Hi, I’m Philipp Justus, PayPal’s senior vice president of global markets. I’m thrilled to tell you that it just got a whole lot easier for customers around the world to buy and sell with PayPal.
We’ve launched fully localized sites in Mexico, Hong Kong and Singapore, extending PayPal’s leading online payments service to the more than 120 million residents of these three countries. Customers in these countries can now quickly and confidently pay online using their local currencies. Sellers in these countries can receive payments from PayPal’s large network of 65 million active accounts around the globe and withdraw their PayPal balances directly to any local bank.
We now display content on our sites in nine new languages: Bahasa Indonesian, Danish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Thai, Traditional Chinese and Turkish. In addition, we introduced new PayPal domains for 18 countries, including Argentina, Chile, Hungary, India, Luxembourg, Malta, The Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey and Venezuela. Customers in these countries can access PayPal via a dedicated URL and web site (for example, https://www.paypal.com.ph for the Philippines), which displays relevant PayPal information and products available in that country. Finally, we’ve upgraded our service to deliver more relevant information to our customers in 173 countries, making it much more convenient to use PayPal for our global base of buyers and sellers.
e-commerce is growing at an extremely rapid pace, and PayPal is committed to supporting the phenomenal rise of online shopping and electronic payments around the globe. These new web sites and languages benefit consumers by making it even easier to buy from merchants around the world; and they’ll help merchants sell internationally much more efficiently, just in time for the busy holiday season. In fact, my colleague Eddie Davis posted a blog on Monday with some tips to help U.S.-based businesses sell internationally during the holidays.
Expect to see more international news in the coming months. You can see more information on where PayPal is accepted worldwide here.
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Hi, I’m Eddie Davis, senior director of SMB Merchant Services at PayPal. It seems that almost every day I read new projections about how the downward trend in the U.S. economy is causing reduced sales expectations for retailers this holiday season. During these tough economic times, main street merchants are often the hardest hit. And in today’s retail climate, merchants need to look for new ways to help bolster sales.
PayPal has long been a driving force in helping online merchants increase sales. In fact, many of our merchants see reduced costs and an average sales increase of 14 percent when adding PayPal to their website. But with U.S. consumers projected to spend less this season, how can retailers stay afloat?
The news is not all doom and gloom. Having worked with small and medium sized businesses for years here at PayPal, we know that they are often in the best position to make swift, necessary changes to their businesses to profit from these situations and gain an edge on less agile competitors. The bright spot, we think, lies in the global marketplace. 
Opening your business to the world with PayPal is a great way to tap into PayPal’s 165 million accounts in 190 markets around the world. And, given the relatively weak U.S. dollar against many foreign currencies, now is the time to cater to a set of international customers that has increased spending power. But, selling globally has its challenges. While PayPal allows you to transact in 19 different currencies, there are many other aspects of international trade that merchants should be aware of. That’s why we have created a Global Selling Guide (www.paypal.com/globalselling) to help you get informed about selling abroad this holiday season. The guide includes information on the unique holiday customs of 17 nations and tips on a variety of topics including shipping, payments, customs, and tax considerations.
In addition to the Global Selling Guide, we also offer these tips to help you succeed by selling globally this holiday season:
- Enhance your website: The Internet has no boundaries, and provides an easy and cost-effective way to reach international buyers. Make your site more appealing to foreign customers by:
• Highlighting your willingness to accept international orders.
• Enabling multi-language functionality on your website.
• Listing the price of your products in local currencies.
• Offering clear information about shipping costs, return policies and the countries you serve.
- Do your homework: There is much to know when selling abroad. Make sure you understand international customs, taxes and regulations. Resources are available online to help businesses get informed:
• The U.S. Commerce Department provides market research, counseling and can also facilitate introductions to qualified buyers and distributors.
• The World Bank’s Doing Business project ranks economies on their ease of doing business.
- Cater to local tastes: McDonald’s serves millions of hamburgers in restaurants all around the world. But it also serves specialty items like the Ayam Goreng McD (regular or spicy) in Malaysia. Understanding the tastes, preferences and customs of the markets in which you are looking to sell is essential to the success of any business.
- Know the rules when shipping: Claiming you didn’t know just won’t cut it when it comes to shipping globally. Shipping can be complicated and making mistakes when filling out customs forms can be expensive and can cause great frustration with overseas buyers. However, many global shipping companies offer resources to help a small business ship outside the U.S. Check out the large shipping providers in the U.S. and learn about their international options. Visit the international hubs of the U.S.’s top shippers for more information:
• UPS: www.international.ups.com
• FedEx: www.fedex.com/us/international/shipguide
• DHL: www.dhl-usa.com/international
• USPS: www.usps.com/business/international/welcome.htm
- Make payments fast and safe: Dealing with multiple payment forms, foreign currencies and exchange rates can be confusing. Ensuring you get paid fast is especially important when doing business in a global marketplace. In addition, many international buyers may not have visited your website before and may be less likely to trust you with their credit card number or other payment data. Services like PayPal help your business manage global payments and allow buyers to pay quickly and securely with confidence that their personal financial data is protected.
Are you already selling worldwide with PayPal or do you plan to during this holiday season? Let me know your thoughts and feel free to share more tips for merchants in the comments section below.
I wish you and your business the best this holiday season.
-Eddie
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Hi PayPal blog readers, I’m Judy Chang from the nonprofit team at PayPal. With the Thanksgiving holiday almost upon us, I am reminded of all the things I have to be thankful for. I am also reminded that more people are struggling to make ends meet, and that charities are reporting increased demand for their services. At PayPal, we’re delighted to be able to help thousands of organizations and charities of all sizes raise money safely and quickly online.
This year, we’ve teamed up with Stephen Colbert and our friends at MySpace to help raise money for a very worthy cause, Feeding America. Feeding America, (formerly known as America’s Second Harvest), is the nation’s largest charitable hunger-relief organization. It feeds America’s hungry through a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks serving all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
As Stephen explains in the video below (click to play), special giveaways are available when you donate to Feeding America via his PayPal/MySpace IMPACT badge on www.myspace.com/colbertnation.
From November 16 to December 3, the person who donates the most money will receive the “100 percent wool sweater.” that Stephen wears on his Christmas special. Anyone who donates to Feeding America will be eligible to win the “Stephen” stocking or the “Colbert” stocking, which can be seen hanging from the mantle in his Christmas program.
In addition, our friends at eBay Giving Works are also holding a special auction for a pair of Stephen’s boots. Starting on Sunday, November 23 at 10:00 p.m. EST, the boots will be on the eBay Giving Works auction block with bids accepted through Wednesday, December 3 at 10:00 p.m. EST. All net proceeds will benefit Feeding America.
To see Stephen wearing the sweater and boots that could be yours, don’t miss “A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!,” a one-hour original musical holiday special premiering on Sunday, November 23 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central.
Happy thanksgiving from all of us at PayPal,
Judy
*Complete donation drive and sweepstakes details are available at www.myspace.com and www.colbertnation.com.
(Editor’s note: Due to site security constraints, we are not able to embed MySpace TV videos on this blog. Please click on the images above and you will be redirected to the videos.)
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