Setting up a PayPal sellers account

[fishhead]

Is it hard to set up an account on PayPal so that my customers can use it to pay for my items that I sell on Craigslist?

I looked at the PP site briefly and it had some kind of generic email form you could send that had a "pay" button the customer could use.

[Ken Scharabok]

Not difficult at all. You need some type of credit card or checking account. They will verify credit card in the normal manner. For a checking account they will make two small deposits into it, say $.35 and $.18. You then have to verify back to them the amounts of those deposits.

Your buyers will also need to have a PayPal account.

You can set up the account so it processes credit card payments to you (a merchant's account). Personally I only accept credit cards through PayPal. That is, buyer has their own account set up for payment off of their credit card.

If someone pays you and has a checking account to back it up, eBay will put a four day hold on your shipping and then let you know the electronic check has cleared. Recently one didn't and eBay canceled the transaction. Said to work with the seller on some other form of payment.

Be aware you will pay PayPal for the service. About 3-4% of gross. Higher for overseas payments.

There are several options for how to take your money out of PayPal. I have a checking account and tell them to transfer $X to it. Takes about four days to clear your bank. Transfers to a credit card may be quicker.

[fishhead]

Thanks. I tried sending my work email an invoice as a test but it kept telling me I didn't complete the form. That maybe because I use my work email address to buy things on eBay through Paypal.

When I tried to set up a "Premier" account it recognized my credit card. Then when I called customer service they said I already had a "Premier" account.

Maybe that's why I couldn't send myself the test email.