Anyone know what the PayPal Japan site is?

I have been trying to get PayPal to working Japanese

[whats up skip]

I have contacted PayPal about this and so far all I have worked out is that you need to register with an address in Japan for the functions to work in Japanese.

Surely you don't have to register in English the first time?

[bill]

yup...all the sign-up is in English which is why PayPal market penetration in Japan is minimal. Once you've signed up for everything they do have a few pages in there that give you Japanese options. Most notably the Add a Bank Account section is almost all Japanese. However, any Japanese person that signed up for a PayPal account would need a good amount of English to get past the sign-up stage.

[whats up skip]

I had thought this was the case.

Is there a similar popular system in Japan?

[bill]

Unfortunately no. The popular way to get money here is via bank wire transfer. That's what most people do on the auction sites and other online shopping venues. (Other than credit cards.)

[whats up skip]

For what it is worth, I sent off an email to PayPal about it. They don't seem to have much information on who to contact about it.

Here is what I said.

We have many clients in Japan that we would like to use the PayPal system, but currently the PayPal system does not fully support the Japanese language.

There is no Japanese flag or logo on the PayPal home page for the Japanese to click onto in order to switch to a Japanese interface. This means that the Japanese have to use an English sign-up. This would be extremely difficult for most Japanese to use and in most cases they would give up.

I understand that once a person has signed up there is more information and systems in place for them to use.

I believe there is a great opportunity for PayPal to develop in the Japanese market, but PayPal must cater to the basic needs of the Japanese user. Our company can work with you further develop PayPal for the Japanese market. More information can be found at www.(removed for forum policy reasons).com.au.

PS We are not looking for the work, we are looking for the solution.

Regards
......

[bill]

I hope you get some response from them skip. I know of several members here who have had the same complaints for years with PayPal.

PayPal was starting to make some progress toward the Japanese market before they were bought by eBay. However, they never really made the effort required to really get the customers in Japan after that.

Now with eBay in the picture remember that eBay had to quit the Japanese market altogether and admit defeat by Yahoo. They shut down their entire operation after making a big investment in Japan. So, there may be some political reasons that PayPal access for Japanese customers hasn't been a big issue for them. (I'm sure there may be other reasons as well)

[whats up skip]

I received a response, but your not going to like it!

"Unfortunately, we do not have a timetable for when a Japanese PayPal site will launched."

Bugger!

[bill]

Yeah, they've been telling us that for years now...I'm starting to believe them. :(