Reclaiming the magic of travel at Finca Rio Perla in Costa Rica

Our ambassador of community, June Lin, will be embarking on a weeklong adventure staying with a local family and helping out on an all-natural, communal farm in Costa Rica. The farm is located in the Caribbean highlands, high up on the slope of the mountains and smack dab in the middle of the rainforest. This adventure will be a great opportunity to learn about using traditional practices along with cutting edge technologies to nurture the environment while harvesting from it!

Many artists have come here for inspiration and many environmentalists have come here to learn about sustainable agriculture, but we are opening this unique experience up to you so that you can see how we travel, the Vayable way. Come along on this adventure with us as we reclaim the magic of travel!

Vayable has teamed up with Airbnb, Justin.tv, TaskRabbit, Thumbtack, Bump and some of the other hottest startups to co-host the party of the year!

Online Ticketing for Night Market Party powered by Eventbrite

Reclaim the magic of travel @Vayable

 

"Grubbin Like a Giant!" | Vayable

via vayable.com

Vayable | Thrillist

via thrillist.com

Vayable on TechCrunch

Like an Airbnb for travel experiences, secondary market place Vayable launches today to offer travelers the opportunity to buy experiences in exotic locales all over the world, from Rome to Rio as the well worn cliche goes. Founders Jamie Wong and Samrat Jeyaprakash tell me that the key difference between Vayable and that other “Airbnb for experiences” Skyara is that Vayable is targeting travelers specifically, especially those who are tired of the relative banality of activity offerings from travel sites like Orbitz and Expedia.

Wong and Samrat actually met on Airbnb themselves and were roommates for about two weeks when they came up with the idea for Vayable, attempting to provide a solution to the “what do I do once I get there?” travel problem. The service currently has a modest 200 users, but there are still plenty of interesting things to do on Vayable, including a taking Bob Dylan Walking Tour in NYC, joining a local king on a fishing trip in Fiji or indulging in a weekend sailing experience around Cinque Terre in Italy.

“Travel has seen tremendous innovation in flight and accommodation booking, especially with sites such as Hipmunk and Airbnb disrupting the industry. But once their reservations are booked, travelers still rely on old-school (and costly) guidebooks, travel agents and online forums to plan their itineraries. It’s the blind spot of the travel industry,” Jeyaprakash explains.

The site currently has 70 listings and while the offerings are admittedly sparse, activities like Textile design in a sustainable village and a trek through Singalila in India are unique and inspirational enough to become the focal point of trips yet to be planned.

Vayable monetizes by taking a 15% commission from those offering experiences (which you can sign up to provide on the site if you’re a “local expert”) and a 3% from travelers. It also plans on eventual affiliate partnerships with companies who offer accommodations and flight services, eh hem Hipmunk and Airbnb.

Vayable’s grander vision is to become the go-to spot for curated “hi-res” travel experiences, “If a model like ours isn’t implemented, there will be nothing but visits to Starbucks and McDonalds [available for travelers] in 10 years,” Jeyaprakash tells me, exaggerating slightly.

via techcrunch.com

Rezgo is a web based tour operator software, activity booking engine, and event registration

via rezgo.com

How people in different countries spend their time

via economist.com

10 Articles You Must Read for Friday - Financial Adviser - WSJ

to get PayPal to freeze your account in five easy steps.

via blogs.wsj.com

Social Commerce: A closer look at the numbers | Eventbrite Blog

via blog.eventbrite.com

The Perils of Traveling without Vayable.

Killer Startup Features Vayable

Vayable is the perfect site for all these travelers that are looking into doing something truly different for a change. On Vayable, these individuals are connected with locals who can take them through really original experiences in these towns that they know like the palms of their hands. These can include anything from guided excursions through little-known islands and the kind of haunts only the people who have spent their whole lives somewhere could be aware of. Vayable guides can also put together tours based on the interests of customers, such as romantic strolls or walks trough historic-relevant locations. In the end, a site like this one makes just too much sense. I mean, not everybody wants to go to the beach or go sightseeing through all the usual spots. Not everybody is keen on the kind of activities that can be found on guidebooks, or arranged by tour operators. And there are many locals who are looking for a way to generate an income. Well, this site brings the two sides together in a point where they both are amply benefited. Read more: http://www.killerstartups.com/Web20/vayable-com-tours-by-local-experts#ixzz1I...

via killerstartups.com

Calling all Bay Area doers!

How to Get PayPal to Freeze Your Account in Four Easy Steps

As first-time entrpreneurs, we have of course hit many bumps and snags along our path to launch.  But none have been more painful, irrational or bloody our perpetually-losing battle with PayPal.  I have written the following to help other startup founders using PayPal fail faster. 

How to get PayPal to Freeze your account in four easy steps.
 
1.  Be a bootstrapping startup.  
With no funding, transactions or big names behind us, we set up our PayPal merchant account like any innocent first-time founders would: by following procedure.  We provided our Employer Identification Number, a summary of our business, a summary of how we would be using PayPal for our transactions, and all the other good details you’d a payment service to require.  All good?  It seemed so, but then we got greedy.  We wanted to use PayPal Pro to streamline our transactions.
 
2. Apply for Payments Pro.  
We first get a phone call from a representative at PayPal informing us that Vayable is conducting illegal activity by running a business without a Travel Seller’s license from the State of California.  Without this license number, they tell us, we cannot use PayPal’s service.  This is the first we’ve heard of needing to acquire a Travel Seller’s license, as we’re not actually selling travel, but I go ahead and look into it.  Turns out, the State will not issue us a Travel Seller’s license even if we wanted one: they’re reserved for sellers of transportation, like airlines and bus companies.  We do not do this.  We are a community marketplace for individuals to buy and sell unique experiences from one another.  Think Etsy or Airbnb for EventBrite for unique travel experiences-- Or whatever marketplace startup du jour you want to throw before “unique experiences.” (Note: Etsy, Airbnb  and Eventbrite all use PayPal).  

I call PayPal back and tell them that we in no way fall under the state’s definition of a Seller of Travel and therefore not only don’t need the license, but wouldn’t qualify for it.  “Then we’re going to have to decline your application for Payments Pro” I am told by three different representatives. (I’m always a believer in calling back to talk to someone else if the first person doesn’t give you the answer you want).  In this case, no one was giving us the answer we wanted.  Time to pivot.
 
3.  Comply with PayPal’s requests.  
After failing to qualify to use Payments Pro, we decide to go with another one of their merchant products:  Express Checkout, a free and streamlined merchant service PayPal released last fall that does not require a lengthy application process.   While building it into our site,  we receive a notification from PayPal that our merchant account is going under review (note: we have yet to test a single transaction yet).  They are concerned that we are are not a real business, they say, and ask us to submit our Articles of Incorporation as well as our EIN number (which I had already submitted several times) in the enrollment process) as well as a statement of how we intend to use PayPal for our transactions.  Of course, we comply. Within an hour of receiving the email from them, I have uploaded these documents to the Resolution Center, as requested, and wait.  And wait. And wait.  After several days of hearing nothing back, I call PayPal.  I talk to a guy in their customer support department who informs me that the account is fine, but they just need to verify that the business name is actually Vayable.  This sounds odd to me.  So again, I provide them with the material and am assured by customer support that the account will be restored to good standing as soon as they look over the paperwork I’ve provided.  Ten days later, our account status has not changed and I still cannot get any more information from PayPal customer support.  
 
4. Stay Loyal.
With no new information, we decide to charge ahead and implement PayPal into the site. After all, we need transaction on the site and PayPal is the most widely recommended and seemingly accommodating platform.  After a painful implementation process (which involved the server-side technical problems from PayPal throughout, making it nearly impossible to test and use the sandbox), we finally got our Express Checkout up and running.  Seamless and perfect? Far from it.  Functional and secure?  Yes.  Less than 12 hours after getting the service us and running, I receive the following email from PayPal:
 

Dear Jamie Wong,

 

Thank you for your response.

Per our Acceptable Use Policy, under credit card association rules, PayPal

cannot permit the use of the PayPal service as a funding method for payment

processors to collect payments on behalf of merchants.   Upon review of

your account, it appears that you are offering an aggregation service that

allows multiple merchants to process transactions that are against various

Acceptable Use rules.  The service you provide allows said merchants to

circumvent our policies.

While we wish you the best of success in your future business endeavors, we

respectfully ask that you seek another method of payment for your online

business.

Your PayPal Account has been limited and there will be no appeals to the

decision.  Any remaining funds in your account balance will be held for 180

days from the date of the limitation.  Once 180 days has passed, the funds

will be available for withdrawal.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again.

Sincerely,

Julie

PayPal Compliance Department

PayPal, an eBay Company

Responses to this email address are not monitored.  Please send any

additional questions that you may have to compliance@paypal.com.

Translation: Your account has been frozen and there’s nothing you can do about it.  

Upon referring to PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy, as they suggest, I find nothing to suggest we are not in compliance.   In fact, we seem to be the exact kind of merchant PayPal would want using its services.  We are bringing them new users by requiring our customers to pay with PayPal, we are building a global marketplace that is ideal case study for PayPal’s robust risk management and fraud management and we’re a budding new startup that enables a brand new community of merchants and transactions, off of which PayPal will be able to profit.  

We’re still unclear why PayPal froze our account, but we’ve got a pretty good idea of how it happened, which really started with following procedure, followed by compliance, followed by loyalty to their service.  

PayPal doesn’t want their cut of tens of millions of dollars of revenue we project in the next two years.   Any idea of who does?

Thank you, PayPal, for still letting us at least use your logos!

-Jamie Wong 

Co-Founder, Vayable

 

How to Get PayPal to Freeze Your Account in Four Easy Steps

As first-time entrpreneurs, we have of course hit many bumps and snags along our path to launch.  But none have been more painful, irrational or bloody our perpetually-losing battle with PayPal.  I have written the following to help other startup founders using PayPal fail faster. 

How to get PayPal to Freeze your account in four easy steps.
 
1.  Be a bootstrapping startup.  
With no funding, transactions or big names behind us, we set up our PayPal merchant account like any innocent first-time founders would: by following procedure.  We provided our Employer Identification Number, a summary of our business, a summary of how we would be using PayPal for our transactions, and all the other good details you’d a payment service to require.  All good?  It seemed so, but then we got greedy.  We wanted to use PayPal Pro to streamline our transactions.
 
2. Apply for Payments Pro.  
We first get a phone call from a representative at PayPal informing us that Vayable is conducting illegal activity by running a business without a Travel Seller’s license from the State of California.  Without this license number, they tell us, we cannot use PayPal’s service.  This is the first we’ve heard of needing to acquire a Travel Seller’s license, as we’re not actually selling travel, but I go ahead and look into it.  Turns out, the State will not issue us a Travel Seller’s license even if we wanted one: they’re reserved for sellers of transportation, like airlines and bus companies.  We do not do this.  We are a community marketplace for individuals to buy and sell unique experiences from one another.  Think Etsy or Airbnb for EventBrite for unique travel experiences-- Or whatever marketplace startup du jour you want to throw before “unique experiences.” (Note: Etsy, Airbnb  and Eventbrite all use PayPal).  

I call PayPal back and tell them that we in no way fall under the state’s definition of a Seller of Travel and therefore not only don’t need the license, but wouldn’t qualify for it.  “Then we’re going to have to decline your application for Payments Pro” I am told by three different representatives. (I’m always a believer in calling back to talk to someone else if the first person doesn’t give you the answer you want).  In this case, no one was giving us the answer we wanted.  Time to pivot.
 
3.  Comply with PayPal’s requests.  
After failing to qualify to use Payments Pro, we decide to go with another one of their merchant products:  Express Checkout, a free and streamlined merchant service PayPal released last fall that does not require a lengthy application process.   While building it into our site,  we receive a notification from PayPal that our merchant account is going under review (note: we have yet to test a single transaction yet).  They are concerned that we are are not a real business, they say, and ask us to submit our Articles of Incorporation as well as our EIN number (which I had already submitted several times) in the enrollment process) as well as a statement of how we intend to use PayPal for our transactions.  Of course, we comply. Within an hour of receiving the email from them, I have uploaded these documents to the Resolution Center, as requested, and wait.  And wait. And wait.  After several days of hearing nothing back, I call PayPal.  I talk to a guy in their customer support department who informs me that the account is fine, but they just need to verify that the business name is actually Vayable.  This sounds odd to me.  So again, I provide them with the material and am assured by customer support that the account will be restored to good standing as soon as they look over the paperwork I’ve provided.  Ten days later, our account status has not changed and I still cannot get any more information from PayPal customer support.  
 
4. Stay Loyal.
With no new information, we decide to charge ahead and implement PayPal into the site. After all, we need transaction on the site and PayPal is the most widely recommended and seemingly accommodating platform.  After a painful implementation process (which involved the server-side technical problems from PayPal throughout, making it nearly impossible to test and use the sandbox), we finally got our Express Checkout up and running.  Seamless and perfect? Far from it.  Functional and secure?  Yes.  Less than 12 hours after getting the service us and running, I receive the following email from PayPal:
 

Dear Jamie Wong,

 

Thank you for your response.

Per our Acceptable Use Policy, under credit card association rules, PayPal

cannot permit the use of the PayPal service as a funding method for payment

processors to collect payments on behalf of merchants.   Upon review of

your account, it appears that you are offering an aggregation service that

allows multiple merchants to process transactions that are against various

Acceptable Use rules.  The service you provide allows said merchants to

circumvent our policies.

While we wish you the best of success in your future business endeavors, we

respectfully ask that you seek another method of payment for your online

business.

Your PayPal Account has been limited and there will be no appeals to the

decision.  Any remaining funds in your account balance will be held for 180

days from the date of the limitation.  Once 180 days has passed, the funds

will be available for withdrawal.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again.

Sincerely,

Julie

PayPal Compliance Department

PayPal, an eBay Company

Responses to this email address are not monitored.  Please send any

additional questions that you may have to compliance@paypal.com.

Translation: Your account has been frozen and there’s nothing you can do about it.  

Upon referring to PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy, as they suggest, I find nothing to suggest we are not in compliance.   In fact, we seem to be the exact kind of merchant PayPal would want using its services.  We are bringing them new users by requiring our customers to pay with PayPal, we are building a global marketplace that is ideal case study for PayPal’s robust risk management and fraud management and we’re a budding new startup that enables a brand new community of merchants and transactions, off of which PayPal will be able to profit.  

We’re still unclear why PayPal froze our account, but we’ve got a pretty good idea of how it happened, which really started with following procedure, followed by compliance, followed by loyalty to their service.  

PayPal doesn’t want their cut of tens of millions of dollars of revenue we project in the next two years.   Any idea of who does?

Thank you, PayPal, for still letting us at least use your logos!  

-Jamie Wong

Co-Founder, Vayable

SoSF Bike Tours: Awesome Tours, Awesome Guys.

Like Startups? Like bikes? Come on the LAUNCH Startup Bike Tour guided by SoSF!

Date: Saturday, February 26, 2011 Time: 1-4pm Start/Finish: Fulton & Pierce, at Alamo Square Food/drink: We’ll stop for a nice beverage/food break (not included in price of tour) Price: $60 / person (includes bicycle, helmet, guided tour).

A memorable trip to the mountains doesn't need to cost much.

On the job: Vayable Intro Video Creative Director, Anise Labrum

Daily Single interviews Vayable cofounder and CEO, Jamie Wong!

Checkout the full interview here! 

Vayable: built on green drinks

Vayable release celebration

When he doesn't code, he swings.

Cofounders Cody Baker and Jamie Wong on a rare (and cheesy) break from work.

When he doesn't code, he swings.

Cofounders Cody Baker and Jamie Wong on a rare (and cheesy) break from work.

Coast to Coast in 30 Seconds

Road trip game: horse or cow ? (Hint: Moose)

Road trip game: horse or cow ? (Hint: Moose)

Vayable and @NewResourceBank team up!

This is Tracy. She just got back from an eco trip in the Amazon! #SociallyResponsibleCompanies

Vayable and @NewResourceBank team up!

This is Tracy. She just got back from an eco trip in the Amazon! #SociallyResponsibleCompanies

On the job: The talent behind the upcoming Vayable video !

Meet Jason Kleinberg-- intrepid world traveler, fiddle virtuoso (of Diego's Umbrella fame) and the most upstanding gentlemen you'll ever meet-- and Michelle Byrnes--chief designer and founder of Saga Swimwear and the true embodiment of a global citizen.  

 

Click here to download:

IMG_0163.MOV (8794 KB)

A VAYAble Idea

Grab a buddy, purchase swampland on a small island in Panama and get a few dozen of your closest friends to spend 1-3 months down there building you a house in exchange for room, board and an unforgettable experience in Central America.

Why not?! My friends did!  AND they will always be reminded of my hard work when they look at at that huge hole in their living room. #DryWallMistake #MyBad ! 

 

See and download the full gallery on posterous

A Vayable Idea

Grab a buddy, purchase swampland on a small island in Panama and get a few dozen of your closest friends to spend 1-3 months down there building you a house in exchange for room, board and an unforgettable experience in Central America.

Why not?! My friends did!  AND they will always be reminded of my hard work when they look at at that huge hole in their living room. #DryWallMistake #MyBad ! 

 

See and download the full gallery on posterous

On the job: Vayable Creative Director, Anise Labrum

On the job: Vayable Creative Director, Anise Labrum

Download now or watch on posterous

anise.MOV (11300 KB)

Vayable video shoot!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Early morning on set !

When in Rome ...