Paypal: How Not To Run A Promotion 101…

Never Miss Another Deal - Follow DansDeals on Facebook

Update: If you did make an order thinking you would get 20% off here is Paypal’s CS email address to check if you qualified in time: customercare@paypal.com
You’re better off emailing than writing because then you have proof in case they promise that you’ll get the cash back and never do.  HT: Asher O.

Paypal has got to be one of the most crooked companies on this planet.

Their marriage to Ebay means that you pretty much must use them and pay their outrageous credit card processing fees when selling on Ebay. Ebay doesn’t allow you to use Google Checkout to process sales because they don’t like competition. (Especially because Google currently charges nothing to process credit cards)

Paypal has also been known to freeze your entire selling account with all of your assets in it for 6 months based on their whims.


Today, Paypal ran a promotion that I purposely didn’t cover.

Normally I have no problem covering companies that I don’t care for, especially when they run a great promo that will cost them big bucks!

At first I was getting ready to run the promotion-Then I read the ridiculous full terms and conditions.
They were purporting to offer a 20% automatic rebate (up to $50 cash back) at a variety of online stores for paying with Paypal.

The automatic rebate would show up as a credit in the user’s paypal account by 01/31/08.

They said that the promo is valid for purchases between 11/26 and 12/10 and that any participating store can be pulled at any time without notice.


Lo and behold they pulled a number of stores such as Dell, Newegg, Toys R US, and others just hours into the promo leaving users scratching their heads. The claim was that there was an “overwhelming response” to the promo.

Now everyone who bought stuff just because of the promo has no idea if they actually qualified for the promo!

There was no confirmation of promo eligibility.

If you ever want to create an obscene amount of badwill during a promotion look no further than Paypal.


Last holiday season Google ran a promotion done right. They offered $10 off every $30 order to all customers with unlimited uses. The $10 off was reflected at checkout. There were no smokescreens about receiving a possible rebate in 2 months time. There was no bait and switch with regard to stores only being eligible for a few hours. At a cost of millions of dollars Google continued to offer the promo even to existing customers throughout the holiday season.

If you ever want to create a significant amount of goodwill during a promotion look no further than Google.

Trust me, you’ll thank me later for not posting this ridiculously stupid promotion.