A Web site (http://www.paypaul.com/) created in May 2001 by Paul Colligan of Portland, Oregon. Its ambition: to be "The Web's Leading Destination for Paying Paul Online." The site contains one lone link for submitting donations to Colligan's PayPal account.
In a recent e-mail exchange, Colligan put any fears of a hidden agenda to rest. "The money from PayPaul goes to pay Paul. Kind of a simple concept but we think it just might work," he said.
He was understandably coy about the amount of money generated by the site in its first month, but he did drop some numbers: "In the last week we've seen more than a 500% increase in revenues. If yesterday's revenue is any indication of standard growth rates, we expect to reach several million dollars in revenue by the end of the year."
His site is careful to point out that it "is not associated with RobPeter.Com and we don't appreciate people who Rob Peter to Pay Paul. Paul has nothing against Peter and would like him to keep his money." Has there been any communication between RobPeter.com and PayPaul.com? "Nope. We're sure they're great guys." (No one speaking for RobPeter.com responded to e-mail requesting comment.)
Though future prospects for success and riches may be modest, Colligan believes the idea is worthy of pursuit. "Heck, if someone thinks they can make money selling 50 pound bags of dog food by mail, I can certainly make a few bucks giving people ways that they can pay Paul through the Internet." (No one speaking for Pets.com could be reached for comment, either.)