PayPal Australia targets non-profit, education and government markets

Electronic payment group PayPal Australia, a subsidiary of online auction house eBay, will attempt to push beyond its online auction roots into the local government, non-profit and education markets.

The company, which currently earns half of its revenue from eBay related sales, wants to double the number of global payments over the next three years.

PayPal’s Australian push will begin with the introduction of a “certified developer and partner program”, which will see the company hire developers and “solution providers” to help develop new programs for new markets.

The company has also made new tools and resources available to help organisations such as charities, foundations, schools and universities start accepting online payments and donations. PayPal claims that while 81% of not-for-profit groups in Australia have websites, only 22% use them for raising funds.

PayPal global head of Alliances and Vertical Markets, Glenn Lim, says that the next evolution of the company is to bring the capabilities of PayPal that businesses use to the non-retail market.

“What we’ve found in our merchant marketplace is that when businesses start using PayPal on their site they get an average sales uplift of 14%, but when charities do it they get a larger donation and more frequent donations,” he says.

“More importantly for charities it really brings them into a new demographic – the younger demographic that has grown up using the internet for everything.”

Lim says that a new online portal will be developed that will include online forums, and charities and other non-retail groups using PayPal can connect with certified developers and have questions answered.

“This isn’t just about new features, but trying to help charities and other non-retail entities make a presence for themselves online.”

Related stories:

• Profit slumps at eBay and Microsoft
• eBay set to spin off Skype, but what is it really worth?