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Beam Me Up Some Money, Scotty

PayPal lets you make personal payments via the Web--for free.

By Yardena Arar, PCWorld   

So you're dining out with a bunch of friends and would like to pick up your share of the tab, but are short on cash. You could write a check, or promise to pay for the next meal. Or you could use PayPal, a free new Web-based service that makes sending personal payments online as easy as typing the recipient's e-mail address and the sum you wish to pay.

When you authorize a payment, Paypal takes the money from either your credit card or bank account and transfers it first into your PayPal account, then into your friend's account. Your friend can choose to retrieve the money as either a credit card credit, an electronic funds transfer into a bank account, or a paper check sent by mail.

There's no cost to either you or the recipient. The only requirement is that both of you register with the service and provide the necessary information for sending or receiving payments--a credit card number, bank account and routing numbers (for electronic funds transfers), or a name and snail mail address for checks.

You can initiate a payment to somebody who isn't a registered user. The service sends the person an e-mail message saying that a payment awaits them at PayPal's Web site. But to collect, the person must register and provide payment instructions.

The basic service, which launches on Monday, requires only Internet access and a browser.

Money in Your Palm

In a few weeks PayPal plans to offer an application that will let users with infrared-equipped Palm devices (version III or later, or Handspring Visors) beam payments to each other. If you have the PayPalm application but your buddy doesn't, no problem. You can beam the application as well as the payment.

The Palm VII will eventually be able to transmit the payment instructions wirelessly over the Palm.net service. But with most Palms, the instructions won't be transmitted until either the sender or the payee synchronizes their device with a PC that has an Internet connection.

Floating Free

You don't have to maintain any kind of minimum balance in your PayPal account, and can make payments for as much or as little as you want. The service is not advertiser-supported. Its parent, Confinity, hopes to make money on the float--that is, the short-term investment it will make with payments in user accounts before the funds are actually withdrawn.

The service won't be for everybody. Although the site promises strict privacy, some people will balk at having to register to collect money owed. Others will be reluctant to share personal information and credit card or bank account numbers with a start-up company. However, Confinity's backers include European electronics giant Nokia and Germany's huge Deutsche Bank, which may help allay some security concerns.