PayBis exchange lets users exchange a range of e-currencies, including the option to purchase Bitcoins using Paypal. The team is planning to broaden the company and raise funds to proceed with their roadmap.
Launched in March 2015, PayBis is still a relatively small exchange company that prides itself on reliability. Even though the number of transactions amount to just over 5000 (to December 2015), the website already has1500 registered users, and boasts that is has a number of “aficionados” from previous exchange platforms. These so called “aficionados” are unrelated to the actual company, but were brought on by the founders:
“We have a public reputation, which we care about greatly. Our customers feedback on Localbitcoins, Paxful, Facebook and our website is important to us. Thus many customers find us based on public and open feedback and it's a big difference to trust a website run by well known traders comparing to some other websites on the web.”
Konstantin Vasilenko, PayBis COO, explains the company’s edge over it’s competitors:
“The main differences we have from our competition (other online digital currency exchanges and classical BTC exchanges) is that we offer fully managed and guided services to our customers. Similar to a Peer-2-Peer marketplace, we help and guide our customers when purchasing Bitcoin using the most convenient payment method available in their country.”
It’s worth to note that this exchange is one of the few that allows users to buy Bitcoins using Paypal: “Now we are one of the few companies who accept PayPal. Which is a big advantage for customers, but a pain for us. But so far we are handling fraudsters pretty well, with less than 1% of cases.”
However the commission to buy Bitcoins using Paypal looks a little on the expensive side. It’s hovering at 17.6% at the moment of writing, but there seems to be a good return in trust.
One thing they are proud of at PayBis is their hand-in-hand helpdesk that follows clients throughout the entire buying process: “The assistant doesn’t only help the customer by answering all their questions, but also guides them in making the purchase itself. This way, the better the agent performs, the happier is the customer and more of them are likely to return.”
That looks like a good strategy, if you ask me.
Word To The Experts
But our expert on this type of matter Simon Dixon, CEO of BnkToTheFuture.com and Fund Manager at Bitcoin Capital, seems concerned by what represents one of the power points of PayBis: the option to buy Bitcoins using Paypal.
“We have many applications for finance from new exchanges at BnkToTheFuture.com and very few get through. As part of our due diligence process we look for a banking relationship where the bank knows what they do. Unless a banking partnership is not needed (such as one of our portfolio companies ShapeShift), proof that they are segregating funds so client money is not mixed with operational accounts s required. If they make claims like they accept PayPal then we are certain that PayPal does not know what they are doing yet and the account will be taken away as soon as they scale. We are always supportive of new ways of exchanging funds from the traditional financial sector, but the biggest barrier to starting an exchange will always be trust. With trust comes liquidity and more payment options.”
Jure Pirc, President of Bitcoin Association Slovenia, is more concerned with company information, or lack of it:
“The website is quite clear on the exchange pairs and associated fees.
However, I was unable to locate any company related information on the site which suggests to me that the operators are not registered with any financial regulators. If they are, they should declare it. This would work for them as positive advertising, and provide some confidence for potential clients, because they would know they are reliable.”
“Having an online exchange that offers Bitcoin-Paypal and vice versa for sure is uncommon in the Bitcoin world so I can only speculate that Paypal isn’t aware of the nature of the business that the account is used for.” said Jure Pirc. “I was planning to sign up for the service just to do a quick BTC to Paypal exchange but I stopped at the point when I selected to signup via Google Auth, where the system requested to manage my google contacts, besides my email and basic profile info. Why would they even want to have that permission in the first place? After that, I also noticed that the domain’s Whois registration info is protected and when I added that to the fact that there is no info on the company that operates the exchange, I decided not to finish my registration..
Jure Pirc then concluded:
“Last but not least, after reading this page. I found myself asking since when is it a Paypal requirement to have a handwritten note for anything (at least my personal and company Paypal account never had the need to physically sign anything). At this point I don’t see myself recommending this service to people in my social circles and I don’t even want to comment on the 17,6% fee that is listed for Paypal to Bitcoin exchanges.”
In the end, it seems that PayBis still needs to build up a good reputation and better expose their company data. After all, everybody wants to know in whose hands their money is going through. We’ll see in the next months how the company will move in regard to its development and transparency.
Editor’s Note
Cointelegraph received an email from PayBis executive Innokenty Isers, CEO of PayBis, highlighting issues with the opinions expressed by the opinionists in the article.
Innokenty states that the Business model reviewed by Paypal Merchant team is fully approved, and full legal company information is located at the footer of the home page. Regarding the 17.6% fee, Innokenty claims this is probably the lowest fee that can be found for Paypal To Bitcoin exchanges, and in regard to the website address privacy protection he states that this is going to change soon, and the request to manage contacts via Google Auth will be fixed as soon as possible.