About PayPal
PayPal is a subsidiary company of eBay, the well-known internet auction site.
It was originally set up to allow secure transfer of funds between users of the auction
site but has developed into a worldwide means for buyers to use their credit or
debit cards securely to pay sellers who do not have facilities to accept such payments
directly.
PayPal acts as an intermediary between buyer and seller. The buyer pays the
agreed amount to PayPal, using his credit/debit card and PayPal then transfers
the credit to the seller's PayPal account. The seller can use the credit to
purchase items via PayPal or can transfer the funds to his bank account.
The service is entirely free to the buyer. PayPal deducts all the transfer
and currency exchange costs from the seller's account. Because of this, I
have to make a surcharge of GBP 2.00 on PayPal transactions.
Registering with PayPal
Both buyer and seller must be registered with PayPal before a transaction can
take place. To register, go to https://www.paypal.com.
Click on Sign Up Now! This takes you to
the Personal Account Sign Up page. Complete the form on this page
only if you are a US resident, then click on the Sign
Up button at the bottom right of the page
If you are not a US resident, click on the Non-US
Sign Up link near the top right of the Personal Account Sign Up page
for US residents. This takes you to the first Non-US Sign Up page. On this page,
choose your country of residence from the pop-down list and click on the
Continue button. This takes you to the Non-US Personal
Account Sign Up page proper. Complete the form on this page and click
on the Sign Up button at the bottom right of the page.
You must complete the form exactly as PayPal requires otherwise you'll need
to have another try at the entries you made that were not to PayPal's
satisfaction. For example, the usual international expressions of my phone
number are +44 (0)1943 831935 or 044 1943 831935. PayPal will accept only 44 in
the first field on the form and 1943831935 (no space) in the second. At this
stage, the site is slow, presumably because of security checks etc, and the
process can be frustrating.
Passwords can also be a problem. My first choice was rejected and it seems
hardly credible that there is someone else out there who shares my name and
choice of 11 character password. It seems your password itself may have to be
unique.
Once you have completed the form to PayPal's satisfaction, your troubles are
over. Everything else is straightforward.
In order to make a payment via PayPal, you will also need to know that the
email address I have registered with PayPal is
Note: the above email address is a graphic and cannot be used as a link.
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