Paypal is used for sending and receiving money online. Companies all over the world accept Paypal payment . If items are priced in dollars, or other currency, Paypal will covert the price to sterling, or whatever you currency is. This is certainly a much safer option than using credit and debit cards for overseas payments, or sending cash.
There is no charge for signing up for Paypal and an account is run free of charge unless you receive money into it. Anyone with an email address can pay using this system and you don't even need a Paypal account. There has recently been a new development too and some companies now allow you to pay using the system but via a cell phone.
It should be noted that the free account is for personal use, but you can sign up for a business account. Fees are higher on this type of account. If you want to accept credit and debit cards and run a business through Ebay, or anything else, you need to pay for a merchant account which will cost £20 per month. I am not sure of the current $ charge for this service but details are available on the Paypal site.
It costs 25p to have funds transferred to your bank account, from your Paypal account, if you are sending less than £50. (Again, the dollar equivalents need to be checked out on the Paypal site.) Paypal also charges a small percentage for each transaction you make on your account (for credits). When someone pays you, Paypal charge you. The actual amounts are difficult to work out as there doesn't appear to be a set percentage. (Paypal say there is but in my experience, it isn't a fixed rate.)
Paypal is the preferred method of payment on auction sites like Ebay but it isn't just available for Ebay. It has many other uses all around the internet.
I have not found the staff at Paypal very helpful when there is a query and it seems that because this is such a huge worldwide organization, the "left hand doesn"t know what the right hand is doing.' I have made several really annoying phone calls to Paypal and ended up being more confused that I was before. On one occasion the person on the other end practically called me a liar when I read an email I had received from Paypal to him. He said that it didn't originate from them. I had already checked it out and it came from Paypal US. I even had replies to my queries on it.
So, if you want to pay securely over the internet, Paypal gives you protection and also protects your card details. From this point of view it is probably the best option around. My bank actually recommended that I use Paypal after I had been the victim of a credit card fraud. However, don't expect good customer service if things go wrong. Remember to keep all documentation if you are trying to resolve any difficulties with the system.
