How to Set Up a PayPal Account and Receive Money From Anyone

Why Should You Create a PayPal Account?

Over the years PayPal has solidified itself as the de facto payment system for anyone doing business online.

PayPal grew as it found a gap in the market between less advanced alternatives and greedy credit card processors. Much of this growth was fueled by eBay, which needed a cheap, convenient payment system. Sellers couldn’t afford credit card processing and buyers didn’t want to risk sharing their credit cards with strangers.

PayPal offered a solution to both, a safe and secure means to send and receive money. It works online and offline, provides tools to businesses of all sizes and types, and even offers a pre-paid credit card.

If you don’t already have a PayPal account, you should. Head to www.paypal.com, click Sign Up, choose your account type, provide a name, email address. and password, and you’re done.

Note that two account types are available, Personal and Business. Below we’ll look at how to receive money on PayPal using a personal account, then move onto business accounts.

How to Set Up a Paypal Account for Receiving Payments

A personal account can subscribe to websites, buy on eBay and other online stores, and send and receive money. As you might know, you can use any type of PayPal account to receive money.

For example, there’s eBay. You might have sold the odd item on eBay, which doesn’t require a PayPal business account, and received the money.

However, you can also receive money from people beyond eBay. Friends and family might send you money, or you could have a link on your blog or website for donations.

For years, the most common way to receive payments on PayPal has been to simply request a payment from someone.

Receive PayPal Money on the Web

With a personal eBay account, you can request money by signing into your account and clicking Request money.

In the field, enter the email address of the person who you want to receive money from. Add the value of the request, perhaps a note, and if necessary, add another email address. Up to 20 addresses can be entered at a time.

Click Request Now to complete the process and wait for the funds to be sent to you.

Usually, this won’t be required if you’re using a system like eBay, where the request for payment is an automated part of the process, and where buyers usually just pay for the products immediately upon winning the auction.

These are the two most common ways to receive money from people, and these methods have been available in some form or another since PayPal was founded. However, these days, PayPal provides many more options for you to offer your customers and clients for sending you the money that you’re owed.

Receive Money With the PayPal App

With a PayPal mobile app on iPhone and Android, you can request payments in three ways.

Enter the name, email address, or mobile number of the person you’re requesting money from. Enter the amount, add a message, review the amount, then click Request Now.

You can share your link using social networks and email. This creates a clickable link that the recipient (or anyone) can use to send you money via PayPal.

Split a bill is ideal for paying the balance at a restaurant or grouping together for a gift. Just input the value of the bill, add the email addresses of the group, and request the money.

Mobile devices are increasingly important to PayPal thanks to the growing facility of mobile payments for every type of transaction.

Ways Business Can Receive Money on PayPal

As well as manually requesting money, PayPal offers several tools to help you receive money in other ways. These are available to business accounts and include subscription tools, buttons, and point-of-sale tools.

1. PayPal Invoices

For business purposes, you can create an invoice in PayPal to send to clients. This has three options: a standard one-off invoice, a recurring invoice, and an estimate.

PayPal Invoices have all the fields you need for customization, e.g. specifying invoice numbers, setting logos, adding addresses. The result is a polished professional invoicing system.

2. PayPal Checkout

Run a website with a few bits of merchandise? Have a full eCommerce catalog? Either way, PayPal Checkout is available, either by adding a few lines of code or adding complete integration.

If you want your customers to take you seriously and receive money for your goods over PayPal, use Checkout.

3. Receive Money With PayPal Subscriptions

Offer a product or service that has recurring payments? Perhaps it’s an online TV station or a membership website.

PayPal offers a useful feature for receiving timely, regular payments: PayPal Subscriptions. Simply select the subscription product, add details, select a pricing model, and a periodic fee.

4. Virtual Terminal Payments

PayPal will also let business accounts receive payments using a virtual terminal system. This enables the processing of debit or credit card payments over the phone. Virtual terminal payments use card-not-present authorization and must be applied for before you start using it.

5. Receive PayPal Money With a QR Code

QR codes are another great way to receive money. No one needs to handle cards, making it ideal for restricted contact or lockdown scenarios. PayPal QR codes are free for sellers to use until September 2020, when a fee will be added. Check your local PayPal for details, as different countries have slightly different fees.