Paypal What is it, how does it work and where can I buy with it?

Globalization made people use new computer tools to carry out their economic activities. One of these is to send and receive payments electronically to different places. PayPal is a widely used tool around the world that helps when performing this type of task.

In this article we will teach you everything related to PayPal. We’ll show you the steps you need to take to activate an account, as well as introduce you to all the tools available to you.

But this is not all that we will see in the following paragraphs. We will also talk about other alternatives that you can find in relation to PayPal. We will tell you what the commissions of each one are and how you must do to be a registered user.

What is PayPal and what is this popular payment processor for?

PayPal is a North American Internet platform that operates on five continents, through which you can send and receive money online. Allows the association of a bank account and credit card. It can also be used as a alternative electronic payment methods in e-commerce stores or in physical stores such as supermarkets.

To use this computer tool it is necessary that both the one who sends and the one who receives the money,They had to be registered as users of this payment processor. Commissions are charged to the recipient of the moneybut we will see this in the next section.

How does PayPal work? Shipping times, commissions and everything else

Many people get confused and consider PayPal as a virtual bank, which is not correct since it is not governed by the regulations of international banking entities or of each country. Therefore, it is understood that this website is regulated by European financial services and by the US Treasury Department to prevent money laundering and other criminal actions.

This has the consequence that users who deposit their money on this platform do not receive a profit for the performance of the currency. Since PayPal is considered a virtual wallet where you can access the available balance without any type of restriction and at any time.

It has a table based on the US dollar as a reference, in which each foreign currency is quoted above or below par relative to the United States currency. This is so that the user can choose a certain currency for his account and when he receives money in a different value, the system will convert the amount according to the chosen currency, according to the details of the aforementioned table.

In addition, this table is also used to exercise buyer protection, which has a $2,500 limit or the equivalent of the chosen currency. As long as the conditions are met that the item has not been received or is very different from what the buyer had requested.

The commissions charged by PayPal are the responsibility of the recipient of the money. It has a variable rate that goes between 1.9% and 3.4% of the amount transferred plus a fixed commission of €0.35. It is necessary to clarify that when opening an account for the first time or for different currencies and transferring money, no commission should be paid.

The types of accounts you can open on this platform they are personal and business. Which will determine different obligations to the user, especially in the limits of receiving money. In both classifications, the sending and receiving of money is done immediately.

PayPal functions What can I do from this platform?

We will show you all the functions that you can perform with this payment platform:

Paypal link

You can receive payments through a link called “PayPal.me”. This way it is much easier for anyone to directly send the link via text message, WhatsApp, Telegram or email to the person you need to make the deposit.

To find this link, you must click on the image of your profile picture. You will see your full name and then the link that starts with “paypal.me/[tu nombre]”. If you want to share it you will have to click on it, then click on “Share your PayPal.me” and choose the means of distribution.

Request payments

Paypal offers the possibility that you can ask a person to send money to your account. This facilitates the process of some commercial operations;

• To request payments to a person you only have to enter the application and click on the option “Apply for”.
• Next, you will need the depositor’s email, so you will have to write it in the field “Name or email”.
• When you have finished writing, you must click on “Request to [ el nombre de la persona]”.
• Now, you must enter the amount you request to send money. If you prefer, you can click on “Add a message” and then in “Following”to finish you must click on “Apply now”.

In this way, a message will arrive in your PayPal account and email requesting that you send money for the amount you have written.

receive payments

The payments you can receive can be normal or also from friends and family. By this we mean that it is not necessary to have a commercial activity in order for you to receive money. You will have the possibility of always receiving from the same people or sporadic payments from others. You must bear in mind that the commissions will depend on the amount and not on the frequency of the operations.

Once you are registered as a user on the platform, You must share your email or the link of your user so that you can receive currencies in your account. You will know that you have received money by means of an email that PayPal will send you and also by a notification, if you have the application installed on your mobile.

Withdrawals to bank account

Among the tools that PayPal offers you is to withdraw cash through a bank account. Namely, you can convert your balance you have on the platform into a bank balance and then you can dispose of it as you do with all your bank accounts.

To send money to the bank account, first You must have it associated with your user (if you want to know how to associate a bank account, continue reading because we will explain it to you later) and you will only be able to send money.

You must bear in mind that it is not necessary for the account you associate to be the ownerbut it is always recommended that it be so. The steps you will have to follow are:

• go to “Purse” and then tap on “Transfer funds”.
• A list with different options will appear, search “Transfer to your bank account” and click on it.
• Enter the amount you want to deliver to your bank.
• To finish, click on “Send”.

Generate account statements

Account statements are useful for you to have accurate information on all your movements, both those that have entered and the money that you have sent to other users.

In order to see this information you will have to enter “Moves”, located in the upper panel and click on the date range you want to see. If you prefer, you can search for a particular movement by typing in the search bar and then in the magnifying glass

Another way you have to see your account statement is by clicking on the option “Account statements”located on the right of the screen. With it you can download the detailed status, after clicking on “Personalized”. You will have the option to choose the type of format with which you want to download the report and the incidence in the balance.

Get various summaries

In addition to the movements of your account, you will also be able to obtain a financial summary, learn about the monthly salesknow about all the profiles that have made recurring payments to you in the previous year or have a detailed report on the transactions by means of a certain settlement date and details on disputes and chargebacks.

To obtain this information, you must contact “Moves”then choose “Reports” and then, in the left panel, select the information you want to request.

See Promotions

If you go to the tab “Promotions” You will be able to find information about all the offers that different Internet sites have with PayPal. In this way you can have significant savings on purchases you make online.

Steps to register with PayPal and send your first payment quickly and easily

The steps you can do to register with PayPal are the following:

Check in

Enter the PayPal site with your browser and then follow these instructions:

• Look for the option To open an account.
• Click on Accept and create account.
• Enter the Captcha code or select the images according to the prompts.

check mail

After you performed the steps above, PayPal sent you an email asking you to confirm the accuracy of your email address. You will have to enter with the browser, find platform sender and click on the link that will redirect you back to the account creation tab.

complete profile

In order to complete the profile you will have to fill out the form in which your country, first and last name, email address and a password.

Associate credit card

What remains to be done at this time is to associate the credit card with your account. This will allow you to make payments through PayPal when you shop online even if you don’t have a cash balance.

You will have to follow this step by step:

• When you are on the main page of the platform, go to Bank accounts and cards.
• Click on Associate card or bank account. A window will appear where you must select that you must associate a debit or credit card.

Then do the following:

• Write the card number and choose if it is Mastercard, Visa, American Express or Discover.
• Enter the expiration date and security code.
• Indicate the address that has the card from you.
• To finish, click on Associate card.

Then PayPal will debit a minimum amount on your card to verify if it really exists. If everything is in order, the accreditation will be made for the same amount.

Associate bank account

As with the credit card association, you should go to the Bank accounts and cards option. When you are in this section you should follow this guide:

• Click on Associate a bank account.
• The system will redirect you to a window where you must enter all the data you have about the account. That is, you will have to write the bank name, swift code (if you don’t know, you can look in any check or statement you have or on the Internet), account type and number, CIF o Government identification number, telephone number and billing address.
• When you finish you will have to press on Associate bank account.

After a few seconds, a message will appear indicating that the process was successful. If you want the payments to be made directly with accreditation in your bank account, really authorize the box that the platform will show you below. For this, you will have to click on To accept.

send payment

You can send a payment by choosing the person’s email or if they are among your contacts you can write their name directly. To do this task, do the following:

• You will have to go to the section Send, write the email (or name of your friend or relative),
• enter the amount you want to pay and choose the payment method (Paypal balance, credit card or bank account).
• To finish you must confirm shipment.

List of all the places where you can buy using PayPal

If you want to save money and time using PayPal you can buy in some of the places that we will indicate below.

tourism companies

You will have a discount of up to 5% yes you make purchases in this type of companies. In addition, you can include promotions greater than 10% in hotels, as well as in airlines. Air France will surprise you with its prices intended for PayPal users.

supermarkets

You can use PayPal in supermarkets, for this you must present your card in the store and thus obtain significant discounts when paying. Carrefour, Day and Ulabox are some examples of these companies.

Online stores

Perhaps it is one of the most frequent uses that PayPal can have. You can pay in Amazon, eBay, AliExpress and any other ecommerce store from anywhere in the world.

Casinos and bookmakers

In our country there are these types of companies that accept electronic payment through PayPal. Its process is very simple so you should not wait long for your credit to increase. You can use, for example, in Bet365, at William Hill and 888sports.

food delivery

One of the most comfortable actions that we can find on a weekend is to order food to enjoy with our friends in the living room. This way you can call Telepizza or Burger King and make your payment through PayPal.

Clothes shops

We have already talked about those online stores where you can buy any kind of item, at this point we refer exclusively to those companies that are dedicated to the sale of clothing and that receive payments through PayPal. This is the case of English Court, Hugo Boss, H&M or Zara.

These are the best alternative payment processors to PayPal to pay online

PayPal is not the only option you have to send money or receive payments through the Internet. You can also find other payment processors that are alternatives to the platform that we have analyzed so far.

These virtual wallets are also secure and They have an operation system that we will explain below:

neteller.com

With this tool you can send and receive money anywhere in the world, you can also pay transfers and any commercial operation online. Registration is free and you can add bank accounts through the Bank withdrawal option, Add a bank account and then upload all the necessary data related to the account.

It is a Canadian company that has been operating in the market for 20 years, its main activity being online betting. It has a prepaid debit card called net+card with which you can buy on any site physically using the balance of the platform.

Skrill.com

It is available for both computers and mobile devices that compete with the platform that we have analyzed in the previous paragraph. You can sign up in minutes and choose from over 40 currencies to trade around the world.

It has more than 20 million users who accept this alternative method for electronic payments as one of the main alternatives when making purchases. You can associate a bank account instantly credit all income and expenses.

In addition, you will be able to link a credit card so that you can use it as a secure payment method. The accreditation is instantaneous and the commission is 1.9% on the amount.

stripe.com

It is one of the easiest ways to send and receive money to family and friends in any country. It is related to business accounts that are one of the most secure APIs in relation to the processed user data.

It is characterized by constant innovation, allowing users to access greater benefits in relation to the reports with which they can be obtained. In this way, it will be known precisely which accounts had the most movements in a given period.

For European cards it is 1.4% + €0.25 fixed commission. But if you have a card that is not from the European Community, the percentage will be 2.9% + €0.25. You should bear in mind that you can obtain personalized rates for your company according to volume discounts for various products.

Zellepay.com

Among the most outstanding tools that this application has, it stands out that you can send money directly to a third party’s bank account, so you can save sending the check through an email, avoiding loss and higher costs.

An account can be opened for free by entering the email and then associating a bank account. Although this platform is from the United States, it also has with agreements signed with more than 80 financial institutions of our continentso you can use the Zelle in Spain without any problem.

payonner.com

Created in 2005 in the United States, this payment platform has become one of the the most used by companies, freelancers and individuals who want to receive and send money internationally through an electronic method.

To open an account you just have to enter your email and then associate a bank account. Next, you can choose the store in which you want to buy or directly pay someone for their professional services. Through the application, which is available for Android and iOS, you can make purchases or request a payment, as well as permanently check your available funds.