Deirdre
eBay Community Development

Once question I am asked is: What is PayPal?

PayPal was “founded in 1998 and enables any individual or business with an email address to securely, easily, and quickly send and receive payments online. PayPal’s service bilds on the existing financial infrastructure of bank accounts and credit cards and utilizes the worlds most advanced proprietary fraud prevention systems to create a safe, global, real-time payment solution” From the PayPal About Us page on the PayPal site.

PayPal is now a global and award winning leader for online payment solutions. It has over 71 million accounts worldwide in 56 countries. It was acquired by eBay in October of 2002. That is quite an accomplishment in less than eight years.


Joyceb/danse

But first I would like to share with you a new directive by PayPal and eBay.

“Beginning August 19, 2005, if you sell on eBay and offer PayPal, your PayPal account must accept all forms of payment including payments made via credit card, regardless of whether you display the PayPal logo with credit card icons. You must have a Premier or Business PayPal Account or be willing to upgrade from a Personal PayPal Account to a Premier or Business Account if you receive a credit card payment. You may not communicate to eBay buyers (e.g. via your eBay item description) that you only accept, or will not accept, specific forms of PayPal payment.

I invite you to read more about this policy on the General Announcements Board


What this means is that you have a Premier or Business account you must accept all the types of payment that PayPal designates.
This is a sensible directive that most Sellers and Buyers should welcome.

Joyceb/dans

1. Personal account: Is best if your main goal is purchasing items on or off eBay. You can send money free but cannot accept debit or credit cards

2. Premier Account: Is perfect for buying and selling online under your own name. You can accept payment for credit card transactions and receive all payments for a small fee

3. Business Account: Is the next step up for your online business. Some of the features available for Business Accounts are:
You can add a business name to be included on your customer’s credit card statements. Assign multiple users (employees) to a single account with multiple user access.






Joyceb/danse

This chart explains how the fees are determined:

Joyceb/danse

But the buyer had to call on my 800 number to complete the transaction by giving me their credit card information on the telephone. At the time having a direct Merchant account online was costly and difficult to obtain. Today they are still difficult to obtain and costly for material and your credit card electronic machine.

Because of the type of business I transact, I still have that account. Each month I receive a billing statement for my Merchant account. The fees are automatically deducted from my business checking account. I never know what those fees are until after they have been deducted! A few years ago I noted that my deductions had increased significantly—when I called the Merchant account provider they explained they were now deducting a dollar every time I put through an electronic transfer—translated—anytime I electronically entered a credit card number and did not swipe the card! Most of my transactions are done electronically! My costs rose significantly. cont.

Joyceb/danse