PayPal Articles

Article / Updated 04-11-2017

Joining PayPal is just the beginning, and the benefits far outweigh any fees charged to eBay sellers. There’s no charge to the buyer to pay for an online purchase — or to send money to anyone. Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Prykhodov Payment methods supported by PayPal You have several ways to fund the money you send to another party through PayPal: Instant transfer: Sending money this way means the money is immediately credited to the recipient’s account. That person can then immediately transfer the money to his or her personal bank account. If you want to send a transfer, you must have a credit or debit card registered with PayPal as a backup for your funds. It’s just like writing a secure check — without exposing any of your personal information. eCheck: Sending an eCheck isn’t as “instant” as an instant transfer. It’s just like writing a check from your checking account; it can take from three to five days for an eCheck to clear. You don’t need a backup source of funds when you use eCheck. PayPal balance: If someone sent you money through PayPal or you’ve sold something on eBay, you have a balance in your PayPal account. This balance is first applied to any purchases you’ve made. Then, when your account has no balance, you can choose to pay by credit card. It’s simplest to keep your books balanced if you withdraw any PayPal balance to your business account before making a purchase. Credit card: Charge it! Putting your PayPal purchases on a credit card is a good idea. Not only are you protected by PayPal, but your credit card company also backs you up in case of fraud. You can register multiple credit cards on your PayPal account and select a different one for different types of purchases. That way, you can place personal purchases on one account and business purchases on another. It makes end-of-year bookkeeping a lot easier! How to send money PayPal breaks types of payments into categories based on what you’re paying for. You can pay for almost anything in the world on the PayPal system (as long as the recipient has an e-mail address). A few things that you can’t pay for with PayPal include most items related to gambling, adult content or services, and buying or selling prescription drugs from noncertified sellers. If you’re planning to send payments for something that may be a tad questionable, you probably want to visit the Acceptable Use Policy for the United States in PayPal’s help area. After you sign into your PayPal account and click the Send Money tab, you can send money from PayPal in the following ways: Paying for eBay items: When you buy an eBay item on eBay, you need to pay through the eBay Checkout system. Goods (other): By clicking this radio button, you can send money to anyone in the world for goods purchased anywhere other than eBay. Services: You can send payment for a service performed for you or your business, such as web design, bookkeeping, psychic readings — your imagination can get carried away here. Personal: Use this when you need to send money to your kid in college or pay back your roommate for saving you from great embarrassment when you left your wallet at home on a double date. When you’re using the cash-advance feature for the Send Money→Personal payment type, consider using a payment method other than credit card to avoid possible credit card fees for a cash advance.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

When someone uses PayPal to pay for an item from your Etsy shop, the funds for that transaction land in your PayPal account. Although you're free to leave them there, at some point, you'll likely want to transfer them to your bank account, especially as your Etsy business grows. Fortunately, doing so is easy. Plus, PayPal charges you zilch to process the transaction (although your bank may hit you with a charge). To transfer money from your PayPal account to your bank account, log in to your PayPal account and follow these steps: If you aren't already there, click the My Account tab. Place your mouse pointer over the Withdraw link at the top of the page and choose Transfer to Bank Account from the menu that appears. The Withdraw Funds by Electronic Transfer page opens. In the Amount field, enter the amount of money that you want to transfer. Click the To drop-down list and choose the account to which you want to transfer the funds, and then click the Continue button. The Review Withdraw Funds page opens. Review the details of your transaction; assuming that everything is in order, click the Submit button. PayPal processes the transaction. It may take three to four business days for your funds to appear in your bank account. Especially if you plan to grow your Etsy business into a full-time operation, do yourself a favor: Open a business bank account for your Etsy shop, preferably with a credit or debit card. Then use that account to handle all expenses related to your Etsy shop. At tax time, you won't have to cull your business transactions from your personal ones to report your business expenses. Plus, if you ever need to verify your income — say, if you're taking out a loan to make a major purchase — you'll be able to provide the lending authority with everything it needs.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

PayPal is a safe method of payment on eBay. No service can make a slow or lazy seller into the picture of efficiency. The advantage of PayPal, though, is that you don’t have to get your hands dirty. The folks at eBay know a good thing when they see it, so they acquired PayPal late in 2002. Now PayPal payments are integrated into eBay’s checkout process. Register at PayPal When you register to use PayPal, you have to give your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address. You also have to make up a password. Make your password more than six characters, and use numbers and letters. You have to select a security question. The safest is your first pet’s name, your city of birth, or the last four digits of your Social Security number. You have to click to put a check mark next to the paragraph that says you have read and agree to PayPal’s User Agreement and Privacy policy. When you understand what PayPal’s about and what it expects of you, click Sign Up. PayPal sends you an e-mail confirming your registration. The e-mail arrives, almost instantaneously, at the e-mail address you used at registration, and the message contains a link. When you receive the e-mail, click the link to visit the PayPal site. Enter the password that was used to create your account. Bingo — you’re in. Give PayPal credit card or checking account information Of course, you also have to add a credit card number to your PayPal account if you want to pay for anything with a credit card (or plan to sell on eBay). If you don’t have a credit card — or would like to occasionally pay for things directly from your bank account — you have to register your checking account. This may make you squirm; you’re not comfortable giving that type of information to anyone, much less putting it out on the Internet. Relax. PayPal uses military-strength encryption technology to keep your account information safe, so don’t be afraid to give up your data. To register your credit card, you’ll have to input the name on the card, the expiration date, and the card verification number — the three-digit number on the back of the card, imprinted next to the last few digits of the card number in the area where you sign. PayPal also asks you to supply a billing address. On an American Express card, the card verification number is the four-digit number on the right side of the face of the card. When you enter all the information PayPal needs, click the Add button. PayPal submits your information to your credit card company for confirmation. This process may take a minute or so, but eventually your credit card company says you are who you say you are, and the card is added to your PayPal account. You can register four active credit cards. Registering your checking account is just as easy. You supply the information from the bottom of one of your checks. Get PayPal-verified For your account to get verified, PayPal must be able to confirm that your bank account is really yours. If you bank online, you can usually confirm your account in a few minutes. When PayPal has the information it needs, it makes two small deposits into that account. After a week or so, call your bank or check your account online and find out the amount of these two deposits. When you have the amounts, sign on to the PayPal website with your password, and type the amounts in the appropriate place. Voilà! Your account is registered — and, not coincidentally, you’re verified! PayPal has confirmed that you hold an active account with your bank. All banks are required to screen their account holders, and verification authenticates your identity to anyone who does business with you. Here are some benefits of being PayPal verified: You can spend up to $10,000 through PayPal in a single transaction. You gain a higher level of account security. You present a confident image as a buyer or seller. Verified status shows other PayPal members that you have passed PayPal's security checks. If you don’t want to give up your bank account number, you can become verified by applying for and being accepted for a PayPal Plus credit card or PayPal Buyer Credit. When you first sign up, there are limits on the amount of money you can withdraw from PayPal, you may only be able to withdraw $500.00 per month. Luckily, you can remedy this feature by confirming your bank account and linking your credit cards. After you complete the steps shown here, you’re in the clear. The only limit is that any one withdrawal transfer to a bank can't exceed $100,000.00 USD. Here's how you can view and lift your withdrawal limit: Go to PayPal.com and sign in to your account. 2,In your Account Overview, click the link near your name that reads View Limits. On the resulting page, find the link that reads Lift Limit and click it. You are now ready to roll with the “big guys.”

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Enabling your website to accept PayPal payments is as simple as placing the PayPal button on your site. To create a payment button on your site, first sign in to your PayPal account. From there, follow these steps: Click the Merchant Services tab, at the top of the page. You arrive at the Merchant Services area. Click the Create Payment Buttons for Your website link. On the resulting page, click the Create Buttons button. You see the page where you create buttons for the items you’re selling on your site. From the drop-down list, select the type of button you want to use to accept payments. PayPal enables you to customize the buttons by clicking the Customize Text or Appearance link under Customize Button on the left. Enter your item information, including the item name, ID, price, currency, shipping amount, and tax. Here’s a list of all the items you’re asked to enter: Item name: Type in the name of the product (or service) you will sell with this button. Item ID (optional): Give your item an ID number or use the standard SKU for the product. Price: Enter the item price here. Currency: Decide what currency you’re accepting for your purchases. (If you’re in the United States, go for the dollars.) Customize Button options: If your item has options (if, for example, it comes in different sizes or colors), you can create a custom drop-down list for your payment page so the customer can choose. Shipping: Enter the amount you charge to ship the item. Tax: Select your state and enter the appropriate sales tax to be applied to your in-state purchases. If you already have a sales-tax provision in your PayPal profile, you see it listed here. PayPal automatically applies the sales tax for sales shipped within your state. If you don’t like the button you chose as it’s pictured, click the Customize Text or Appearance link in the Customize Button section to see more options. Click the Step 2 tab for the option to track inventory. Unless you want to update your button every time you receive new merchandise, leave this option blank. If you want to add custom features, click the Step 3: Customize Advanced Features (Optional) tab. On this tab, you can add extended options for your button. Included (definitely use these!) are the following: Quantity: If you’d like your customers to be able to purchase more than one of your item at a time, you may indicate that here by giving the buyers a quantity field to fill in. Allow customer to add special instructions: If you’d like your buyers to be able to write you a note (40 character limit), select the Yes check box. Shipping address: Select the Yes check box if you’d like the customer’s shipping address. Insert your logo: To add a logo to your payment page, type the URL where the file is stored. PayPal will place the logo on your payment page. The logo you use must be sized at 150 x 50 pixels or PayPal won’t accept it. Checkout landing page: If you want your customers to land on a specific page after they’ve purchased an item — setting up a thank-you page on your website is a nice idea, for example — enter that URL here. Cancel Transaction page: If you want to include a page where people are taken if they cancel the transaction before completing it, you can insert that address here. If you don’t specify a page, they will land at a PayPal web page that allows cancellation of the transaction. Click Preview. You see a sample of the page your customer will see after making a web payment to you. If the page is okay, click the Create Button Now button. If you want to go back and edit, click the Edit button. That’s all there is to creating your first Buy Now button and the payment page that appears when it’s clicked. When you get the hang of it for one item, you can reuse many of the settings for other items that you sell.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

If you plan to use the ever-popular United States Postal Service to ship your eBay merchandise, printing your postage and labels through PayPal gives you a free delivery confirmation with Priority Mail. A delivery confirmation is available also for Media Mail, Parcel Post, and First Class mail for a minimal charge. After you’ve chosen USPS as your shipper, you’ll see a confirmation page. At the side of the page, your mailing address and the ship-to address are listed. After you’ve confirmed that this information is correct, fill out the details of the form, including Service type: Choose the level of mailing service you want for your package from this drop-down list. Priority Mail is usually the standard. Package size: From this drop-down list, select the type of package you’re sending. Keep the following in mind: Package/thick envelope: Your package or envelope qualifies for this status if the length and girth (all the way around) is no more than 84 inches. Large package: Your package is larger than the preceding category, but doesn’t exceed 108 inches in combined length and girth. USPS flat-rate envelope: These are handy Express and Priority Mail envelopes (available free from the USPS). They allow you to ship whatever fits into the envelopes at a flat rate, no matter how much the package weighs. (If you really stuff them, you can always reinforce your envelope with clear shipping tape.) Weight: Here you enter the weight of your package. Tracking Number: Confirmation and Tracking is free with Priority Mail. Signature confirmation: Signature confirmation provides you a signature and date of delivery and is available for many levels of service. If you’d like a signature confirmation for your package, it will add $2.20 to the postage cost. You can track the progress of your package as it travels through the USPS online. Don’t forget that if you ship an item with a value over $250, PayPal requires signature confirmation for the item to be covered under the PayPal Seller Protection program. Display postage value on label: If you’d prefer not to show the amount of the postage on the label, do not check this box. That way, whatever handling fees you charge your customer are transparent. On the other side of the coin, if you’re trying to be a good seller (so you can receive great DSR ratings), you might not want to hide how much you actually pay for shipping. That way, the customer can see that you haven’t padded the shipping fees to pad your wallet. Add message to buyer e-mail: Customer service to the fore! Put a check mark in the box and type a short note to let your customers know you appreciate their business. Item(s) purchased by: In this area you see the name of the item you’re shipping and the buyer’s eBay ID. When you’ve finished filling in the form and everything looks okay, complete your USPS shipping with these steps: Click Review. The PayPal Shipping Center review page appears. All the information from the previous page is listed. If you’ve made a mistake at any entry, click Change next to the erroneous entry. Or if you prefer, you may click Cancel and start over. If everything looks okay, click Purchase Postage. Unless you’ve agreed to automatic payment, you’ll have to sign in to your PayPal account once again. Select your method of payment by clicking the arrow next to payment methods. If you’ve withdrawn your PayPal balance to your bank, prior to printing your labels, you may select a credit card or bank account with which to pay for the postage. Click the Pay Now button. Your preferred payment method is charged for the postage amount, and a new window opens to allow you to print postage on your printer. Print the label by clicking Print Label. You can now request a pickup from the post office by clicking the Request Pickup link, which takes you directly to the USPS site.