February 2, 2000

PayPal.com Passes 100,000 User Mark

Highly Viral Email Payments Drive Rapid Growth

Free Service Dominates Auctions and Person-to-Person E-Commerce

PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- PayPal.com, the first free service that lets people email money instantly and securely online, today announced that more than 100,000 people have become users since the service debuted in October. About 90 percent of signups occurred in January alone, making PayPal.com one of the fastest growing financial services in history.

"PayPal makes sending money online safe, easy, fast, and free," said Peter Thiel, Chief Executive Officer of PayPal.com. "That's why over 100,000 people have started using PayPal for all kinds of online transactions."

The popularity of PayPal among Internet auction participants has played a key role in PayPal's explosive growth. PayPal is the leading form of online payment for eBay auctions. Currently more than 37,000 items are for sale on eBay with PayPal, more than twice the number of its nearest competitor.

"When I'm buying or selling on the Net, I need an online payment method that is fast, free and secure," said online auction participant Andrew Brenner. "PayPal lets me accept credit card payments from anyone. I get paid instantly, which allows me to ship an item that day -- instead of waiting over a week for a check to arrive and clear."

Another reason for PayPal's rapid growth is the viral nature of email payments: non-users become users when they claim money that has been emailed to them. PayPal's user base is more than doubling every month from viral growth alone. This does not include growth driven by conventional marketing methods, such as advertising.

According to users, PayPal's success derives from being safe, easy, fast and free:

• Safe -- PayPal's security includes strong encryption designed by Dr. Martin Hellman, the inventor of public key encryption, and Stanford professor Dan Boneh. PayPal confirms the email address of all users, and requires street address confirmation for all banking withdrawals.
• Easy -- After completing a one-page signup, PayPal users complete transactions by simply entering a dollar amount and the recipient's email address.
• Fast -- Within seconds, the recipient will receive the money via email.
• Free -- Best of all, there is no charge to either party for this service.

How PayPal Works

PayPal.com is the first free online payment service that enables anyone with a credit card to instantly and securely pay anyone with an email address. Unlike alternative payment systems that require users to know bank account numbers of payment recipients, PayPal.com users only need an email address to send a payment.

After registering for the free service at http://www.paypal.com/, consumers simply enter the recipient's email address and a dollar amount. The money is debited from the payer's credit card and credited to the recipient. The transaction takes seconds to complete. If the recipient is not yet a PayPal user, he or she simply registers on the PayPal.com site after receiving an email notification, and is immediately credited with the money. Funds may be withdrawn at any time by direct deposit to a bank account or a personal check from PayPal.com. Users also may opt to email the money on to others.

About PayPal.com

PayPal.com, based in Palo Alto, Calif., is owned by Confinity, Inc. It is the first web-based payment service that enables consumers to email money via their PC or PDA. PayPal.com's state-of-the-art security and cutting-edge web-server technology, which were developed under the guidance of encryption pioneers at Stanford University, make it one of the most secure electronic payment systems to date.

PayPal.com is working with leading platform and financial service companies to deploy PayPal.com worldwide. Its key strategic and financial backers include idealab Capital Partners, Goldman Sachs, Nokia Ventures, Deutsche Bank, and Bill Melton, founder of Verifone.