|
I have been a member of Ebay for a number of years now and being the sceptic that I
am I have only just got around to opening a paypal account.
Having used this account
for about three months I thought I'd write and tell you of my views on paypal.
Paypal as you may know is an online banking service and can be used in many
different ways. Having investigated and used this banking service for three months,
it has in my opinion served it's purpose well.
This service is free to join.
To open an account with paypal is easy.
You can type in paypal.com in your search engine and this will take you to the site.
I wasn't thinking of joining, like I said i'm a bit sceptical about online banking.
Having never tried it before I was worried incase my money or details got stolen.
Having joined and seen the way this is managed I feel confident that this is a good
idea and so far it is working very well.
I happened to join through buying something from Ebay. When it came to the end of
the auction, there was a pay now button on the lot I had just won. As this lot was a
present for my grandson and it said the item would be sent quicker if I paid by paypal.
I clicked the pay now button.
I was then asked for my name, email address,
credit or debit card details. After typing in these, I was then sent a confirmation email
receipt to show I had paid for my item by paypal.
The next page it sent me to was, would I like to open an account.
So being the curious person that I am I thought I'd go through the process and read each page then decide at the end of the process if I wanted an account.
You can always press the cancel button and log
out of a site before a transaction is final.
When you open an account with paypal you are told it is a secure site and will see the
little padlock in the right hand corner of your page to show that no-one can view your
details.
Type in your name, email address, postal address and bank datails, either credit or
debit card and password.
Debit cards are the best as there are charges from your bank to use your credit card.
You will then be sent an email to verify your email address, paypal do this for your
security.
Once you have answered this you will be taken to your account page.
For opening a paypal account you will be charged $1.95 which is £1.04 GBP, this will
be refunded once you have verified your account.
You are now up and running with your paypal account and are ready to make some
money.
How to use your account.
When you log in you will be taken to your account page, here you will see that your
details are shown along with the menu of the site for browsing.
You will be a unverified member at first, this means that you have a limit on what
funds you can take out and spend from your paypal account.
When you get your first bank statement with whichever card you have used to join
paypal, you will see that there is a four digit number next to the $1.95 that paypal has
charged you for joining.
Log onto paypal and click on the extended use programe to verify your account. Type in this four digit number and your account will be verified.
You will then be able to withdraw and put in an unlimited amount of money into your
paypal account, you will also be refunded the fee that paypal has charged you.
You will be able to use you account with a set limit before you are verified, this is
around £500 pounds a month, which is still good.
You can pay anyone who has an email address and accepts paypal, as long as you have the money in your account. You can also withdraw funds up to your set monthly limit before your verified.
When you pay someone through their paypal logo button, you will be asked to log
into your paypal account. It will then take you through the process of the amount you
want to pay, where the payment is going, where the item your buying is going to be sent to and then you can click the continue button to pay.
The money will then be shown with a minus sign next to it on your account page.
Receiving money is easy too, people click your paypal logo, follow the process for
payment and then when they have paid into your paypal account, you will be sent an
email from paypal to tell you that there has been a payment given to you.
You can also give refunds to your customers if they are not satisfied, I give part
refunds on postage if someone buys two or more items from me on ebay.
Just click the refund section next to the persons name and follow the process.
Getting you account in order.
At the top of you account page you will see different sections, these are to be
explored as they will help you to understand how to use your account to the best of
it's ability.
On you account page it shows your recent transaction in a list at the bottom of the
page, this is the persons name who has paid you or you have bought from and the
date.
It will say confirmed to show that the transaction has gone through or pending to
show that it is happening.
This list is for seven days and then will be stored in a file for you to view at your leisure. I like to file my transactions as soon as they are
completed, this way I can log in and see which people I have to send things to and also so that I don't get confused as to who's bought what item from me at ebay.
Different Currencies.
I love this about paypal, being a seller on ebay I can now sell worldwide and accept
different currencies. I was struggling with some customers before I had a paypal
account as they had to change their money into GBP before they could buy my items.
Especially the Americans who had to find the exchange rate, then go to get a money
order in GBP, for which they were charged and made the purchase of my item more expensive for them.
Most of my sales were then limited to the UK buyers.
Now I accept different currencies and paypal will transfer the money to GBP for me
at no cost.
To do this you go to your account page and click on the word ( Manage ) which is next
to your balance.
You will then see a page which shows the different currencies.
These are:-
Pounds Sterling.
Canadian Dollar.
Euro.
U.S Dollar.
Yen.
Click on the (Make Primary) button to choose which currency you want to use.
This is the currency which you will have paid into your account when you transfer your money from paypal into your own bank, so make sure it is Pounds Sterling if your in Britain, otherwise you will have problems getting money transfered into your own bank from your paypal account.
Click the circle next to the different currency names, then the open balance button
and you will then be able to accept payments in that currency.
This will show up in your account balance on your account page. You will see the list of currencies you accept.
You can then tell people you accept paypal worldwide.
To transfer money from one balance to another is easy too. just click on the transfer
button, next your balance on your account page and paypal will transfer the money.
There is a currency converter, to type in the amount which you want to transfer.
I transfer U.S Dollars into Pounds Sterling, so I type in the amount in dollars, then
choose the pounds sterling option and click transfer.
When you go back to your account page you will see the money has been put into your pounds sterling balance.
At no charge.
How easy is that?
Adding and transfering money to your bank.
You can add funds to your account, so that you can pay people by paypal and you can
withdraw funds to your bank.
You will have to add a bank account number and details, before you can transfer money from your paypal account into your own bank. It is better to add your bank account details as soon as you join.
This way you know you have done it and then your
funds can be put into your own bank, when they have reached the desired amount.
You can withdraw any amount you like, but there is a charge of 0.25 GBP for an amount which is under £50.
When you withdraw cash into your own bank account, it will take from five to seven working days. Weekends do not count and you will see the transaction on your account page, it will show pending at first then turn to confirmed when the money is going to be sent to your account.
If for any reason your own bank will not accept the money transfer, i.e you have not set your primary currency.
Paypal will email you to let you know and you will have to ring your bank to find out why they
won't allow the transfer or set your primary currency on your account page.
I have transfered money into my own bank account and so far it has taken seven
working days. I think if you transfer it on a monday it will be in your bank on the
following tuesday.
Auction Tools.
This is a page where you can set up to be paid by paypal if you sell on ebay.
You will see the different tools to help make life easier on ebay.
You can add the auction pay now button, which will be displayed on your payment details on ebay when you put an item up for sale. This makes it easier for people to pay you, especially if they are buying from abroad. They can pay you instantly as soon as the item you are selling has ended on ebay.
You will also find this paypal button on other
people ebay items for you to pay them with.
There are manual paypal buttons or automatic paypal buttons.
The automatic button is the option to go for, as it is less complicated and quicker to use.
Click automatic logo on the paypal auction tools page and you will then be able to add your ebay name, choose whether you want the buyer of your items to get a confirmation email to say they have won and can pay by paypal.
Turn on the paypal prefered payment button and then press the add button.
You will now display the paypal logo on any item you put up for sale on ebay.
If you relist anything from then onwards your paypal logo will be added to your payment details.
This is when you really see the power of paypal at it's best.
People who are abroad find it difficult to get money changed and if they can pay you
in their own currency they are more likely to bid on your items. My sales on ebay have gone from one or two items a day, to six or more.
Payments are quick and I get an email to tell me when I have had payments into my paypal account, the money soon adds up.
I do not charge people for buying via paypal, but I get charged 29p per sale, which is not to bad seeing as this is working well for me.
I think it's worth it.
Merchant tools.
There are also logo's which can be added to your webpage if your selling things via a
website. You can get the paypal logo in your choice of colours and put the buy now button on your webpage.
There is a paypal shopping basket and a paypal subscriptions button too.
Just click on the tool of your choice and copy and paste the code into the html of your page.
There is a step by step process to follow which is easy to use.
You can even download the tools manual if you like.
You can also refer new members to paypal and for this you can earn commission.
It says that you can earn up to £75 for each new member, but at first you will only get £5.00 after the new member opens and uses his or her account to the value of £750. I'm not sure how long this takes, but I presume it depends on what they are selling and if it sells.
Once they are earning over this amount you will get paid a percentage for six months up to the value of £75.
This might sound a bit confusing but is worth joining, as you never know when you might get a little extra cash into your account by putting the
referal link onto your webpage, or by telling your friends.
The Community Page.
Here you can find out about other members as they are featured on this page, with photo's and profile. So you can read about the way other people make money with paypal and visit their websites to see what they sell.
It features the site's design team and tells you a bit about them.
You can also email the community page to suggest the topic's which you would like to see displayed on this page.
There is a help centre, if you need to ask questions or get help with your account, or contact the customer support.
These are very helpful and will email you
with the answers to your questions. They will get back to you quickly too.
You can also get tips here on how to keep your paypal account secure, by changing password regular and how to recognise spoof emails.
If you like to shop online then payapl has it's own shops listed.
There are over 42,000 so you could be browsing here for quite a while, but if you find something good to buy, you can pay by paypal.
You can also visit the Charity shops which are listed and you can donate money from your account to help them.
There's a very good selection of these shops.
Well, I think that just about sums it all up.
If your thinking of getting a paypal account
then believe me it's worth it.
You can join by going to http://www.paypal.com/uk/mrb/pal=Y57D58BKEST86
|
|
