PayPal 101: How Paypal Works

Answer: you need to first choose a type PayPal account, and set that up for yourself.

Here are your three PayPal account choices:

Choice 1: PayPal Personal Account

This is the basic PayPal account that lets you pay for your eBay purchases with ease. You can use it to send and receive money. You can send funds to anyone with an email address in 55 countries and regions. Personal account will even let you accept payments should you sell something via eBay. The catch: you can only accept payments from other PayPal accounts, and you cannot accept credit or debit card payments.

There is no fee for either the Personal account or the transactions you make through it. There is, however, a limit on how much can you receive per month. If you plan to sell a a high volume of product, the Personal account might be too restrictive.

Choice 2: PayPal Premier Account

This type of a PayPal account has all the functionality of the Personal account, plus you can accept credit and debit cards, and bank account payments. Premier account also offers such features as “shopping cart” and payment reporting tools. This account type is good for a serious amateur seller who wants to move items online on a regular basis.

There is a fee to have a Premier account; please check PayPal website for details. The setup process of a Premier account is similar to that of a Personal account. If you currently use a Personal account, you can always upgrade to Premier.

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