PayPal in the EU relocating - Anyone know what's going to change?

[ginge133]

Just received this email about paypal relocating to luxembourg for their EU services:

Dear NAME,

We would like to announce important developments affecting all PayPal accounts in the European Union (the "EU").

No action is required on your part, and you will be able to continue using PayPal with no changes.

Currently, PayPal (Europe) Ltd. is the service provider for PayPal in the EU. PayPal (Europe) Ltd. is a UK company regulated and authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the UK as an electronic money institution. This authorisation enables PayPal to provide its service throughout the EU.

From 2 July 2007, a new PayPal company, PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. & Cie, S.C.A. (PayPal Luxembourg), will become the service provider for PayPal in the EU. This is a Luxembourg entity regulated as a bank by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), the Luxembourg equivalent of the FSA. PayPal Luxembourg will provide the PayPal service throughout the EU.

Your customer relationship with PayPal
On 2 July 2007, your customer relationship will be automatically transferred from PayPal (Europe) Ltd. to PayPal Luxembourg. This includes your customer relationship as governed by the terms of the PayPal User Agreement and, for applicable UK merchants, the PayPal Website Payments Pro Agreement (collectively, the "Agreements").

To summarise, from 2 July 2007, PayPal (Europe) Ltd. will assign to PayPal Luxembourg all of its right, title, interest, and benefit in and to the Agreements.

New User Agreement and Privacy Policy
We are also pleased to announce that from 2 July 2007, PayPal Luxembourg will issue a new form of the PayPal User Agreement and Privacy Policy. This new version of the User Agreement will be presented in a much more user-friendly manner, and many of the policies currently accessed by hyperlinks, will now form part of the main text of the User Agreement.

Also, the Privacy Policy will reflect that PayPal Luxembourg will be the data controller of your personal information from 2 July 2007 and set out further details of the third parties to whom PayPal Luxembourg will disclose your personal and account information.

For more information about the transition to PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. & Cie, S.C.A. click here.

If you do not wish to continue your relationship with PayPal, you may close your account at any time by logging in to your account, clicking Profile, and following the instructions from the "Close Account" link. You should make sure you first withdraw the outstanding PayPal balance to your bank account.

Yours sincerely,

PayPal (Europe) Ltd.

Just received this email about paypal relocating to luxembourg for their EU services.

Do you think there will be any significant changes to the way paypal works or will it all be behind the scenes stuff?

Thanks.

 

[Kate]

They are relocating to Luxembourg for the same reasons as skype: VAT is only 15%

 

[drakewla]

It doesn't surprise me (at all). Luxembourg is doing well in attracting big companies by providing banking secrecy and good taxes.

Many opportunities will be opened to Paypal. I'm not sure if they'll use them in favor of their clients or if they will only strengthen their power; it's all about politics...

 

[Alex]

I hope that soon they will extend their services to Romania too. It is a real pain in the ass to not have paypal here, and it directly affects negatively my businesses.

Hope that other changes will occur soon.

Alex

 

[hanz]

Basically nothing is going to change, I contacted them to ask if they are finally going to allow Estonians to accept payments, but the answer was no.

 

[SellMeUrDomain]

There go to great lengths to convince us that operating our accounts won't change. However, there will be a lot of other changes particularly with regards regulation. VAT was only a minor reason for the move.

They will be more lightly regulated, won't come under strict UK financial institutions laws, can get away a bit more if they choose to screw you, will be less likely to be sued and when they are it will be more difficult for you to get anything out of them.