http://www.vend...elater-in-2009/

The world is not coming to an end, and default rates will improve over the medium-long term. Did they overpay, likely yes knowing what they knew now, but consider your statement that credit card securitization is slowing. That would indicate that BillMeLater’s business should benefit.

In other words if the merchant fails to deliver, or goes bust you can reclaim the money from the credit card company.

It’s also usually far easier to dispute fraudulent transactions on a credit card, with a debit card from a bank account once the money has been removed from your account that’s generally it and you won’t get it back.

The average American consumer has, what ~$6-8k in credit card debt. Not everyone is good with personal finances, and purchases on a credit card create an “out of sight, out of mind” environment for the expenses, which can give the average consumer over-confidence in their available liquidity. The trap with credit cards is that when the end of the month comes, you suddenly realize that the amount you spent on what you thought you “needed” was more than you have accumulated in earnings.

It is foolish to think that everyone has tons of liquid assets (cash) sitting in the bank. Many, many people live very close to their means.

And, yes, “simple” has a very good point: one mistake on your part, and you incur fees. Typically, incurring just one month’s fees would completely offset any potential mediocre savings you would receive by having that same money in your local bank account accruing 1.0% interest.

Credit cards have a place in your wallet. However, they aren’t the catch-all for one’s personal finances.

Another decent point is that BML is good for high dollar transactions such as flat screen TVs which not only is potential BML revenue but also good revenue for the etailers and Ebay.

All that said, this looks like another dumb purchase by Ebay.

When all is said and done, I think Skype will actually prove to be a good acquisition, Ebay’s silly write-down notwhitstanding.

Now all that crap put aside, did eBay overpay? It’s quite possible. Shit, I doubt they even know. Only history will prove that out. They obviously f’d up Skype but many thought Paypal was overpriced when eBay bought it. It’s funny how pundits always seem to know better.

Anyhow, given your rather obvious level of ignorance in consumer finance, Michael, perhaps its best if you leave these “deep” analyses to those who understand the industry. Twitter this ain’t.

The main goal of a CC company is TO MAKE THE CUSTOMER MISS A PAYMENT. Then they are legally alowed to fine him/her to death, increase APR up to 40% and even 65%.

That’s how the money’s being made by the industry. Late fees and increased rates after a missed payment.

1. Depending on your plan, you might have a limited number of transactions you can perform with a debit card before you get charged.
2. Again depending on your plan, you might be limited in the size of the transactions you can perform on a debit card.
3. Not paying for the item right away gives you a certain amount of security in case there has been a fraud and wish to cancel the transaction.
4. You keep your money longer thereby earning interest.
5. Simply as a means to simplify keeping track of purchases.

Reasonable consumers do a lot of unreasonable things…using BML may be one of them.