What are the advantages and disadvantages of using PayPal?

PayPal is a popular site for transferring money between people and business online, It is very friendly and easy to use, You can use PayPal account to purchase the items from hundreds of online stores and Receiving or transferring the money from one account to another.

Advantages of PayPal

PayPal provides the safest way for shopping online and without reviling any information of your account as while shopping online and providing your financial information, you are not protected from the sites that can charge the money from your account and making unauthorized transactions without your awareness, and that may cause you a lot of money and unnecessary aggravation.

Most of the internet payment services sustain themselves through monthly or regular payments by the customers, In PayPal, you pay only when you sell, So, you are protected against the risk of having to pay service fees although you are not having sales.

The easy setup and customization options that PayPal provides are really elegant, The price options for the vendors are fully customizable, the ‘add cart’ and ‘view cart’ options and buttons are available and they can also be made by the user, These customization options require nothing more than a simple copy and paste of existing codes, You can up and sell online, worldwide.

PayPal

PayPal iPhone application makes it easy to shop online and transfer the money wherever you are, You can search for the PayPal app, and you will be ready to transfer, send the money, pay the bills, review your transaction history, and You can make purchases right from the palm of your hand, Because PayPal will ask you to confirm transactions with a PIN, you can rest assured that your finances are safe should your iPhone be lost or stolen.

The ability to accept and pay through credit cards and debit cards is also a great feature in PayPal, The payments from one business account or premier account to another are completely free, The fee for transacting through credit and debit cards is also a nominal 3.9 percent.

PayPal will double up as your sincere and honest accountant, You can access every inbound and outbound transaction with the click of a mouse, The account has been neatly organized into payments received, payments made, history and recent activity tabs which are very useful.

PayPal has been acquired by eBay, Business and Premier accounts offer many tools for better integration with eBay, So,  buying and selling on this giant site becomes much easier, There is also news that eBay will transact only through PayPal, PayPal becomes the only way to pay, PayPal also provides for better merchant services too.

One of the best reasons for using PayPal is its cost, It is free, There is no annual membership fees, no processing fees, no service charges, Shoppers using PayPal get all the powerful advantages associated with the service.

PayPal sponsors special discounts for the customers that shop with PayPal at selected retailers, PayPal can save your money on the things you need at the places where you shop, To take advantage of the savings all you have to do is copy the special promo code from the PayPal shopping Web page and paste it into your order at your merchant’s site when you pay with PayPal.

When you sign up for a PayPal account, you type in the credit cards and bank accounts you wish to use for purchases one time on the PayPal secure system, Once that is accomplished, you never again have to disclose your credit card information online, By paying with PayPal,  you keep your credit card information private, You can shop without worrying about a hacker downloading your account data from your online merchant.

PayPal is integrated with the online auction powerhouse, You can place bids and make purchases safely, The buyer protection and a structured complaint resolution process mean that eBay bidders have more protection than most credit card holders when it comes to one of the most popular online shopping sites.

When you want to purchase the goods and the services online, and you have your credit card declined, As you can set up multiple bank accounts, debit cards, and credit cards to fund your PayPal account, you can rest assured that your PayPal purchases always go through the first time, PayPal will then look for the funds from your sources based on the order you define.

Disadvantages of PayPal

There is a lack of good customer service if you encounter a problem with a payment, It is difficult to find contact phone numbers on its website, and emails are usually responded to with automated replies rather than the genuine advice.

It can be tricky to negotiate the website if you want to cancel a subscription via PayPal, and if you enter into a dispute with someone and payment was handled by PayPal they will take over the arbitration process which can take a very long time.

PayPal verification system takes much time which can be very frustrating when you link a bank account with your PayPal account, two small deposits are made into it, and you have to let PayPal know the amounts to verify your own account, The deposits normally take up to 5 days to appear,  five days when you can’t accept any payments online, and if you don’t have access to internet banking you could find yourself waiting a full month to receive a postal statement to check the amounts.

PayPal offers many services for free and others for nominal fees, The fees charged on non-PayPal payments could turn out to be very expensive, Personal account holders have no transaction fees while making or receiving payments from other accounts but they have limits and restrictions on the amount of money being moved.

PayPal is highly vulnerable to fraud, Many times the funds are refunded to the customer even after the items have been shipped, This could prove disastrous for the seller, The complaint system is also bad which does not seem to redress any issues.

Although PayPal provides 23 currency types for payment, it excludes some important currencies, The Indian Rupee is an example, India is a growing economy and a fertile market, But the customers there find it difficult to pay.

One of the disadvantages is the fees charged for non-PayPal payments, Although PayPal claims they help small sellers, the hidden fees show no signs of it, The fees might be from 1.9 to 2.9 percent plus $0.30 per transaction which can get very costly.

Some of PayPal’s rules are also very strict due to different regulations, The slightest suspicion about your account might get it suspended and it takes a long time for PayPal to investigate and reopen your account, You might find yourself with your money locked for longer periods than expected.

Adding to the pain of a locked account and extra strict policy is the problem with a very difficult service, There are no numbers easily available on the website and even when you find the numbers, there seems to be nobody at the other end of the line, There have been complaints of emails receiving only automated responses.

When you manage to get representatives on the line, they are not of much help as they state that the problems are totally out of their control, There are also reports of bank accounts being automatically debited without the knowledge of the account holder and there is no way to rectify the same.

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