PayPal Accounts

PayPal is an online payment service that allows individuals and businesses to transfer funds electronically.
Here are some of the things you might use PayPal for:
. Send or receive payments for online auctions at eBay and other Web sites
. Purchase or sell goods and services
. Make or receive donations
. Exchange cash with someone
You can send funds to anyone with an e-mail address , whether or not they have a PayPal account. To receive the funds, though, the recipient must have a PayPal account associated with that e-mail address. Basic PayPal accounts are free, and many financial transactions are free as well, including all purchases from merchants that accept payments using PayPal [source: PayPal ].
If you have a PayPal account, you can add and withdraw funds in many different ways. You can associate your account with bank accounts or credit cards for more direct transactions, including adding and withdrawing money. Other withdrawal options include using a PayPal debit card to make purchases or get cash from an ATM, or requesting a check in the mail.
Signing up for PayPal is quick, and doesn't even require you to enter any bank account information. However, if you want to use many of PayPal's features, you'll need to add and verify a checking account or credit card. To get started, just click the "sign up" link at the top of the site's home page.
At the next page, you'll choose whether you want a personal, business or premier account. If you just plan to use PayPal for the occasional eBay auction or online purchase, a personal account is the right choice. If you intend to use PayPal to accept payments for a business, then a business or premier account would be more suitable. If you select a personal account, you can upgrade in the future.
A PayPal account is verified if you've associated that account with a current bank account or credit card. This is more than just entering account information. PayPal will ask you to follow certain steps to complete the verification process. For a checking account, for example, PayPal will make two micropayments to that account, usually about five cents each. Then, you'll need to enter the amounts of those micropayments as verification.
A PayPal account is confirmed if you've completed one of three options to signal to PayPal that the address on your account is valid. The fastest of these is to verify a bank account or credit card matching the address you've entered as the PayPal account's address. As an alternative, you can request a confirmation code by mail after you've had the account for 90 or more days, or you can apply for a PayPal Extras MasterCard which confirms your address by running a credit check.