
Roger Daltrey, American Express (1985)
‘PayPal is the most used form of credit.‘ (“PayPal shopper” paraphrased)
‘PayPal is the most popular form of credit.‘ (“PayPal shopper” paraphrased)

World wide, False.

PayPal public relations provides these statistics:

• Q1 2012 – “net Total Payment Volume” “$34 billion”, “555 million transactions“
• Q2 2012 – “net Total Payment Volume” “$34 billion”, “565 million transactions“
• Q3 2012 – “net Total Payment Volume” “$35 billion”, “589 million transactions“
• Q4 2012 – “net Total Payment Volume” “$41.5 billion”, “692 million transactions“

The 2012 total net Total Payment Volume is $144.5 billion”, or as PayPal put it “PayPal’s net Total Payment Volume for 2012, the total value of transactions, was $145 billion”.

The 2012 total transaction count was 2,401 million.

And PayPal, at the end of 2012, had “110 million active accounts“.

Impressive, but let’s put this in global context.

Visa (“more people go with Visa.”) filed their 10-K annual report to the United States Security and Exchange Commission on 22 November 2013.

This is their 2012 view of the competition:

PayPal is not missing from the Visa annual report.  Visa does have one statement about PayPal:

• “We may face increasing competition from emerging players in the payment space, many of which are non-financial institution networks that have departed from the more traditional business model. The emergence of these potentially competitive networks has primarily been via the online channel with a focus on eCommerce and/or mobile technologies. PayPal, Google and Isis are examples.”

To understand this corporate equivalent of a yawn, let’s insert the appropriate PayPal amounts in the Visa competition chart:

                     Payment        Total        Cards/Accounts
                      Volume     Transactions
                    (billions)    (billions)          
Visa                 $4,018          81.6         2,128 million
MasterCard           $2,693          46.3         1,158 million
American Express       $884           5.9           102 million
PayPal                 $145           2.4           110 million
Discover               $122           2.1            62 million
JCB                    $179           1.6            79 million
Diners Club             $27           0.2             6 million

For the moment, it appears PayPal is a footnote to Number 1 Visa.  Or PayPal is considered part of the MasterCard network.  After all, take a look at the logo on your PayPal credit/debit card.  It’s not PayPal or eBay.  It is MasterCard.

Or for some of you, Wells Fargo.

As PayPal put it about credit card networks:

• “PayPal does not directly access payment card networks, such as Visa and MasterCard”
• “While the regulations adopted by the Federal Reserve Board in June 2011 do not treat PayPal as a “payment card network,” future changes to those regulations or to PayPal’s business could potentially cause PayPal to be treated as a payment card network”
• “PayPal is dependent on the processing companies and banks that link PayPal to the payment card and bank clearing networks to process transactions.”

“I was gathering information…..“
Neal Caffrey, White Collar (2009- )

‘PayPal is the safest …‘ (“PayPal shopper” paraphrased)

False.

As of 23 November 2013 PayPal said:

“PayPal’s industry-leading loss rate is less than 0.5%.”

As of 26 November 2013 PayPal said:

“PayPal maintained a very low loss rate of 0.30% or approximately one third of 1%.”

In 2000 the fraud rates for Visa and MasterCard were:

• “From eMarketer of November 2000 we learn that Visa and MasterCard report overall rates of credit card fraudulent transactions of 0.08% and 0.09% respectively.”

The paragraph continues with:

• “As far as e-commerce credit card transactions are concerned, eMarketer from January 2001 reports tht of 60,320,000 online B2C transactions in 1999, only 18,600 (i.e. 0.03%) were fraudulent.”

Better numbers than 2013 PayPal, but definitely old statistics.

Moving to 2013, The Wall Street Journal 11 March 2013 article “Visa Says Big Data Identifies Billions of Dollars in Fraud” states:

• “Visa’s fraud detection efforts moved into the digital world 20 years ago”
• “6 cents out of every $100 in transactions are believed to be fraudulent.”

That’s a 0.06% fraud rate for Visa, versus PayPal’s “0.5%” err “0.30%”.

“What’s Love Got To Do With It”
Tina Turner

“PayPal. The world’s most-loved way to pay and get paid.”  PayPal

Well ….

When PayPal shows the cold statistics proving the claim, we’ll mark it true.

“What is love” was the most searched phrase on Google in 2012“
Google

Then again, “love” is unquantifiable.  Let’s do something TONGUE-IN-CHEEK IRREVERANT.

Here’s a Google search using “love”.  These are the numbers:

“love paypal” – About 447,000,000 results

“love visa credit card”* – About 532,000,000 results

* Excludes the nomenclature visa as in passport related.

“love mastercard” – About 147,000,000 results

“love american express” – About 280,000,000 results

Winner ‘most loved’, Visa.

Okay.  Let’s try this:

‘PayPal. The world’s least-despised way to pay and get paid.’

Doing a Google search using “hate”, these are the numbers:

“hate paypal” – About 14,100,000 results

“hate visa credit card”* – About 109,000,000 results

“hate mastercard” – About 6,650,000 results

“hate american express” – About 43,500,000 results

Winner ‘least hated’, MasterCard.

Sorry PayPal.

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“I’ll tell you the truth and its up to you to live with it.”
William Goldman, The Princess Bride:  S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure (1973)

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