[jorams]

> people only use paypal because vendors accept paypal.

> you wouldn't have a paypal account otherwise.

Sure, if I couldn't use it to pay for anything, I wouldn't have a Paypal account. I don't use Paypal to send money to friends or anything like that, just for (international) online payments.

> and outside of the usa, most bank systems have ways to forward money based on other records.

Sure, but those aren't generally accepted online, internationally.

For example, the vast majority of online payments in the Netherlands are done through iDEAL, but that only works for Dutch banks. Some (generally large) stores support it, but most don't.