does nobody like paypal?

Paypal has a "thing" against adult items? Heh, everything I have ever bought from AWS, for example, was through Paypal...

From early Feb:

Dear Mandarake Customer,

Starting on February the 4th, Mandarake is no longer able to accept a payment
via Paypal
due to their strict regulation on adult materials being sold via Paypal.
This was all a sudden and we are very regrettable of Paypal's decision to end
our business over years without any notice. We belive we have been a good
customer to them and we feel that this is a harsh treatment to someone who has
been fullfiling one's responsibility.

For the time being, we would like to ask you to make your payment either via
credit card system on our website or credit card on file. We are sincerely sorry
for those of you who have been using Paypal and
we appologize for the inconvenience.

We are currently trying to find a solution to this matter and if it is not too
much trouble for you we would like you to inform us about another online payment
serivce you know. It does not have to be exactly like Paypal but we are looking
for something that can send and receive a payment internationally. Of course, it
must be easy and safe to use.

Once again, we are sorry for the inconvenience and we hope we can continue our
good business relationship
even without Paypal."


If you look it up in Paypal's policies, you'll see they have a rule against adult material. I wouldn't be surprised if AWS is next.

http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/use/index_frame-outside&ed=mature

Just found that link.

Wow. You win.... there goes my healthy skepticism. That's pretty insane. I'd bet dollars to donuts that sales of adult items helped build Paypal, to say nothing of parent company eBay. I like how they ban things when they are no longer a large enough percentage of their income to deal a death-blow to the company.

Make no mistake. The Internet was built for two reasons, sex (at one point in the late 90s, 30% of all Internet traffic in California was estimated to be pornographic) and violence (the precursor to the Internet was created to defend against nuclear attack... computers themselves were originally designed to aim artillery).

It's especially stupid since a large number of online businesses, when ordering adult items, require you to pay by credit card as a sort of verification of age. Paypal was always nice because you didn't have to send your credit card information through email or order forms. They're going to lose nothing but business with their stuffiness. ;p Heh, adult items are just a part of life (unless its kiddy porn; I have no tolerance for that, ick.)

What I would like to know is WHY? Kids can't use Paypal so who or what are they protecting? And how far are they going to push this "regulation"? If they get a whiff of porn they pull the plug?

Ooo, what do I win, more zen? :)