Paymate's U.S. payment volume quadrupled in November over the previous month, according to Paymate founder Dilip Rao, who attributed the growth to opening the online-payment service to small eBay sellers in the U.S. at the end of October (link).

Overall, including the company's Australian and New Zealand markets, volume increased by 50% over October. "While the lead up to Christmas is the seasonal high for all online shopping, this will be our biggest period by far," Rao wrote on the Paymate blog. He said the Paymate teams in Sydney and California offices are working overtime to meet payment processing deadlines. "Given the unfamiliarity of our US clients with Paymate, we have a lot of questions coming in, so we are running behind on responses - we request patience from our clients during this period."

Paymate will invest in shoring up its systems and capacity to support the expanded business, while continuing to expand into new markets, he said. The company serves buyers in 57 countries and offers services to sellers in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. It is one of a small number of payment services allowed on eBay.com.