SAN JOSE, Calif.- People are planning to shop for deals when buying for loved
ones this Valentine’s
Day. According to PayPal’s fourth annual Can’t Buy Me Love survey, nearly half
of shoppers plan to
spend less than $50 this Valentine’s Day, compared to 2008, when 75 percent of
shoppers planned
to spend more than $50 on gifts.
Saving money is a priority for shoppers in 2010. Forty-two percent of couples
surveyed say their
partner spends too much money year-round. To help cash-strapped couples, PayPal
and Bill Me
Later today announced great deals and special offers on Valentine’s Day gifts
for couples and
singles. Shoppers can receive up to 25 percent off purchases from major
retailers, including
RedEnvelope, Zales.com and ProFlowers by visiting paypal.com/shopping.
Couples are committed to saving money this year but the good news is that there
are plenty of great
gifts at great prices out there, said Hillary Mendelsohn, online shopping
expert and PayPal
spokesperson. Invest some thoughtfulness and take advantage of great online
deals it’s the easiest
way to feel the love without breaking hearts or the bank.
According to the survey, money continues to be the leading cause of arguments
among couples,
more than in-laws, sex and work. The 2009 survey found that 27 percent of people
have experienced
some sort of significant financial change in the last year, causing more
frequent arguments related to
money.
Valentine’s Day Gifts through PayPal and Bill Me Later
Beginning January 28 through February 14, PayPal and Bill Me Later members can
take advantage of
discounts from top retailers. Sample deals include:
- 20 percent off and a free vase at ProFlowers
- 25 percent off on gifts at RedEnvelope
- $50 off purchases of $300 or more at Zales.com
- 10 percent off at Blue Nile
- 20 percent off of a 6-month subscription from eHarmony
- Up to 55 percent off retail rates from Hotwire
For more information about the 2010 PayPal Valentine’s Day promotions and to see
a full list of
participating merchants, visit paypal.com/shopping.
For a complete list of Valentine’s Day deals from Bill Me Later please visit
shopping.billmelater.com
or follow @ShopBillMeLater on Twitter.
Find the PayPal ValenTypes for Cash Prizes and Giveaways
On February 13, PayPal is hosting a virtual scavenger hunt on Twitter and
rewarding participants with
incredible giveaways including netbooks, diamond necklaces and a year of free
flowers from
ProFlowers. Shoppers who follow @PayPalShopping will receive tweeted clues to
secret locations in
New York, Chicago and San Francisco. At those locations, the PayPal ValenTypes
will be rewarding
the lucky Twitter super-sleuths with big prizes from select merchants.
Click here to follow @PayPalShopping on Twitter.
Survey Findings
PayPal’s fourth annual Can’t Buy Me Love survey, conducted by Ipsos, examined
how personal
finance issues affect couples and singles in the U.S. The survey found:
- Money is the number one cause of arguments among U.S. couples (37%). It
beat out household
chores (24%), in-laws (15%) and sex (13%). - A quarter (27%) of respondent families experienced significant financial
change in the last year. Of
these couples, at least one partner had to take on an additional job, or the
primary breadwinner had
to change jobs. - Only a quarter (22%) of couples surveyed maintain completely separate bank
accounts, compared
to almost half in 2008 (46%). - This year, twice as many respondents said that they want their own bank
accounts so that they
could have their own spending money. (47% of respondents in 2009 compared to
20% in 2008) - Two-thirds (65%) of singles would not want to date someone with
significant debt. - Most people (79%) have given cash as a gift to a loved one, so that the
recipient can purchase what
they want.
About the Survey
The PayPal “Can’t Buy Me Love” Survey was conducted by Ipsos from December 11,
2009, to
December 18, 2009, via email invitation to online panelists. The total sample
size was 1,000 adults in
the United States.
About PayPal
PayPal is the faster, safer way to pay and get paid online. The service allows
members to send
money without sharing financial information, with the flexibility to pay using
their account balances,
bank accounts, credit cards or promotional financing. With more than 81 million
active accounts in
190 markets and 24 currencies around the world, PayPal enables global ecommerce.
PayPal is an
eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY) company and is made up of three leading online payment
services: the PayPal
global payment service, the Payflow Gateway and Bill Me Later. The company’s
open payment
platform, PayPal X, allows developers to build innovative payment applications
on multiple platforms
and devices. More information about the company can be found at
https://www.paypal.com.
About Hillary Mendelsohn
Hillary Mendelsohn is founder and president of thepurplebook: The Definitive
Guide to Exceptional
Online Shopping, which publishes annual resource guides for online shopping. The
fourth edition is
currently available in bookstores nationwide and is published by Hachette/Time
Warner Book Group.
In April of 2006, thepurplebook Baby, the first of the specialty books covering
maternity through
toddler shopping online, made its arrival. The next specialty editions of
thepurplebook were released
in January ’08 and are entitled thepurplebook Wedding and thepurplebook Green
(an eco-friendly
online shopping guide). In addition, Mendelsohn launched a corporate consulting
division of the
business, which covers everything from white papers, Web site development for
retailers, outsourcing
service solution providers, investment companies, and venture capital firms.
Specializing in end-to-
end consumer experience, her clients include Office
Source:
PayPal