How to open (set up) an account in brief
1. To be eligible for PayPal Services, you must be at least 18 years old and a resident of one of the countries listed on the PayPal Worldwide page. Please verify first if your country is on the list and if you can use a local bank account or a credit/debit card or both.
2. Then go to
http://paypal.com or click the banner above. Choose what type of account you want to have from the three listed below:
• Personal account (For individuals who shop online)
• Premier account (For individuals who buy and sell online) – recommended
• Business account (For merchants who use a company or group name)
(The main difference between a Personal account and a Premier account is that with a Premier account you can accept credit card payments from people who don't have or use a PayPal account. Please take a look at the picture - click.)
3. Click “Sign up” and fill in the form with your real data. PayPal is a payment provider who looks and acts like a bank. In certain situations, for verification reasons you might be asked to submit a photo ID or a utility bill copy, so your data have to be real.
4. During the sign up process you might be asked to provide a Credit Card serial or a bank account. Skip those steps (uncheck "Link my credit card so I can start shopping right away (recommended)"). You can add a Credit Card or a bank account later. After you confirm the email you’re done.
5. Without a Credit/Debit Card you will have an Unverified PayPal account. In this account you can receive money from anyone. If you want to pay though, you’ll notice that some merchants don’t accept payments from this kind of accounts. So in the end you’ll have to verify your PayPal.
6. PayPal allows members to have one Personal account and one Premier or Business account. However, each PayPal account must contain unique email addresses and financial information. You may upgrade your account at any time.
Below you’ll find a brief selection from PayPal “User Agreement”
1. What is PayPal?
• PayPal enables individuals and businesses to send and receive electronic money online. It also provides other financial and non-financial services closely related to online payments.
• You can use the PayPal service to make single or “one-off” payments or you can open an account with PayPal which will allow you to make regular payments.
• PayPal does not provide credit and/or escrow services.
2. Age restriction
• To be eligible for PayPal services, you must be at least 18 years old and a resident of one of the countries listed on the PayPal Worldwide page.
• If you have less then 18 then set up the account on one of your family’s member name. It is better then risk having a restricted or blocked PayPal account with hard earned money in it.
3. Account Types
• The Service offers three types of account:
- Personal account
- Premier account, and
- Business account
• Each type of account has different features, including, without limitation, different sending and receiving limits. Also, depending on a payment’s funding source(s), an account may or may not be able to accept a certain type of payment.
• Personal accounts are primarily intended for Users who simply wish to send payments.
• The main difference between a Personal account and a Premier account is that with a Premier account you can accept credit card payments from people who don't have or use a PayPal account.
4. Fees
• There is no fee for sending money via the PayPal service (except if a currency conversion is required, or the payment is sent via MassPay service or if a sender wishes to pay the fee for sending a “person to person” payment). Fees are charged under certain circumstances to:
- Cover PayPal costs to carrying out the withdrawal of funds (in some countries);
- Receive funds (e.g., depending on the type of account, the location of the sender);
- Convert currencies;
- Receive a reversed transaction;
- Verify account information (although all fees charged in connection with verifying an account are refunded); and/or
- Receive information as to why a payment order may have been refused by PayPal;
- Opt in to a variety of other optional services offered
5. Opening a PayPal account
• The Service allows individuals and businesses to open an account maintained by PayPal (an “account”)
• To be eligible for an account, a User must:
- Either be an individual (at least 18 years old) or a business that is able to form a legally binding contract; and
- Have satisfactorily completed PayPal’s sign-up process
• As part of PayPal sign-up process, a User must:
- Register an email address, which will also act as their ‘User ID’; and
• Agree to privacy policy and the terms and conditions of PayPal user agreement, including the policy documents incorporated within it (the “User Agreement”).
• Each User must create a password, which together with their User ID (email address), allows a User to access their account and use the Service.
• As part of the sign-up process, a User may also submit details of the source(s) with which they wish to fund their PayPal account (e.g., details of the User’s bank account, debit card or credit card). This is the “funding source”.
6. Account limits
• Every new might have limits set by PayPal in order to limit fraud, credit risk or avoid money laundering. The limits depends on your country and are as follow:
- Sending limit per transaction
- Sending limit per year
- Withdrawal limit per month
- Withdrawal limit per year
- Receiving limit per year
6.1 Sending Limits.
• The transaction sending limit on your Account is 1,000 GBP (or 2,500 EUR for applicable non UK Users) per calendar year starting from the date that payment activity first took place on your Account.
6.2 Receiving limit.
• The transaction receiving limit on your Account is 1,700 GBP (or 2,500 EUR for applicable non-UK Users) per calendar year starting from the date that payment activity first took place on your Account. In order to lift your receiving limit, you must complete the steps set out below to obtain the verified status.
6.3 Lifting limits.
• If you lift any of your limits, be prepared to verify your PayPal account or risk a blocked or restricted account.
7. Verified status.
• To obtain Verified status you must complete the following steps depending on your Account status:
7.1 In the UK:
1. Either: set up Direct Debit and complete the Random Deposit Process; or be successfully approved for and activate PayPal Credit and
2. If you hold a Business or Premier Account, you will also need to provide business information. If you wish to lift the sending limit on your card linked to your Account you will also be required to confirm your location via your telephone or post; or complete the Link and Confirm Card process.
3. Provide PayPal with further documents in a manner and form which they may reasonable request.
7.2 For non PayPal localized European countries customers:
Add a credit card and complete the Link and Confirm Card process.
8. Single or “one-off” payments
• If you use the Service to make a single payment, you will be provided with information relating to that payment both before and after you instruct PayPal to make the payment. This information will be made available to you:
- On the web-pages shown you before your payment is executed
- In any email PayPal may send you, and
- In this notice of “Key Payment and Service Information”.
• PayPal do not charges you to send a single payment via the Service (although a charge may be levied if your payment involves a currency conversion or is levied by another person, for example via your credit card company)
• The information that you must provide PayPal to make a single payment will include your credit or debit card details and other information which will be set out on the web pages where you instruct PayPal to make the payment
• The payment will be executed within 3 business days after you give PayPal your payment instruction. If the person you are sending your payment to instructs PayPal that they wish to settle your payment at a later time, PayPal will execute your payment order when will be informed.
9. Funding an account:
• To fund an account, a User must either:
- Purchase electronic money from us via their funding source(s). In practice, this means that each time a User requests PayPal to send money, PayPal simultaneously debits the chosen amount from the User’s default funding source (PayPal balance, bank account, debit card or credit card). PayPal then sends this online payment to the intended recipient; or
- Accept an online payment that has been issued by us and sent from another PayPal User
- A User’s account balance represents the amount of electronic money issued by us (whether it is sent to the User by a third party or purchased directly from us)
10. Sending payments
• To send a payment to a third party via the Service, a User usually provides the email address of the intended recipient (the “recipient”). By doing so, the User sending the payment (the “sender”) instructs us to transfer electronic money from their PayPal account to the account of the recipient. If the payment is accepted by the recipient, PayPal completes the transfer
• Each new account is provided with an initial limit on the amount of funds a User is able to send. To increase the “sending limit”, a User must verify the information provided to PayPal in connection with their account. Some accounts, may have a lower limit before verification is required. In addition, some transactions, may not apply for a revised increase in sending limit. The type of information required for this verification process varies depending on the jurisdiction in which the User resides and the type of account they hold.
• A User is able to send a payment in a variety of currencies, including: Pound Sterling, Euro, US Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Yen, Australian Dollar, Swiss Franc, Norwegian Krone, Swedish Krone, Danish Krone, Polish Zloty, Hungarian Forint, Czech Koruna, Singapore Dollar, Hong Kong Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Israeli Shekel, Mexican Peso, Argentine Peso, Brazilian Real, Philippine Peso, Thai Baht and Taiwan New Dollar.
11. Receiving payments
• A User is able to receive a payment via the Service by accepting a payment from another User
• The recipient is able to return payments or, in some cases, use the Service to refuse payments that have been sent by another User
12. Risk of chargeback or reversal of a payment
• If a sender does not comply with the Seller Protection Policy (see below), and a payment made by the sender is associated with a transaction which is subject to a chargeback or reversed for any reason, the recipient, and not us, will be liable for the amount of that payment received together with any fees imposed on us as a result of the chargeback or reversal
• PayPal is not a party, nor do controls the outcome of a chargeback decision and the User must accept the decision of the issuing bank as final and legally binding in connection with a chargeback dispute.
13. Seller Protection Policy
• Under certain circumstances, we will not hold the seller of goods who receives a payment via the Service liable if the buyer of the goods (i.e. the person sending the payment) claims that their transaction was unauthorized
• This policy applies when the payment is listed as eligible on the User’s Transaction Details page. In addition, there are other conditions relevant to whether this policy will comply, including:
- The type of goods purchased;
- The residence of the buyer and seller;
- The postal address to which the seller sends the goods;
- Evidence of the postal method used;
- The time at which the goods were sent following receipt of payment;
- The number of accounts from which payment was made;
- The co-operation of the seller;
14. No liability for unauthorized use of an account
• While we are not generally liable for a User’s access to, and use of the Service, we will not hold our Users liable for any unauthorized use of their account by any third person, provided that we are satisfied that the User has not acted deliberately so as to enable any third person to gain access to their user ID and/or password
15. Withdrawing funds (redeeming electronic money)
• A User with an account that has a credit balance may instruct us at any time to withdraw funds from their account. By doing so, a User can redeem all or part of the electronic money represented by that balance to their registered bank account or if applicable, credit card. In some countries, if a User wishes to withdraw funds from their account in an amount less than a certain threshold limit, a fee will be charged to cover our costs in carrying out the withdrawal
• Under normal circumstances, we will complete the withdrawal from a User’s account within 3 business days following the completion of any checks that are reasonably required by us to prevent money laundering, fraud or to confirm the identity of the User
• The balance held on an account remains valid regardless of how long it has been held in the account
16. Closing or restricting use of an account
• Either we or a User may close an account at any time and as such, there is no period of time prescribed by us which permits a User to close their account
• We may also limit the User’s access to, or functions of, their account under certain circumstances
17. Prohibiting or restricting activities
• We do not allow the Service to be used for the processing of payments associated with illegal activities or other types of activities which may be prohibited in accordance with our Acceptable Use Policy
• We may also restrict your use of the PayPal service and/or refuse to carry out your payment order if this would amount to a restricted activity as set out in our User Agreement.
18. PayPal Buyer Protection Policy and Buyer Complaint Policy
• Our Buyer Protection Policy assists buyers of goods who send payments via the Service to recover a certain amount of funds from sellers who list on eBay
• It applies when the abovementioned sellers, under certain circumstances, do not send the promised goods, or deliver goods which are 'significantly not-as described' in their listings
• Further, under our Buyer Complaint Policy, we will under certain circumstances attempt to assist buyers of goods who send payments via the Service to recover funds from sellers who do not send the promised goods. The Buyer Complaint Policy applies to purchases not made on eBay.
19. Resolving disputes
• We will attempt to resolve any dispute relating to the provision of the Service or to the Agreement via our customer service centre
• Where we cannot resolve a dispute, a User may either complain to the UK Financial Ombudsman Service following completion of our internal dispute resolution process or sue us in the courts of England and Wales (or your local Court if you are a consumer). You may also complain to the European Consumer Centre (ECC-Net). You may obtain further information regarding the ECC-Net and how to contact them at (http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/redress_cons/) You may access and obtain information regarding the Financial Ombudsman Service at http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk. You may also refer an unresolved dispute in writing to our regulator, the CSSF at the following postal address: Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) 110, Route d’Arlon L-2991 Luxembourg.
