PayPal is close to buying highly rated Braintree Payments Solutions, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The report is sourced to people who are familiar with the discussions. An eBay spokesman declined to comment, as did Braintree CEO Bill Ready (pictured).

Actual terms of the deal were not revealed, and people close to the negotiation said it was possible that it might fall through.

Braintree, which was founded in 2007, has established a growing reputation in the online market and has also been building its position in the mobile payments market.

The company is processing $4 billion in mobile payments annually, equivalent to one third of its total payments. The mobile part of its business has grown rapidly since the acquisition of Venmo, a m-pay app.

A report earlier this month by Techcrunch said Braintree has been in talks with Google and Square about a potential sale, both of whom were put off by its high valuation. The report said talks with PayPal were ongoing. However, Ready subsequently denied the speculation in an interview with Pandodaily.