What Is PayPal
If you want to know who to thank for the
invention of PayPal, thank eBay, the internet auction mega-website that started
the auction website revolution. In its
infancy eBay needed a secure, easy way for all of their buyers to pay for their
purchases and to all of their sellers accept payment, and PayPal was the
solution.
Though they are separate companies the fact is
that if you sell through eBay you need a PayPal account since practically
nobody will buy from you if you don’t.
It’s a truly symbiotic relationship because without one the other might
just fail to function.
PayPal was purchased by eBay in 2002 for $1.5
Billion but the fact is that it was practically a bargain seeing as the payment
processing website has had steady growth every year and is worth over $7
billion today. PayPal has nearly 60 million customers spread out in almost 40
countries, handling more than $50 million in transactions on any given day of
the week. Those are some incredible numbers.
One thing that does set PayPal apart is that,
over the last few years, people have started using PayPal to pay for other
services and products that have nothing to do with eBay. You can now pay for all sorts of thing on all
sorts of websites using PayPal, and that fact is evident in the nearly $4
Billion Dollars in revenue that PayPal made in 2011.
The only requirement for setting up your own
PayPal account is an email address, although if you want to be ‘verified’ (and
that’s a good idea) you will have to provide and link to your bank savings or
checking account. With a Personal
Account (their basic account) you can send or receive money from anyone else
anywhere in the world that also has a PayPal account and make purchases or
sales on eBay, making the buying or selling of goods internationally a reality
for millions.
There is a Premiere and Business account also
for people that do a lot of business on eBay or on the internet in
general. The simple fact is, if you need
to accept payments or send money on the internet PayPal is one of the best,
most secure and most trusted names available. If you sell or want to sell on
eBay it’s a definite must-have service.
