If you are starting to get familiar with the online world and you need to make a transaction, you will hear about PayPal. It is considered the easiest way to transfer money through the internet, but is it really secure?

PayPal – The Beginning

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PayPal was founded in 1998 and in 2002 was purchased by eBay. It is now the largest online payment service thanks to the reasonable fees, customer service and most important of all: its popularity. There are over 70 million active accounts worldwide and chances are that your current and future business partners already have a PayPal address.

Basic Safety Features

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Before sending any amount of money online, it is best to make sure that none of the parties involved will have to deal with an unsuccessful transaction. There are many problems that can arise if the intermediary is not capable of handling the task and it is your job to make sure that PayPal can live up to its name.

When the account is first created, you have to provide a valid email address, the answer to a security question and the information from a credit card or your bank account. This deters most people who would be inclined to fraud because obtaining a fake bank account is not an easy task.

Extra Security Measures

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If someone hacks into your account and starts making transfers, you can file a dispute with PayPal. The company is known for offering protection against unauthorized payments, so you will most likely receive a full refund in this case. This is definitely a plus when it comes to choosing PayPal as your online payment processor, especially considering the fact that regular banks can only offer the same treatment in the case of credit card fraud after months of investigations.

Another safety feature implemented by PayPal will put your account on hold in the case of suspicious behavior. You will still be allowed to use it, but the anti-fraud department will keep an eye on what’s happening and they will ask for documents which prove that you are the person who is making those transactions. This means that you won’t have to worry about someone spending your money, even if you happen to be the victim of a hacker.

eBay and PayPal

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Because PayPal is now connected with eBay, you will receive special treatment if you use both of these services. Buyer protection is available for transfers of up to $1,000 and disputes are settled in record time.

Conclusion

Making transactions online doesn’t have to be risky if you know which service to use. PayPal offers certain security features that are not available anywhere else on this market, which is exactly why the service is so popular. If you want to send or receive money without having to worry about internet fraud, PayPal is your safest bet. Even so, you have to realize that any online transaction poses a risk, so you should never let your guard down.

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PayPal is the largest e-commerce website online, with more than 228 million accounts worldwide. If you are looking for an easy, but secure way to transfer money online, this is your safest bet. Like any other successful business, PayPal is still around because it is quite profitable. 71 billion dollars were sent and received through PayPal in 2009 and each one of these transfers was subject to certain fees.

What PayPal Offers for Free

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When people usually start up an account with their local bank, paying the opening and administration fee is mandatory. Luckily, this is not the case with a PayPal account. You don’t have to pay any monthly fees, no setup fee and no gateway fee. This means that anyone can have a fully functional account without spending a single dime. However, the good news doesn’t end here: if you are paying for a product or service through your PayPal account, you won’t have to pay any fee.

The Basic PayPal Fees

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The first noticeable fee appears when you start receiving money: 2.9% of the transaction + $0.30. So, if someone sends $100 your way, they won’t have to pay anything to PayPal, but you will have to pay $3.20 and the final amount you’ll receive will be $96.80. This is a pretty small price to pay compared to regular banking transactions, but sometimes people will use a reverse PayPal fee calculator and ask for a larger amount. In this example, you need to make a $103.20 transaction if you want someone to receive $100. The fee will be increased to 3.9% + $0.30 if you receive money from another country.

Special PayPal Fees

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A special fee appears if the transaction happens between two different currencies. In this case, the buyer has to pay a 2.5% fee for the currency conversion. Another special situation appears when using MassPay. This PayPal feature will make sure that you will never pay more than $1 for each transaction that you make. By using this method, you will be charged 2% or $1 when making a payment, whichever one is lower.

Special Treatment from PayPal

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If you want to get special treatment, you have to receive more than $3,000 per month into your PayPal account. In this case, you won’t have to pay 2.9% of each transaction and the fee will gradually decrease. Any transaction between $3,001 and $10,000 is subject to a 2.5% + $0.30 fee, the percentage is lowered to 2.2 if you receive between $10,001 and $100,000 each month and you will only pay 1,9% + $0.30 if you earn more than $100,000 per month. This type of transactions are not uncommon, the most famous case being the one involving the creator of an online game called MineCraft; he received over $750,000 in less than one week.

Conclusion

Most PayPal fees are lower than the ones you have to pay when transferring money from your bank accounts. However, you should take a closer look at what type of payments you are about to make and figure out how and if you can lower your fees.

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PayPal is a big name in the world of online transaction system. But PayPal also suffers from various kinds of irregularities. The irregularities lead to the mismanagement of the funds in the account. Though they are resulted from minor errors, they can spell havoc for the account holders. This generally happens for many reasons. Without going deep into the reasons, let’s have a look at the different circumstances which can lead to the chargeback kind of situation.

Chargebacks

There are basically four cases where account holders can chargeback on PayPal for the disputes or misplacement of funds.

• Account holders can chargeback on PayPal if an unauthorized payment was made from their card. If the account holders can find any anomaly in their PayPal account, they have a right to chargeback on PayPal.
• The second case where account holders can chargeback on PayPal is when the account holder or the buyer does not receive the item that was paid for. Sometimes it happens that a buyer has already paid for the item through his/her PayPal account, but the item was not delivered to him/her.
• Sometimes it also happens that an error occurs in the middle of a transaction. This usually happens due to technical glitch. In this case account holders can chargeback on PayPal.
• There are some cases when account holders pay for a certain item through their PayPal account, but surprisingly, they do not receive the same item. This can be really frustrating, especially for those who are new to PayPal.

So, these were the four prime situations which grant the right to the account holders to chargeback on PayPal. Though PayPal has provided these options to its account holders, but if we go back into the records, we will notice that these chargeback do help the account holders, but it usually takes a long time to settle the matter.

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Protecting yourself

Getting into the trap of the scammers is also a major concern for the PayPal account holders. Though it is nearly impossible to get rid from the fraudsters and cyber criminals, there are some ways which can help you to stay away from these kinds of nuisance. There are few rules and tips that you must follow for safeguarding the privacy of your account.

1. While opening an account in PayPal, you should always produce correct and relevant information. Accurate information helps PayPal to verify the details in a better way. It means that your account becomes safer. In the same way, you should not transact with buyers or seller without any verification.
2. You should always try to avoid making high value transactions with your PayPal account.
3. If you have not received the item for which you have made a payment through your PayPal account, you should report it immediately to PayPal.
4. Avoid keeping high balances in your PayPal account.
5. Before you make or accept payment through PayPal, you should read all the terms and conditions carefully, and this is a very good practice.

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PayPal has always been the first choice of most of the internet users around the world. They prefer PayPal more than anyone to carry out their financial transaction for online money transfer service. Well, it is quite obvious because no other financial company offers the same level of satisfaction to its customers. PayPal provides pretty good security features to its customers. But sometimes, there are some common mistakes which people make while using PayPal. It is better to identify the mistakes well in time. Otherwise, it can lead to big problems.
To make you aware of the common mistakes, and to help you out with the possible solution, let’s have a brief look at the five most mistakes while using PayPal.

1. Not paying proper heed to Money Market Fund:

Some people do not take the trouble to activate PayPal’s Money Market Fund. It has the power to change your current PayPal account to interest bearing savings account. You should know there is no minimum balance criterion for joining the Money Market Fund. It means that you do not have to maintain a minimum balance to avail the benefits of Money Market Fund. So, there is no reason to avoid this facility.

2. Avoid money withdraw after 5pm PST/PDT:

Most people do not think about the importance of withdrawal time. If you withdraw money from your PayPal account to your bank account after 5pm, the money hangs in between the PayPal account and your bank account. This stage is known as “in transit” situation. It means that the money is neither of the account. As a result, neither you will get the interest from your bank, nor you will get any benefits of Money Market Fund for that amount of money. But if you withdraw the money during the banking hours, it will definitely help you to save some money.

3. Don’t be credulous:

Some people easily trust links and emails related to their PayPal account. PayPal does not ask for any personal details through emails or any kind of links. Therefore you should never provide any kind of personal details. The most important thing you need to keep in mind is that you should never try to access PayPal account via email or links. The suspicious links can direct you to the fake or dummy websites, where you will be asked to enter the account name and password, which means big trouble.

4. Don’t ever link your PayPal account with your Primary Checking account:

You should never link your PayPal account with your Primary Checking account, even accidently. Though chances of this kind is situation is very rare, but you should always be prepared for this kind of situation. You will never want PayPal to have access to your account, which includes your rent, mortgage, and other kind of bills.

5. Don’t mix up your personal account with business account:

some people use their personal account to make payments for professional services. This is a very bad practice which can lead to problems related to the security of the account. Hence, it should be avoided at any cost.

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How far can you trust sites like Paypal and other e-commerce business sites or payment processors? Not very, it seems. For all their utility in allowing easy payments to users, these sites are facing more than their share of complaints, which speaks volumes about the number of disgruntled users.

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PayPal plays with Indians

One of the most reason examples is the Paypal fiasco in India starting in February 2010. All of a sudden, Indians found their payments received through Paypal being reversed with little

explanation. Paypal soon sent a mail explaining that all personal payments made by or to Indians were being reversed. They offered no reason for this except a vague “we are in talks with our partners.” Needless to say, they were accused of racism back then. They then followed it up by temporarily disallowing withdrawals to Indian banks, though this was solely due to a complaint by the Government of India. What is important to note that payment processors have your money in their fist. They can choose what to do with it any time they want and can change policies in the blink of an eye.

Chargebacks

A huge menace with such sites is the number of chargebacks sellers have to face, with little protection. For online services there is almost nothing you can do to contest a chargeback. E-commerce businesses will readily reverse any payment if a buyer so requests. It’s not the buyer who has to provide proof, it’s the seller who has to do it. This means that thousands of ‘buyers’ end up getting stuff for free while the seller can only mumble in disgust.

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For example, here is a person who lost close to $400 and had his account blocked while AlertPay ‘investigated’ a fraudulent transaction claim. Such posts are scarily too common.

They have their hands in your pocket…and bank account!

Once you sign up for an internet payment site like Paypal or AlertPay and link your bank account or credit card they can do almost anything they wish. See this case of a person losing more than $100 because PayPal reversed his withdrawal to his bank, that too for no apparent reason. In such cases, they are not liable for anything. Would Paypal have done this if the Rupee had strengthened against the Dollar? Probably not. At least we haven’t heard of such a case yet.

It’s not the websites…it’s the people on the other end of the wire.

For all the hatred we posses about these sites, it’s really the few users who use these sites to scam people that we should be complaining about. These sites provide an invaluable service to society – that of easily transferring money from one point to another. Users have found ways to scam people using the short-comings of these sites. For example, there are stories of people selling things they don’t even own, using the advantage provided by MoneyBookers in such transactions. This would not work on Paypal, since the buyer could issue a chargeback. So what is often a shortcoming on Paypal (chargebacks) can sometimes be an advantage. We cannot blame the sites for following the policies they do. Besides, they really are working hard to improve their services so that there might be a day when you will have no cause to complain.

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PayPal Credit Cards, get the power in your hand.

PayPal has always impressed us with its impeccable and flawless service. There are millions of professionals who like to carry out their business transaction using their PayPal account. The reason behind the popularity is quite simple to understand. Every customer demands some flexibility from the service providers and this is what Paypal gives them. But an account is not the only thing which PayPal provides to its customers. You can also opt for the PayPal credit cards. The credit cards offered by PayPal provide some of the best benefits in the market. It is an excellent way to save money and enjoy various benefits. Along with, it also provides you the facility to access the credit card through your PayPal account. Therefore you can work according to the requirements of your PayPal account.

What they are and how they work

PayPal credit cards are just like the Master cards. They are issued by the GE Money Bank. The credit cards offered by PayPal works like any other regular credit card. Like other credit cards, it also has a PIN and an APR. You can use the PayPal credit cards wherever Master Cards are accepted. Moreover you can also transfer money from one card to another card. All you need to do is to call the number 1-866-300-6432. Therefore it works like any other Master card that you may have used till now.

How to apply for a PayPal Credit card?

To avail a PayPal credit card, the first thing you need to have is a PayPal account. You can apply directly through your PayPal account by selecting the “PayPal Plus Credit Card”. The online procedure will guide you throughout the procedure. But you should never skip any instruction. You must read them carefully, and understand the terms and conditions. After going through the terms and conditions, click on the tab “Apply Now”. You will get an online application form. Fill it up with the correct information, and most importantly your contact number. When you are done with the form, agree to the terms & conditions mentioned in the website, and submit the form. Within 30 seconds you will get the result. If your application has been approved, you will be provided with a temporary card. You can even use it while shopping. Within a week or so, a permanent credit card will be sent to you. Therefore it is quite easy to avail a PayPal credit card.

What are the benefits of using a PayPal credit card?

There are numerous benefits associated with the use of PayPal credit cards. Firstly, you do not have to pay any kind of annual fees for the card. On every purchase that you will make through the cards, a certain number of points will be allotted to you. You can use those points for future purchases. PayPal credit cards come with a benefit called zero liability. It means that the owner of the card will not be charged anything for the unauthorized purchases made from the card. Apart from these benefits, PayPal also provides many other benefits, like special offers, discounts, etc.

You can get your PayPal credit card here.

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Background:

Besides touching our lives in thousands of ways, Internet has transformed the way we shop as well. We need not to stand in long queues to buy any item of our choice in a store. This can be done quite easily by logging on to an online store or an auction site such as eBay, select the item that we want to buy and make the payment. The item will be delivered to our doorsteps within a day or two or even within few hours time!

Rise of PayPal:

If you are looking for a secure banking system which can be used on the Internet, a PayPal account is what you need. It is used for making online transactions on various online stores, for transfer of money between individual users or to receive money for goods that you may have sold, in a secure way. It has even been used by various non profit organizations to receive donations to work for benefit of the society!

Paypal Costs:

Anyone having a valid bank account across most nations of the world can get an account with PayPal without paying any fee. However, in the event of transfer of money from this account to a bank account, it may charge a certain amount from the user. This charge depends on a number of factors such as:

• Nationality of the user: Every user is charged in his/her own currency. The charges keep on varying with the country in which the user is registered.

• Amount being transferred: Though there is no cap on the amount that can be withdrawn from PayPal account to a bank account, it may charge the user in case the amount being withdrawn is less than a particular sum specified by it.

Paypal Features:

PayPal offers various products and services to its users which can be quite beneficial for them. Different individuals having disparate needs can get services or products as per their needs. For example, individual users can use their account to accept payment from their friends or relatives who may be located in any part of the world. Further, they can receive payment for any item that they might have sold on eBay or any other online auction site or store, using their account.

Merchants can use their account to get payment from their customers easily. If the customer is also having such account, he or she can take its help to make payment for the goods or services bought from website of the merchant. This has resulted in tremendous ease in payment for the customers along with increased security of making payments.

It has also launched a debit card which can be used by its account holders in various countries to use for shopping in their own currencies. The users are provided a number of offers on their debit cards such as cash back, reward points etc which can be used to shop various goods on discount! All in all, it is quite a useful account and if you have anything to do with online transactions, it is a must have product for you.

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The role of smart phones
The smart phone is undeniably becoming more and more indispensable in our lives. Staying in touch via Twitter and other forms of social networking is a breeze with this gadget. Besides that, a good Internet or Wi-Fi connection allows its users to enjoy a myriad of online games, navigate their way around using GPS and even go on an online shopping spree using just their mobile devices! There are applications for just about anything you need! And speaking of which, the mobile e-Commerce industry is indeed booming, with new innovations released into the world each day. And one area that is definitely catching both the consumers and industry players’ eyes is payment processing.

PayPal – Old innovation made new
PayPal is no stranger to the e-Commerce field and is touted as the entity that made payment processing more accessible and friendly. With their recent launch of a new app innovation called “Send Money”, they are expected to take payment processing to the next level. The “Send Money” feature is not a foreign feature in their online website but it will be, at least for mobile users who want a faster and more convenient way of transferring PayPal funds.

How does it work?
This new application will allow two iPhone users to make payments merely by bumping their mobile devices together. All they need are their iPhones and PayPal accounts. Besides that, an added convenience for users who access this app is the ability to split bills easily among no more than 20 people. Definitely a useful tool if you think about the difficulties involved in splitting bills during corporate lunches or a cab ride with friends in tow. Tax and tips will be divvied up evenly so there are no worries about anyone overpaying at all. Security is also not an issue here because PayPal reassures consumers that no financial data will b e stored on the mobile device. Losing your phone will not jeopardize sensitive financial information and will not signify the end of the world, unless your phone is one made of solid gold or is diamond-encrusted, in which case you must launch a nationwide hunt immediately to retrieve it!

How much will it cost to acquire this app? NOTHING! It’s currently being offered for free but it is not known if PayPal has plans to release a paid app that gives even more features to account holders in the future. Time will tell.

Recap of PayPal’s mobile “Send Money” app

• Convenience at the touch of a button
• Only an iPhone and PayPal account is needed
• Application is free
• Instantly transfer funds by bumping mobile devices such as iPhones together
• No data stored in mobile phones; security assured for greater peace of mind

PayPal vs. Square vs. MoBeePay
Remember our previous blog post about Square which also advocates the usage of the iPhone as a payment processing device? With PayPal’s app, we are certain that Square and its founder Jack Dorsey will be doing all they can to encourage more users to tap into their services.

MoBeePay is also newcomer to the scene and is expected to put up a bit of a fight with their new payment processing innovations. Read about how they are revolutionizing the e-Commerce world with their mobile payment solutions here.

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Credit cards and you
How many times have you looked at an ad that promises “great financial freedom while working in the comfort of your own home” only to quash that belief and dismiss it as a marketing gimmick? While it is true that most of these dodgy-sounding ads are actually sneaky marketing ploys to get you to buy their e-Book or other “e-products”, attaining financial freedom can actually be done in a home office when you start your very own small e-Commerce business.

Once you have your small business up and running, be prepared to tackle another issue that’s hot on your heels – credit card acceptance. To accept credit cards, you must enlist help from a credit card processing company in order to build a successful business.

Merchant accounts – Comparing tricks of the trade
In order to start accepting credit cards, you should look into setting up your own merchant account. Merchant account providers are a dime a dozen especially when you deal with online businesses. Hundreds of companies are clamoring for your business, so how does one choose the right provider? Merchant providers offer many different packages but it is essential to pay attention to those that offer a price that’s reasonable to the quality of service you will be enjoying.

What you do is sit down, draw up a list of possible merchant providers you’d like to enlist help from, and on a separate piece of paper, jot down a basic outline of your transaction data. If you have a very high amount of transactions with small dollar values, you may lose out if you sign up with a provider that charges a high fee for every dollar spent. Analyze your average transaction size and help you determine which merchant account provider plan to go with.

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“Help! My PayPal account has been limited! What do I do?”
You may have heard this from your friends or peers more than once in a single lifetime, and stories of people having money in their PayPal account frozen are more common than you think. I’ve heard my own share of stories from business associates and friends who had their accounts limited, and their funds held for apparently no reason at all.

Lest you think PayPal did this on purpose, just because they can, let it be known that their policies are almost the same as Visa and MasterCard – meaning to say that it is perfectly okay for PayPal to withhold your funds for 180 days from the date that your account was frozen.

Why PayPal freezes accounts
From the moment you created a PayPal account, you are bound by their rules. This means that you agree to their terms, and their policies including the one where they can limit your account for 180 days. But why do they do this? In a way, PayPal performs counter-measures to curb fraudulent activities all the time. Yes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. PayPal does this via automated system as well as a human managed system. If there’s been some transactions that are a little out of ordinary, PayPal will use their best judgement to freeze your account, investigate and while you wait for 6 months for them to review their decision.

Why YOU could be the next victim of PayPal’s random account-freezing

• Sudden increase in amount of transactions
• Increase in a single transaction amount
• Increasing amount of disputes reported against you
• PayPal thinks that you may be indulging in fraudulent activities
• Logging in to your PayPal account from vastly different IPs i.e. business in United States but logging in from China
• Withdrawing too much in one go

Lastly, do note that not all PayPal horror stories end well, horribly. Most users reported that they have gotten their funds back, although not instantly, provided that they did not engage in fraudulent activities or any sort of money laundering scheme. If not, users can and should contest PayPal’s decision to withhold your money, especially if the sum is a sizeable one.

Breaking news! It seems that PayPal is halting personal payment transactions In India. Stay tuned for more after this post.

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