Paypal questions...

[Hikin' Mama]

I went to the paypal site to sign up for an account, because I noticed on the sale/swap board that many people want non-credit card paypal. Well, when I went to sign up, I had two options: a personal account or a premier account (for casual online sellers). If I plan on trying to sell some stuff on the sale board, do I need the premier account?

 

Also, what is meant by non-credit card paypal?

 

I am technologically challenged, so use small words and speak s l o w l y. :D

 

Thank you!

 

Kim

[Claire]

You want to sign up for the personal account. That allows transfers at no charge when they are done just with bank accounts, not credit cards. Sign up for a personal account and then verify by means of a bank account. The website will have you enter the account information off your check (bank routing # and your account #). Then PayPal will make two deposits of a few cents into that account. Once the deposits are made, you log on to PayPal and tell them exactly how much those deposits were. At that point they know that the bank account is really yours, and you are all set. (That verification process takes 3 to 5 business days.)

 

Once you have a personal account set up this way, you don't even have to manually transfer money from your bank account to your PayPal account in order to purchase items. You can have a zero PayPal balance, pay someone, and PayPal will instantly debit your bank account for the exact amount. If you sell something and someone pays you using the same kind of account (one that draws from a bank account rather than a credit card), you are not charged anything. Basically a personal account is not charged for either payments or receipts (as long as you don't receive a credit card payment).

 

Premier account is necessary if you want to sell on eBay. eBay requires that you accept credit card PayPal payments, which mean as a seller you pay a fee for each transaction. With the premier account, however, *every* payment you receive is charged a fee, whether it is made from a credit card or bank account.

[Plaid Dad]

And just for reference, PayPal treats debit cards as credit cards. If someone specifies "non-credit card PayPal," they mean what PayPal's Instant Transfer or eCheck services only.