Please E-mail Money….
Written: Jul 31 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fast, Convenient, Reliable
Cons: Cannot Pay Most Bills
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| benagee's Full Review: PayPal |
I had never heard of e-mailing money, until someone told me about PayPal. I initially opened my PayPal account just to get the $5.00 sign-up bonus. Once I got on the PayPal website, I quickly learned about the power of e-mailing money. Perhaps the most common use of PayPal is in paying for items purchased at online auctions such as E-Bay and U-Bid. If you have looked at any of the auction boards lately, you will notice that almost every seller not only accepts PayPal, but encourages it.
Why is PayPal so important for auctions? It is NOT because it protects either the buyer or the seller like some of the other services that receive the payment and hold the funds in a “trust” until the item is received by the buyer. The seller has a couple of significant benefits in using PayPal. First, by using PayPal, the seller can be assured that a check will not bounce. As soon as the money is e-mailed to the seller, he or she can be assured that the money is there and can ship the product without concern. Second, PayPal essentially allows the seller to accept Visa or Mastercard. The buyer is able to get the seller paid without delay and therefore reduce the time to actually receive the product. There is really no protection for the buyer -- the buyer must still have confidence that the seller will actually ship the product when payment is received. Also, if the buyer has the PayPal logo on his auction and a buyer signs up for PayPal to pay the auction, both the buyer and the seller will receive a $5.00 referral bonus.
Does PayPal have a purpose outside of auctions? You bet it does! PayPal can be used to send money to anyone who has an e-mail account. For example, PayPal can be used to e-mail money to a son or daughter in college. PayPal can also be used to send money to friends rather than writing and mailing a check. When you are sending money to someone, if you do not have sufficient money in your PayPal account, the remainder can be automatically drawn from a credit card (or debit/visa). If you prefer to draw directly from you checking and/or savings account, you can set up Electronic Funds Transfer from your checking/savings account. Whenever you send money, PayPal sends the recipient an e-mail informing them that they have received payment. They will then log into PayPal to collect the money. If they never collect the money, you can pull it back and pay in a conventional way if necessary, so you are not stuck. Since the money itself is transferred using a secure website and the e-mail serves as notification of the payment, the whole process if very secure.
What other use is there for PayPal? Not only can you send money, but you can request money. The request money option can be used for collecting money from co-workers for a gift or an office pool. This option can also be used to collect payment for events, trips, etc.
There is one thing that you cannot do with PayPal. You cannot pay your bills to corporations. I believe that PayPal has indicated that online bill payment may be in the future, but it is currently not available.
What is the cost? PayPal has an individual account that is absolutely FREE. There is no cost to open an account, send money, or receive money with this account. There is also a business plan available (also available to individuals as the premier plan) that adds additional benefits to the account. This business and premier plans carry a 1.9% transaction free when money is received. There is also a 2% (or $0.25/transaction) fee for batch payments made through the business plan. Batch payments allow a file to be uploaded and many payments generated at once.
What are the negatives? Other than the inability to pay creditors, utilities, etc., there is only one other downside to PayPay. When you receive payment, if you elect to use Electronic Funds Transfer to deposit it directly into you checking or savings account, it takes a couple of days before you actually have the money. However, if you use PayPal to send and receive money regularly (you sell a lot on auctions, etc.), you can leave the money received in your PayPal account and pay directly from there without delay.
I would definitely recommend this service as a must-have for both sellers and buyers at online auctions. Otherwise, it is simple a nice service if you often send and/or receive money from friends and family and they would be open to using a service like this for payments. I have actually found that most of my friends and family are reluctant to send money through the e-mail, so I have experienced limited usefulness outside of auctions.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
benagee
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Member: Ben Agee
Location: Fort Worth, TX
Reviews written: 23
Trusted by: 40 members
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