PayPal
makes most of its money on fees paid by its business members. According to PayPal Vice President of Corporate Communications Vince Sollitto, less than 10% of PayPal's income comes from the "float" -- interest on money that accrues between the time it is deposited in the account and transferred out of the account. For PayPal this period is a minimum of about 3 to 5 days. The time period protects PayPal from fraud, but it also gives them time to earn interest on the money.
Recently PayPal began offering an optional Money Market Account that, as of this writing, pays 2.89%. (For comparison Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund currently pays 3.95% and charges a 0.33% expense ratio -- a substantially higher return.) PayPal Money Market Account seems to be paying similarly to some bank money market accounts, netting them about 1%+ on funds deposited. US residents can opt for an automatic daily sweep that will transfer any funds from your PayPal account into your local bank account via ACH (Automated Clearing House) system for a 0.35% fee on the money transferred. (US residents can make the transfer to their local banks manually at no charge.)
One reason for PayPal's rapid growth was the viral marketing element of offering a bounty of $5 on new PayPal members. However, the newest fine print indicates that for you to qualify for the bounty only when your new member deposits at least $250 into his or her PayPal account in a single transaction. It's nice for PayPal if it happens, but many people pay with a credit card directly, rather than out of money sitting in their PayPal account. Don't expect to earn much on bounties.
I see PayPal's fees quite competitive and reasonable, and they'll probably stay that way since the competition is nipping at their heels.
Universal Extracter
The Good
The software is free and everybody can use it, as long as s/he does not distribute copies of it that are altered in any way. The ease of use is definitely one of the main features of the application. Also, the large number of files supported adds to its value.
The Bad
What could be worst than a software that does not work properly? Unfortunately, this is the case. Unless I downgraded to version 1.4, I could not perform any extraction. The log file created after the process was over told me about Universal Extractor's disability to perform the required task.
