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PayPal is one of the oldest and popularly used tools for online transactions. You can use this online platform to send and receive money between people and businesses. As a matter of fact, a PayPal account is enough for you to purchase various items on the many online stores such as eBay.

PayPal is a trusted platform and has more than 200 million users from every corner of the globe. Furthermore, there are over 700 thousand websites that use PayPal and the numbers keep growing by the day. Despite the fact that this online transactions platform is popular among the masses, it doesn’t necessarily work for all.

Pros:

1. Credit card security. When creating a PayPal account, the only thing that you have to do is add the credit and bank accounts that you will be using for online purchases. Afterward, you will not have to give any more credit card information that can be susceptible to hackers.

2. Flexible. PayPal allows you to add multiple credit cards, debit cards and bank accounts on your online account. This way, even if one of your credit cards is declined, you can easily use another one for online purchase.

3. Sending money is super easy. Sending money on this online platform is as simple as the push of a button. Furthermore, the transaction is instant and you can send money in another part of the globe and they receive it in no time.

4. It has an iPhone app. iPhone users have a PayPal iPhone app that they can use to shop online or make money transfers with ease. The app is easy to download and you can get it from the Apple iTunes store. Afterward, you will be more than ready to make online purchases, send money and even pay your bills.

5. It is affordable. I think this is the main reason why so many people opt to use PayPal. It is totally affordable more than many of the other online platforms. You get to create an account for free, then there are no extra service charges, processing fees, and membership fees.

6. Special discounts. There are always offers and good deals on various products for shoppers using PayPal. You can visit the PayPal shopping website and discover more about their latest offers. At the end of the day, you will save some money and use it to do more shopping. Sounds great right!

7. Used globally. PayPal is currently available in 202 world countries and this makes it a giant that stands tall against its competitors. It allows users to withdraw money in 56 currencies and hold account balances in 25 currencies. Furthermore, users can receive money in over 100 currencies.

8. Compatible with mobile use. As long as you have installed the PayPal application on your mobile device, you can make transactions right away. In this case, you can send money; receive money or purchases products or services online wherever you are using your smartphone and any other smart mobile device.

9. User-friendly and easy to use. There is no rocket science when it comes to using PayPal. Everything is put in black and white. You can make convenient payments online with ease. A personal account is more suitable for online shopping and money transfers. A premium account will be helpful for online sellers.

10. There is a dispute resolution center. If you buy a product online from a seller and it doesn’t meet your expectations, you can file a dispute within 30 days of purchase. PayPal will help solve the issue and even initiate a refund whenever necessary.


 

Cons:

1. Temporary payment holds. This is one of the inconveniences that you are likely to experience with PayPal. If you are using the account for business purposes then some payments will be put on hold for a while. This is usually based on user activity, the kind of business conducted and complaints.

2. Poor customer service. For such a big platform, am quite disappointed in their customer service. For starters, there are no easily available contact numbers. Even after you manage to make the call, their representatives are of no help. Furthermore, when you send an email all you receive is an automated reply which in most cases does not help solve the problem.

3. The verification system can be frustrating. Setting up the account is super easy but the verification process of linking a bank account with the PayPal account can be exasperating. You have to make token deposits in the account and notify PayPal so that they can verify. You will have to wait for up to five days before it becomes functional. The problem only gets worse if you have no access to internet banking.

4. They lack third party arbitration. It is usually difficult to negotiate the website in case you want to cancel a subscription on PayPal. Furthermore, if you have a dispute with someone and the payment happens to have been handled by PayPal, they promptly take over the arbitration. This can take so long before the matter is settled.

5. Very strict rules. The US government has enacted strict rules and regulations on platforms such as PayPal. For this reason, even the smallest suspicion is enough to have your account frozen. PayPal has to thoroughly investigate before the account is reopened and this often takes a very long time.

6. Poor seller protection. For starters, the seller protection policies for PayPal do not cover the digital goods and hence this is a demerit for sellers. Also, any suspicion of fraud your account will either be limited or locked. In this case, any payments already made are refunded back to the customers and this is definitely bad news for a seller. This is regardless of whether the products have been shipped already or not.

7. The currency basket is not really complete. While there are 23 currency types used for PayPal payments, the Indian rupee is excluded. This does not go well for sellers because India actually has a growing market for goods and services.

8. PayPal is often a target for scammers and fraudsters. Many scammers use PayPal to set traps for their victims. In some instances, they send fake emails pretending to be PayPal affiliates.

9. Additional bank fees. There are charges that you will incur whenever you transfer money from a PayPal account to your bank account.

10. Charges when you receive money. Doing business may be more expensive than you initially thought. If you will be using PayPal to make money, then it’s pretty obvious that they also have to make some money from it. PayPal charges 2.9% when you receive payments for any goods or services.