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Library/Campaign/PayPal referral bonus
Grade B17 sourcesHIS-01586

PayPal referral bonus

Campaign · 1999 · Niche

23Editable slideCertificate

PayPal offered $10 to new users and referrers as sellers carried it onto eBay.

Spread Score

How it works
ReachNo data yetContagion35Breadth10VelocityNo data yetLongevityNo data yet23

Numbers

Milestone date
Apr 2000
Nov 1999 to Apr 2000
Platforms
2
Started on Open web
Leverage
0.6×
$8.5M on $14.9M media spend

Mechanics

  • Platform jumpPrimary
  • Press loop
  • Controversy
  • Pairing

How it spread

Trace the origin

PayPal offered signup and referral cash in late 1999. Sellers added eBay payment buttons, and referral links reached Usenet. PayPal reported a million accounts by mid-April 2000, the milestone anchor.

Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak. Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.

PayPal payments per quarter, all users2000-03-31: 1,026,0002000-06-30: 5,456,0002000-09-30: 9,438,0002000-12-31: 12,325,0002001-03-31: 13,524,0002001-06-30: 15,058,0002001-09-30: 17,969,0002001-12-31: 22,319,0002002-03-31: 26,565,0002002-06-30: 28,757,000Jul ’99SepNovFeb ’00AprJulNovApr ’01JulNovApr ’02AugMilestoneOpen webPress
Open webPress

13 more events on this chart

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PayPal payments per quarter, all users: 10 dated figures from eBay / PayPal / SEC, each checked against the source. Measured at the time, not estimated.

Timeline (16)

  1. July 1999

    Confinity precursor · Jul 27 ’99

    Confinity described a planned handheld payment app before its public web launch.[1]

    Open the first post ↗

  2. October 1999

    Confinity precursor · Oct 1999

    Confinity launched email payments before the November account of its referral offer.[2][3][4]

  3. November 1999

    Confinity / Luke Nosek seed · Nov 1999

    PayPal offered $10 signup and referral bonuses by November, according to product lead David Sacks.[3][5]

  1. platform jump · Nov 1999

  2. backlash · Jan 16 ’00

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Why it worked

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Origin
Paid
Sector
Finance
Region
US
Reported figure
—
Evidence
Grade B

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