The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint that an email sent by PayPal promising customers a reward of £10 was misleading.
ASA ruled that the reward email was misleading because payment firm PayPal did not sufficiently clarify that not everyone would receive it. The offer was limited to the first 28,527 people who responded.
However, PayPal said that the details were clear in the terms and conditions. ASA has instructed PayPal to not run the ad in its current form again.
The reward email
On September 29, 2020, PayPal users received an email, which greeted: "Long time no see. Here's a £10 reward for you!"
In the body of the email, it read: "We're giving you £10 to use online with PayPal". It came with a clickable "Save Offer" button. Only a small print below stated that the offer was only limited to the 28,527 people who responded.
In its ruling, ASA stated: "We considered that consumers were likely to understand from the subject line and headline claim that they would receive credit worth £10 from PayPal, and the subsequent qualification was insufficient to counter that impression, so we concluded that the ad was misleading and breached the code."
Paypal responded by saying that the marketing email "was designed to inform customers about the availability of the offer and included all significant qualifications and conditions".
Paypal enters cryptocurrencies market
Last October, PayPal announced that it will allow its users to use their accounts to buy Bitcoin and other virtual currencies. Consequently, Paypal users may now also use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to purchase goods and services from the 26 million sellers accepting Paypal payments.
The company is planning to introduce the buying options in the US over the next few weeks and expects full implementation early next year. News of Paypal’s decision boosted Bitcoin prices, allowing it to break the $12,000 mark.
Aside from Bitcoin, the other virtual currencies that will be added into the system first are Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash, a spin-off from Bitcoin. Paypal said these currencies could be stored "directly within the PayPal digital wallet".
Despite the increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies, they have remained a niche payment method, partly due to the quicker price changes compared with traditional state-backed currencies. However, this same nature makes them attractive to several investors.
Last year, the online payments giant pulled out of Libra Association, an alliance for the launch of Facebook cryptocurrency Libra.
PayPal released a statement saying that it is leaving the alliance with Facebook for its Libra cryptocurrency but did not specify the reason behind the decision. Facebook unveiled Libra and its digital wallet Calibra in June.
The digital currency has received criticism from regulators and France and Germany have expressed that they will prevent its use in Europe.
In the statement, Paypal said that it "[remained] supportive of Libra’s aspirations" but had chosen to focus on its own core businesses. Paypal was one of the original members of the Libra Association, a group of 28 companies and non-profits cooperating to develop Libra, which also include payments company Visa, ride-hailing app Uber and humanitarian charity Mercy Corps.
