PayPal has just announced a new service it calls Money Pools, a platform that lets users collect and combine funds from friends and family.
The expanded service aims to make it easier for customers to crowdsource from their contacts to raise money for a specific item or event, like a group gift or vacation. It can also allow individuals to send money abroad or make rent payments.
PayPal has launched the service in 16 countries: Australia, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, Spain, Canada, Poland, Denmark, Norway, France, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and the US. Anyone with a PayPal account in any of these nations can create a Money Pool or send funds to one. A PayPal account is required to establish or contribute to a Money Pools fund.
Officials are quick to point out that the new platform is different than traditional crowdsourcing sites like Kickstarter or GoFundMe. PayPal Money Pools are intended for specific items among linked family and friends.
In a statement, PayPal said that Money Pools are a way for the millions of existing PayPal users to make payments and send money in a more personalized and streamlined way. Groups can now easily share expenses with family and friends for things like gifts, travel, celebrations and recurring payments such as rent and utility bills.
“Unlike crowdfunding solutions, Money Pools are not intended to facilitate fundraising for activities such as product development and organizers agree not to offer perks, rewards, or other incentives in return for contributions made to a Money Pool," said PayPal's statement.
According to the company, Money Pools are fee-free when users pay with money from their PayPal wallet or a bank account or debit card linked to their PayPal account. Standard fees apply to international payments or money transfers that involve currency conversions or when a linked credit card is used to send funds.
Once a Money Pool has been created, the service works much like other social funding sites. Users can customize their page with pictures, adjust settings to have payments appear anonymously, update the site's activity feed, and share a URL that links directly to the campaign page.
PayPal has been developing social payment platforms for quite some time, beginning more than nine years ago with a mobile app that allowed family and friends to send payments to each other.
In 2013, PayPal's acquisition of Braintree brought the P2P money transfer service Venmo under its umbrella, and more recently PayPal has been ramping up its social payment services. People can now send PayPal payments through Facebook Messenger and many retailers are now able to accent Venmo payments for goods and services.
There are several other services that let users share expenses, but these are somewhat more limited in scope than PayPal's Money Pools.
Splitwise lets groups of people share bill payments, WeTravel lets groups split the cost of trips, and Airbnb — which recently acquired and promptly shut down Tilt, another social payments platform — may have something in the works, as well.
