PayPal Online Payments

PayPal is a money transfer system that was originally launched for C2C (customer-to-customer) transactions, but recently, X.com, the company behind the service, introduced B2C transactions, by offering accounts for businesses. PayPal is considered as the global leader in online payment solutions with 70+ million account members worldwide (in 2005). Available in 56 countries around the world, buyers and sellers on eBay, online retailers, online businesses, as well as traditional offline businesses are transacting with PayPal.

PayPal is an efficient way to send a payment for auction items (Paypal is an eBay company) and purchases from web site like this. Online payments are far less time-consuming than going to the ATM or writing and posting paper cheques. And unlike cheques, which can take days to clear, most PayPal transactions clear instantly. It's always free to send money, you receive your items faster, and it's secure and private.

With the fast growing PayPal community, most auctioneers and web site operators are begins to accept PayPal as one of their payment methods. Some even considered PayPal as their prime and only way to collect payments from buyers. However, to use PayPal services, most new user must not only register but also confirm with PayPal - to confirm means to take the PayPal PIN from his/her credit card statement and go back to the PayPal site with it to finish the registration process. Therefore, if you are a buyer not already a PayPal member, you may have to wait a week or so before you can use PayPal to pay your seller (the merchant). This is not a good news to merchants/sellers, as we all know what customers do if they can't buy what they want now.

Fortunately, PayPal has recently allow merchant to turn on a so-called "PayPal Account Optional" under the "Web site Payment Preferences", the payers/buyers who are new to PayPal will no longer be required to create a PayPal account to complete a purchase - they will go through an alternative checkout and will have the option to sign up afterwards. Customers who already have PayPal accounts will continue to enjoy the service and their checkout experience will remain the same.

Due to their popularity, you may receive spoof emails pretending they are from PayPal customer service, trying to steal your PayPal account information. If you receive such an e-mail, do not respond and do not click on the link provided. By opening the email or viewing the link page, your computer may have discretely downloaded a virus or spyware.

Web Address: https://www.paypal.com