Is it worth it? What are the benefits and drawbacks?


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I don't need any extra features but was forced onto it when I hit a certain volume of cash flow. Can't remember exact amount. I wouldn't have bothered if I didn't have to.

Tried it - dumped it.  On the first few transactions I did not receive money from PayPal until the customer confirmed receipt of goods.  As these transactions were $500 - $3500 fraud was always a worry.  When this limitation was removed the cost per transaction was considerably higher than with a traditional merchant account through the bank (sometimes as high as 5.5% vs 1.9% depending where customer is located).

as @Justanotherphotographer says you be forced into a business account when you reach a certain transaction threshold, and which time they suspend your account until you provide tax IDs, business names etc to stop money laundering.

Anyone know what is that threshold amount?

I have a paypal business account (as far as I know that's the proper name for them, personal or business) the business account comes with a merchant ID and access to extra stuff that a personal account does not have (so you can make integrations into a website etc)

the fees are the same for both, except that personal account lets you send "personal" money without paying a transaction fee.

as @Justanotherphotographer says you be forced into a business account when you reach a certain transaction threshold, and which time they suspend your account until you provide tax IDs, business names etc to stop money laundering.

I have one of each account and I send money to myself without a fee. I don't know why a business can't send personal money. But like most, it's just a matter of some extra features, less restrictions, same fees. I take CC on it and use for sales. If you want to take payments on your own website, it's useful but not necessary, there are ways to make a HTML code that will link to payment and send email with ID and everything. I've never had a payment held in my own transactions with buyers.

That sometimes happens on eBay when items are shipped and I don't get paid until the item is confirmed received. Seems like that would protect buyers as well and the money is held by Paypal, not the buyer. It is paid in advance. Never had a problem with Paypal but I'm in the US. Seems like most of the problems are East Europe, Asia, Africa for some reason?