It doesn’t matter what kind of business you run, or how large it is, there is one thing that’s been growing increasingly in terms of purchases these days, and that’s PayPal. While they get both good and bad raps from many people, it’s mainly because they’re pretty strict with their policies. And usually, you’re bound to have hiccups when you start your account up – but they’re often easy to resolve. Unlike many other companies out there, they have a direct customer service line, and all you have to do is talk to someone and get it cleared up. There are so many benefits that combat the negatives of PayPal. Still, with hundreds of millions of personal accounts globally, let alone the fact that they accept more than 25 worldwide currencies and debit/credit card transactions, their services are almost unbeatable.

Pros of Using PayPal for Your Business

While you may be leery about integrating PayPal into your business compared to other major competitors like Square, Zelle, and others, you actually get a more widely used platform. Other benefits of using PayPal include:

• creating a PayPal Business Account and using it is easy.

• Your customers probably already have PayPal (even if they don’t use it that often).

• Customers and clients don’t HAVE to have a PayPal account (they can use their debit card).

• Itemized and detailed invoices are straightforward to make and send. You can also create estimates for your customers or clients.

• PayPal charges 2.9% plus $0.30 for every transaction from debit and credit cards. That’s the same as Square, but much less than other methods.

• You can create recurring payments.

• PayPal can be integrated into MANY different accounts, shopping carts, and you can even integrate it into your QuickBooks to help track profit and expenses easily or automatically.

• PayPal is one of the most secure and safest platforms on the market.

There Are Always Some Downsides

With everything great, there are always some negatives. Just ask anybody who owns a computer or runs a business. For example, they do charge a large fee when you must do chargebacks. Other things include:

• They are VERY strict on their policies, and any violations can result in your account being frozen until you get it resolved (as we said, call customer service, and you can usually get it fixed right away. If you don’t, you may not get it fixed for months).

• Their protection policies don’t cover digital goods (but they do for services).

• Normal transfers can take up to 3-5 business days to clear to your bank (they do have an instant transfer option now, though, but it does charge a small fee).

• Some people don’t want to use PayPal, so it’s best to have other payment methods in place, too, so you don’t lose business.

• Some people think it’s hard to contact PayPal’s customer service department.

What About the People Who Don’t Want to Use PayPal?

As we mentioned earlier, you can use plenty of other online payment methods, from opening up a regular bank merchant account at your bank or another payment provider. You can also use various e-commerce platforms to accept debit card payments online. Many e-commerce plugins such as Square and Zelle, as mentioned above, are a great addition to use WITH PayPal, and there are even mobile solutions as well. One of the coolest things, though, is that if you operate remotely (or have remote options set up for your employees due to the pandemic), you can use PayPal Business for mobile devices and do everything that way.

How Do I Get Started?

First of all, you simply have to create an account. Once you verify your information and identity (and complete your business profile on there), you can start using it rather quickly. When it comes to data, you can access and download your 1099-K’s, your invoice receipts, and much more, then; to further protect yourself and customers, you can store the data on your IT support provider’s cloud storage or backup systems (and even have them fully automate things) so you can keep the paper trail you need without all of the hassles and the worries, letting you keep your mind on performing your business to the fullest! If you hire a good managed service provider, they’ll even be able to help set up your ACH and Debit Card services for you as well once you order the devices. Many of them even accept PayPal as a source of payment these days!