Ebay's PayPal redesigns online checkout process to let shoppers complete payments on merchants' websites, rather than being taken to separate PayPal site; following initial testing, new process to be made available to large businesses in H1

Cindy Allen

NEW YORK , January 13, 2014 (Associated Press) – EBay's payments service PayPal has redesigned its online checkout process to let shoppers complete their payment on merchants' websites, rather than go to a separate PayPal site.

Simplifying the checkout process — and having shoppers stay on an e-commerce site rather than click over to a separate PayPal page — means they are more likely to complete the transaction. That could also mean more people will use PayPal.

PayPal said Monday that it is testing out the new checkout process with a few merchants and will make it available to large businesses in the first half of this year. Medium- and small-size businesses will also be able to use it down the line.

In addition, PayPal said it will make its "payment code" feature available to merchants that accept Discover cards or use Micros payments systems, starting in February. The feature lets shoppers pay for purchases using their smartphones, using either a four-digit code or a QR-code, which is a newer version of the classic bar code.

PayPal says it's a payment option at 1.9 million physical stores and other sellers in the U.S.

Shares of eBay Inc. rose 49 cents to $52.65 in afternoon trading.

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