There are many ways to pay for things online, one of the most popular being PayPal (www.paypal.com), which transfers money safely and securely. PayPal will also protect you if your purchase goes awry.
How it works: When you send money to someone, PayPal takes money from your checking account, credit card or PayPal account, and sends it to the receiver’s PayPal account (minus PayPal fees, mentioned below). The receiver can then move that money into their checking account or credit it to their credit card. Or he/she can keep the transferred money in their PayPal account to use for another transfer or purchase, such as on eBay or a subscription to this newspaper.
If you’ve never used PayPal, check out their website (www.paypal.com) to see how you can use it: buy something from eBay or another website, send money to someone, or receive it from someone (for example, for repayments, contract work, etc.). Money can be sent and received anywhere in the world, as long as the person has an email address and access to the internet. PayPal gives a reasonable exchange rate between currencies, at a 2.5 percent spread. Paypal transfers the money via email notifications, so you never have to give out your personal banking details to the other party when sending or receiving money.
It’s not difficult to sign up for PayPal’s Personal Account. To receive money into your PayPal account, you only need to give your name, address, email address and telephone number. If you want to send money, you also need to give them a credit card number, your checking account information, or a PayPal gift card from a local retailer. Make sure you sign up for the PayPal account in the same country as your credit card and checking account, as well as your shipping address. PayPal is secure and safe. I started using them one month after they first began back in 1998, and they’ve never given me a problem.
To send money costs you nothing, unless you are using a credit or debit card to pay. For a U.S.-based account, receiving money will cost you 35 U.S. cents per transaction plus 2.9 percent of the total amount. To receive money in a different currency than your PayPal account costs 3.9 percent + 35 U.S. cents, as well as the 2.5% currency conversion fee.
There are other means of transferring money to others, and the fees will vary depending on which one you use. But beware: there are also many websites out there that will scam you, taking your credit card or banking information, and leaving you with many bad charges. One very safe service is Google’s Checkout (www.googlecheckout.com). I’ll leave it up to you to research other options if neither PayPal nor Google Checkout fits your needs.
Sending and receiving money through the internet is fast and easy, and with PayPal it is also safe and secure.
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