While surfing on the internet you have probably already seen the PayPal logo or heard about PayPal. For those who do not know what is the use of PayPal, or how it works. Here is a brief description of this service.

PayPal is an online payment method

Indeed, it is a kind of online bank that accepts and validates your payment data, and then remits the amounts on the account of the beneficiaries.

This service is increasingly used for online purchases, sales and donations, due to the proliferation of online shops or E-shops.

In short, PayPal serves as a trusted intermediary for your online money transactions.

How it works?

As a buyer – You want to buy something !

You can create an account, but as we will see later, it is not mandatory.

If you choose to open an account, you will need to specify your payment method (bank transfer, post, credit card or maestro) and your personal data. It will be securely registered by PayPal.

Once your data validated, by your bank or postal establishment, which takes a few days, you can make your payments online.

As an account holder, your payment is now just in 3 clicks:

  1. Choose PayPal as your payment method
  2. Enter the e-mail address and password of your account
  3. Validate payment

Your payment will then be made, free of charge, without giving your bank details to your beneficiary.

As a seller – You want to sell something !

You have to open an account. On this account you will receive the amounts paid by your clients. PayPal charges in this case a commission (degressive according to the monthly volume of the transactions) as well as a fixed tax per transaction.

Pay online without opening an account

For occasional buyers, PayPal also offers the possibility of making secure payments with your credit card, without having to open an account.

This time you will have to fill out the form on the screen with the necessary details (Card number, expiry date, name of cardholder etc.). The Amount agreed will be put on your recipient account, always without communicating your financial data to him.

Satisfied or refunded

PayPal also offers a satisfaction guarantee to purchasers of physical goods using its service: either the merchandise is delivered according to the criteria displayed or it is refunded.

To find more about Paypal, just have a look at their website at: https://www.paypal.com/

This article was first published on December 10,2013

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