New contender...or great green hype?

June 6, 2005 2:28 AM

Greenzapopened for business last week, with every intent of taking on PayPal for the title of online payment portal du jour. But even before the service officially launched, there was already a growing number of people hotly debating the validity of the enterprise. Will this be the next big thing, or just another lollipop party waiting for the suckers to show up?
posted by deusdiabolus (16 comments total)

Changing every terminal "s" to a "z" (e.g. "feez") givez me no confidence in thiz.
posted by orthogonality at 2:32 AM on June 6, 2005

just another lollipop party waiting for the suckers to show up

Emphasis on another -- I've talked to people who are pretty suspicious of PayPal, as far as that goes.
posted by alumshubby at 3:17 AM on June 6, 2005

It's all a bit Bonzi Buddy.
posted by fire&wings at 5:25 AM on June 6, 2005

"The Future of Money.
It's Zappening."

Zappening.

That word should be everyone's first warning right there.
posted by dopamine at 5:49 AM on June 6, 2005

Wasn't there a sit com in the 70's called "Whatz Zappening"?
posted by sexymofo at 5:57 AM on June 6, 2005

goddam it. I would like to point out that the word "fritz" actually does end in z, according to reliable sources..........
posted by nervousfritz at 6:47 AM on June 6, 2005

H to the... Aw fuck it.....
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 6:57 AM on June 6, 2005

Nothing named "Greenzap" will unseat anything.
posted by Succa at 7:00 AM on June 6, 2005

Oh well, I suppose it can't be much worse than paypal. Someday, somebody will do it right.

Their privacy policy:

We will collect all the personal information we can find about you. We will sell it to people who want to sell you things. We will give it to anyone we feel like. We will send you spam. If you wish to opt out of all this, feel free not to do business with us.
posted by sfenders at 7:23 AM on June 6, 2005

That terminal "z" really is terminal for Internet pay schemes. This was PayPal's forerunner.

And say what you want about PP: an eBay seller recently flaked out on me, and PayPal returned my money. Had I sent a check, I'd be out of luck.
posted by QuietDesperation at 10:45 AM on June 6, 2005

And before Beanz there was Flooz.
posted by Servo5678 at 11:17 AM on June 6, 2005

christ, I thought sfenders was exaggerating but that really is one of the worst privacy policies I've seen in a long time:

If you wish to opt-out, simply select the "Deactivate Account" link located within your “Profile”. You always have the right to change your mind. If you do not opt-out, we’ll assume that you have agreed that GreenZap may use your personal information to determine what goods and services you may be interested in, offer you goods and services that we think meet your needs, and for the other purposes described herein.

It almost looks like transactions are secondary to data collection in their business plan.
posted by blag at 12:05 PM on June 6, 2005

I can't even tell from the website what the fuck is going on (I mean aside from the terminal terminal z's). I do know that the more of you people I get to sign up, the more I'll get paid paid paid, though.
posted by OmieWise at 1:30 PM on June 6, 2005

And say what you want about PP: an eBay seller recently flaked out on me, and PayPal returned my money.

Indeed. I got screwed pre-PP on eBay and I've never recovered.

"Oh, I let this guy use my account for a while"

Um, yeah.
posted by mrgrimm at 5:44 PM on June 6, 2005

This is getting a lot of interest where I am, since Paypal refuses to do business in some countries and there are plenty of people here who are itching for something like this. I'm still a bit hesitant.

On this page, for example, they mention that they're affiliated with Amazon and some other stores, but I wasn't able to find anything on Amazon mentioning them. It doesn't show up on the list of "payment methods we accept" or when searching Amazon.com. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, but the whole thing still seems to be not-quite transparent, to put it mildly.
posted by Ljubljana at 1:33 PM on June 7, 2005

How Can I get more information on GreenZap?
The easiest way to get more information is to simply call [phone], and your questions will be answered by one of our members who is experienced with answering questions.

Google that phone number; it's also the contact number for Muzumah.com, CardGlobal.com and Jet99.com. Now go read this, and note that the Geotrust icon on this page is not clickable, which is the only way GeoTrust icons work.

If you still think greenzap is legit and they won't sell your personal information and close up shop in a month, you're an idiot and you probably need the life lesson you're signing up for.
posted by bizwank at 11:14 PM on June 7, 2005