Why Paypal and what is it?

Paypal is an international money processor which is probably most popular for its convenience making selling and buying on ebay easy or for its provided opportunity to send and receive money worldwide even if you don't know receipient's bank details or postal address. It's that simple: you only need to know person's to whom you are sending the money e-mail address or phone number! That makes sending the money much more convenient than if you would have to use the bank account or Western union, or MoneyGram or services alike because not only Paypal payments are sent immediately to the recipient, Paypal also doesn't charge you for sending the money. That way the recipient is the one who would have to make a small commission for withdrawing the money from their account to their bank account or debit/credit card. There are limits to money person can send and receive though and those limits really depend on whether you are a verified Paypal user. The send/receive money option Paypal provides can be extremely useful for donations and charities.

But the most useful thing about Paypal for a single Internet user is this: once you are a Paypal user with verified credit or debit card, or bank account (in UK and US), you can make payment at any website that accepts Paypal payments without entering your card or bank details together with your address details thus making your payment much more secure and reducing greatly the possibility of interception of sensitive financial data.

In today's world with various fraudsters operating on the Internet such a solution as Paypal is absolutely paramount, all the more so because Paypal has got nearly 300 million accounts and many online businesses including dating and social network websites are providing Paypal as a secure payment option. That in turn let's you stay quite anonymous when making payment because you don't have to enter any personal data when making payment with Paypal!For merchants, sellers and businesses in general Paypal has become very useful as it offers literally everything for succesful online payment processing to businesses online and offline. Depending on the country you are in you can get a free e-commerce website with integrated Paypal tools and customizable templates, as well as start using the Paypal's Virtual terminal: the online tool for processing payments by phone or mail orders.

Step by step opening of Paypal account:

The best thing to start with is to open the Premier account. Once you have opened the Premier account and made it verified, you can later upgrade it at any time should you wish to start your own business online.So here are the steps to follow to proceed with opening a verified Paypal user account:

1. Open www.paypal.com in your web browser.

2. When the window opens it would say 'Build your online business with PayPal', scroll down to the bottom of the page where it says 'Sign Up Today', click on it.

3.Now you are redirected to the page where after you have selected the country from the drop down menu, you can choose from three of the following options:

Personal, Premier and Business. For each of those account types there is a quite clear description. Premier is the recommended one since it allows you not only to shop online but send and receive the money as well, and should you wish to sell something online as an individual you don't need to make any upgrade. Of course, if you are a business looking for ways to bring your products for selling online you will choose the Business account.

4A. to proceed with opening the Premier account you have to fill in the form on the next page: all fields there are quite a routine for an Internet user who is used to registering at the websites online, just remember one thing: while filling in the fields use the latin characters where it asks for the name and in address details as well.

4B. to proceed with opening the Business account you have to choose the payment solution your company would like to use with Paypal. There is a handy link to use to get help with choosing the payment solution if you are not sure which one to choose. All the other info needed to finalize your Business account with Paypal will be given as you proceed to the next page.

5. Once you've got your Premier account set up there comes the most frustrating part of all the account opening process: the verifying. As a verified user you get bigger limits for sending/receiving money into your Paypal account, the withdrawing of money from your Paypal account to your bank account or credit/debit card becomes possible and anyone who would buy from you using Paypal would be able to see that you are a reliable Paypal user. In order to become verified you can choose one of two options: use your credit/debit card as a tool of verification, or if you are a resident of USA or UK you can use your bank account details.

6A. If you have chosen to use your debit/credit card, click on the link 'Become verified' in your Paypal account or use the link provided by Paypal via e-mail message which is sent to you by Paypal itself with the invitation to verify your account. When you open the link, fill in the form with your VISA, Mastercard or any other bank credit or debit card details you have. Before you click to confirm them be certain that you have at least 2.00 EUR or the amount of money equal to 2 euros on your card because Paypal will debit your card with amount which equals to approx. 1.50 euros in order to verify your account. Once the verification been done you will get the code for which you should look into your online bank statement or, if you don't have one, on your printed bank statement. When you get the code, you have to enter it in the appropriate field at your Paypal account (look for the link 'verify your credit/debit card' in your Paypal account or in the e-mail message Paypal will send you as a reminder to finalize your card's verification process). The verification process can take from 2 hours to 4 daysdepending on what country you are in and what bank you are with. But once that is done, you get the previously debited money into your Paypal account and you will never have to enter your financial and address information again when making payments using your Paypal username and password.

6B. If you have chosen to verify your account using your bank account details, click on the link 'Get verified' and choose 'Get verified with bank account details'. Enter them and let Paypal make a standing order on your bank account. No money will be debited from your account, the standing order is made purely for the sake of verification. Then look for small deposits Paypal will be making into your bank account. once you see them on your online or printed statement, you can finalize the verification process by entering the deposit amounts in the appropriate fields in your Paypal account page. The time for money to arrive into your bank account really depends on the bank you are with as well as the day you are starting your verification process: if it's Friday then it would obviously take longer for deposits to show up in your bank statements. But once it is done you can enjoy secure checkouts online with Paypal.

Paypal accepts payments from more than 190 countries worldwide. For any further information on using Paypal, its services and troubleshooting problems with the account, it's limits and money withdrawal from your Paypal account please see site's Help section, it has got all the answers to any problem that may arise.