They have to give a name, a phone number, a password and either a credit card number or a bank account number. Dalton, on the other end, receives the dough straight into her PayPal account and can either turn around and spend that anywhere on the Web or shoot it electronically to her own bank or credit card account. I've looked into it but not extensively. It's too much of a hassle. You have to lug around a credit card impression machine and submit all the paper work.
Online auctions are the main drivers for digital cash services so far.
But the companies' execs said parents who want to send their college-student children money are big users, as are fantasy football types, people who have pools on sports teams and bet to see who will win. You could mail it, but that takes days. You could wire it, but that costs money. He says he and his colleagues go out to lunch, and instead of splitting the bill, everyone e-mails his share when the group gets back to the office. So when he and his colleagues go out for lunch, they can dial up their PayPal account and send their share of the bill to the one who foots the bill even before they leave the table.