If you are running an online business, handling payments efficiently is always on the top of your head. It does not matter if you’re a small business owner or a seasoned e-commerce giant with thousands of products, secure and convenient payments are priorities for both users and entrepreneurs.
With online businesses and e-commerce blooming in the last decade, online transactions have become more efficient. PayPal is one of the world’s leading online payments platforms pioneering in the space since 1998 and operates globally. There’s a very good chance that you might already know about PayPal being the primary option while transferring online payments. But in this blog, we’ll throw light on how the platform can help your business in processing online payments effectively while being affordable at the same time.
Table of Contents
What is a PayPal Business account?
No doubt PayPal has been the most popular online payments platform for a while now. Paypal allows financial transactions of all types ranging from customers to other customers (C2C), customers to businesses (C2B) and businesses to businesses (B2B).
Businesses can utilize PayPal’s services to handle transactions online, in person, over the phone or through other mediums. You will need a PayPal business account that helps businesses make payments fast and convenient. Interestingly, you can accept and process payments using a credit card and debit card with PayPal. The platform currently provides its service in over 200 countries and allows transactions in 25 currencies.
Why Start a PayPal Business Account?
Have doubts regarding how and why you must register for a PayPal business account? You should first consider a list of positives.
- The primary benefit is that a PayPal business account makes transactions immensely simple for your buyers.
- They don’t necessarily require a PayPal account for themselves. They can opt for paying via any of the methods: Credit cards, Debit cards, PayPal (Wallet Balance), or PayPal credit.
- You operate your PayPal account on your company name rather than your name, which is in the case of a standard PayPal account.
- PayPal facilitates international transactions, one of the significant aspects while scaling your business globally.
- The platform also has a feature allowing recurring subscription payments.
- PayPal credit also gives the option of financing to the customers.
PayPal Accounts for Businesses — Types
PayPal is one of the few online payment platforms that are user-centric or business-centric, but it takes good care of both the participating parties, which is the main reason for PayPal’s immense success. A PayPal business account can be of two types, the difference being payment processing methods:
PayPal Payments Standard
The PayPal standard business account plan doesn’t charge any monthly subscription fee to businesses allowing them to accept payments via all of PayPal’s payment methods. However, in the case of a standard account, whenever a user opts to checkout and pays for an order, they are directed to the PayPal website to complete the transaction. Additionally, the standard PayPal business account benefits are also included with this plan, where users get toll-free phone support and simplified PCI compliance management.
Note – PayPal Payments Standard can be an excellent option for you if you have just started your business and are okay with your customers being redirected to PayPal’s site for completing the transactions and not intrinsically on your website. They will be redirected to your website after a successful payment, so there’s no need to be anxious.
PayPal Payments Pro
PayPal Pro account for businesses is a giant leap from the standard account. The membership subscription account costs $30 per month (cited as the maintenance fees) and includes:
- The features include the basic or PayPal standard account plus the functionality to accept payments through phone, fax, or virtual terminal.
- The Pro account also allows business owners to have comprehensive control over their payment checkout pages. Hence, the Payments Pro business account is ideal for those willing to serve superior customer experience and convenience on their online store.
- Customers do not need to leave your business platform when making a payment.
How to Set Up a PayPal Business Account
Go through the following steps and execute them to set up your PayPal business account:
1. Sign up
Start by signing up for an account on the PayPal business account page. To do so, click on the button labelled “sign up”, which will take you to the next step.
2. Enter your business email
Enter your business email address to register an account. Make sure you or someone from your team regularly checks this email inbox and handles this account.
3. Choose the account type
As discussed above, you can choose from PayPal Payments Standard or PayPal Payments Pro for setting up a business account with PayPal. And make sure you select “business” to access all the additional business features like multi-user access and supplier services.
4. Create a username and password
Enter your desired username, check if it’s available, and alter it if not. Enter your password to log in to your account once you finish the account setup.
5. Complete background information
PayPal usually asks for some background information to set up and verify your profile. It may be your company website, mailing address and phone number.
6. Enter your EIN
Fill in your EIN (Employee Identification Number) to verify your business.
7. Verify your identity
You will get a confirmation email from Paypal to the provided email address. They do so to verify that you own it. You will get a link in the mail asking you to verify your sign up. Now you can start your PayPal business account.
Once you finish creating your account, PayPal allows you to set up bank transfer information on the platform.
