I had the exact same scenario that was described by this group happen to me, and all I did was set up a business account to be used by my scout troop to collect donations. The options that weren't entirely clear were to keep it as a simple business account and pay the regular fees or to request nonprofit status and get a lower fee. The requirements for the nonprofit status did include a requirement to link to a checking account with the Troop's name. I had collected several hundred dollars when Paypal locked down the account so that i could not withdraw without complying with the nonprofit requirements.
I definitely agree that Paypal's service department needs serious help because they told me some confusing information initially but later they called me back with someone who was very much involved and had done further research specific to my account and verifying our nonprofit status. In the end it all worked out fine, and everything that the CtR group says is probably true, other than the fact that they probably had the account for forever as a commercial account and just recently applied for nonprofit status. That's what triggers a higher level of verification.
Honestly I don't think that this research can be applied to any of Steve Jobs public announcements of new products. Remember, the research was done against "earnings calls" not new product announcements or other publicity type interviews. There is a very great difference between the two, one will dictate commercial success with consumers by appealing to their product desires while the other will give investors the information they want on the inner workings and administration of the company and is often used as an official statement of the company for which it is legally bound.
Steve Jobs is certainly the exception to the rule of the normal CEO and it certainly is a funny comparison to make about his extaordinary statements about Apple products.
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Had similar problems
I definitely agree that Paypal's service department needs serious help because they told me some confusing information initially but later they called me back with someone who was very much involved and had done further research specific to my account and verifying our nonprofit status. In the end it all worked out fine, and everything that the CtR group says is probably true, other than the fact that they probably had the account for forever as a commercial account and just recently applied for nonprofit status. That's what triggers a higher level of verification.
Product Announcement vs. Earning Call
Steve Jobs is certainly the exception to the rule of the normal CEO and it certainly is a funny comparison to make about his extaordinary statements about Apple products.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Ben.
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