PayPal For Dummies

Chapter 4

Paying with Your PayPal Account

In This Chapter

• Sending money with PayPal
• Working with different currencies
• Paying for your purchases
• Paying with PayPal after you win an auction
• Keeping track of how much you've spent
• Canceling payments
• Making Mass Payments (making a single payment but paying many people)

Although it's nicer to get money than to send it, most people start using their PayPal accounts by making a payment. Maybe you just won an auction on eBay and decided to try PayPal instead of using your credit card. Perhaps you received an online invoice. Whatever the reason or type of payment, it helps to know the ins and outs of paying with PayPal.

Sending Money

I think PayPal is one of those ideas that will continue to evolve in years to come. I envision a world where all bills will be paid online. Instead of paying for small purchases with cash, we'll beam a buyer to a vendor, using our cellphones. (Okay, beam me up Scotty.)

Actually, the future isn't that far away — and you can already access your PayPal account with your cellphone, even if you can't pay via cellphone yet! You can use PayPal to pay for a variety of things, but some of the most common uses include

• Sending money to other people (much easier than getting a money order and mailing it)
• Paying for purchases you buy online
• Paying for purchases you buy offline
• Paying bills online

Account Optional

With PayPal's Account Optional feature, you can make a purchase even before you open a PayPal account! ...