The (2nd) set of Open Letters written to the CEO of Ebay and PayPal were delivered. See below for proof of delivery.

Letter Delivered to CEO of Ebay

Letter Delivered to CEO of PayPal

Dear Readers,

I need your help.

For years I have been writing to Ebay and PayPal to inquire as to why their services are not available in Pakistan. I have never received a reply from them. This year, I decided to pursue this more assertively. In January of this year I wrote a letter to the CEOs of Ebay and PayPal respectively (the contents of the letter can be read here). I waited for a month – no reply from them.

Just yesterday I wrote another letter to them. Let us see if second time is the charm.

However, what I need from you – is to spread the word – on your blog. The more you help in spreading this issue around – the more activists and lobbyist effort we can garner.

All I am asking you is for you to highlight the same in your own words (about the two letters I wrote) to your readers. Feel free to highlight the non-availability of both Ebay and Paypal in Pakistan as you feel fit. But highlight you must!

Feel free to cross-link to the two letters: (it is not mandatory that you do so, lest I be accused of increasing the back-links for my blog – back-linking won’t help me in any manner, since I do not run any advertisements on my website, hence traffic and popularity is not something I am seeking).

An Open Letter to John Donahoe, CEO of Ebay (Parent company of PayPal)
http://faisalkhan.com/?p=554

PayPal in Pakistan (Part II)
http://faisalkhan.com/?p=623

It is very easy to rant in this digital age… A lot of people have personally written emails to me, saying it won’t work. Citing many theories as to why PayPal / Ebay does not want to do business here in Pakistan. The Nay-sayers are plenty. But those are are willing to help and contribute towards this effort/initiative – outnumber the Nay-sayers by orders of magnitude.

I think we need to approach this with patience and without giving up hope. Dr. Ian Wilmut who first successfully cloned “Dolly” the sheep, got it right after 276 attempts. Imagine that – 276 attempts!!!

Being persistent pays off.

I am no Dr. Wilmut, and we certainly have no sheep to be cloned. But if it takes 276 attempts to get PayPal in Pakistan – why not!

A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.
An ancient Chinese proverb

I thank you in advance.

Regards,

FAISAL KHAN

Earlier this year, I sent a letter to the CEO of Ebay (Ebay is the parent company of PayPal), and to the CEO of PayPal itself.

The contents of the letter can be viewed here. The delivery snapshots as provided by Fedex can be seen below.

Proof of Delivery receipt for Letter to CEO of Ebay: John Donahoe

Proof of Delivery receipt for Letter to CEO of PayPal: Scott Thompson

I have not received any reply so far (which was quite disappointing).

So, yet again, I am writing another letter to them. Contents of which can be seen below.

________________________

February 12, 2009

John Donahoe
President and CEO
eBay Inc.
2145 Hamilton Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125
USA

Subject: PayPal for Pakistan

Dear Mr. Donahoe,

I am writing to you to inquire as to why Ebay and Paypal services are not available in Pakistan. It is very disheartening to note that whilst countries like Angola, Yemen, Uganda, Madagascar, Jordan, Kuwait and Rwanda (to name a few) can enjoy the benefits of PayPal, Why is Pakistan left out?

Pakistan is home to 17+ Million users of the Internet. Mobile users are hovering around the 80+ Million mark. The population is 160 Million. Our banking system is robust and seasoned, whilst our digital infrastructure is top-notch, having many firsts (for example: we have the world largest Wimax deployment).

For years I have personally been writing to Ebay/PayPal, but have never received a reply, which in this day and age, is quite disappointing.

The main objective of this letter to know (not superficially, but in detail) what is preventing the inclusion of Pakistan in the countries where PayPal / Ebay services can be offered.

A lot many professional organizations in Pakistan are willing to lend support to the cause, should Ebay/PayPal require so.

If there are any policy or government issues preventing your organization from doing business here, kindly do highlight the same so that at the very least we can start addressing the issue.

I just want to be able to have an eBay and a PayPal account from Pakistan. In the event you want to reach me, the easiest way is via email, my personal email address is babushka99@gmail.com and official email address is faisal@nacspl.com

Regards,

FAISAL KHAN
CEO
Net Access Communication Systems (Private) Limited

CC: Mr. Scott Thompson, President, PayPal.

A few days ago, I embarked on my annual routine of writing to Ebay and PayPal – asking them why their services are not being offered in Pakistan? I have been doing this for a couple of years now.

This year, I decided to write a letter and write to the very top, i.e. the two CEOs of Ebay and PayPal, John Donahoe & Scott Thompson.

Rather than just email, I decided to formally send a letter and Fedex’d it to them. The letters were delivered yesterday. Now it is a wait and see – as to what they will say.

January 11, 2009

John Donahoe
President and CEO
eBay Inc.
2145 Hamilton Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125
USA

Subject: PayPal for Pakistan

Dear Mr. Donahoe,

I understand you are someone who is immensely busy and have thousands of other important issues to deal with, but I thought I’d try my luck with you. I’ve been writing to PayPal / eBay since 2002 regarding issuance of PayPal accounts for Pakistan, in 2005 I started including eBay in my correspondences to include eBay accounts for Pakistan.

I have never received a reply back. Twice in the past, I received a reply back (filed via customer services) that my ‘complaint’ has been lodged and PayPal will look into it. Other than that, have not gotten a satisfactory reply.

The issue – simple. Why is eBay / PayPal not being offered for Pakistan?

I just finished reading an article on your hand-on approach in TIME Magazine (Issue 12 January 2009 – Asian Edition, Page 35, written by Kristina Dell), it simply compelled me to get on the computer and write another letter to eBay / PayPal. The article gave me hope (again!)

Pakistan – purely from your business perspective may not be that big of an economy, but it surely has an economy that is larger and more active than Bhutan, Chad, Honduras, Somalia, Maldives, Rwanda, Uganda, Yemen —combined!

If these countries can have the privilege of obtaining a PayPal account, why not Pakistan?

As Pakistanis cannot legally have a PayPal account, 1000s of users here circumvent the system and obtain PayPal IDs from their friends and relatives abroad to use and conduct commerce. This should be of no surprise to you.

The same can be said about eBay.

Like I cited, we may not be that big on your radar, perhaps we’re not even equated to a blip, but a country of 170 Million, to be blatantly ignored (you may agree or disagree on my choice of words, if the above mentioned countries can have PayPal, I’d like to know what piece of legislation, law, banking infrastructure, etc. prevents eBay/PayPal from including Pakistan under your countries-in-which-you-work umbrella).

Pakistan’s predominant trading Partner happens to be the US. Within respect to both imports and exports (discounting oil).

The first time I experienced eBay and PayPal in the summer of 2001 whilst briefly working in the US – I was mesmerized to say the least. Till date, I wish we had the privilege of conducting business on a website so many take for granted.

This is not meant to be a protest letter by any means. In fact it is one of a very humble request. A request whose time has come, and was long overdue. I have in the past cited my willingness to help, providing information or getting eBay / PayPal connected to Banks, regulators, whomsoever you would like to meet. I am, in no way proposing or advocating a ‘role’ for myself – my intention is just to help.

Is it too much to think that perhaps this one letter will get the ball rolling. Or if the ball is already rolling, yield the desired result. Will this letter be tacked on your things-to-do board and actually get done with? Is this the right time to plead the case for my country?

I’ll end my letter with a quote from Dale Carnegie (sorry, couldn’t find a befitting Irish quote) “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”

I just want to be able to have an eBay and a PayPal account from Pakistan. In the event you want to reach me, the easiest way is via email, my personal email address is babushka99@gmail.com and official email address is faisal@nacspl.com
Regards,

FAISAL KHAN
CEO
Net Access Communication Systems (Private) Limited
Karachi, Pakistan.

CC: Mr. Scott Thompson, President, PayPal.