Using PayPal to Collect Payment for Your eBay Sales

Selling on eBay is a great thing. There is nothing like receiving an email in your inbox stating that someone just purchased one of your products. It’s exhilarating – it gives you a rush.

Of course, the transaction isn’t over when you receive that “item sold” email from eBay; the transaction has only just begun!

You must now receive payment for the fabulous item that you just sold to a lucky eBayer. The way that eBay would like you to receive payment is through the company that they own – PayPal. If eBay had their way, they would keep everything in their big, happy family.

We do our part to keep eBay happy. PayPal is actually the only way that we accept payment. We do this for several reasons:

• PayPal is very, very convenient for both the buyer and the seller.
• PayPal integrates, pretty much, seamlessly with eBay.
• PayPal is a universally known payment system.
• PayPal has certain seller and buyer protection systems in place (though they tend to lean heavily towards buyer protection).
• PayPal is very easy to set up and use (see #2).
• Most forms of PayPal payments are instantaneous.

Now we know there are a lot of eBay sellers who want nothing to do with PayPal. We have pretty much been satisfied with PayPal and have no real reason to search for an alternative service.

Those that do not like PayPal tend to stick with the old standbys – accepting personal checks and money orders. We do not accept either of these for a few very good reasons:

• By accepting personal checks and/or money orders, you are setting yourself up to become a victim of fraud.
• Both of these payment methods have to be mailed to you. We like to be paid instantly and not have to wait for a check that may never arrive.

We understand that there are those of you that do not want to pay the PayPal fees. We understand this and can appreciate your point of view. However, the only way you are going to get instant payment is by paying a transaction fee to whatever payment provider you choose to use. Yes, personal checks and money orders have no transaction fees. That is, until you start receiving checks that bounce or fraudulent payments. Then all you have are headaches and bank fees.

Ultimately, the forms of payment that you accept are totally up to you. Hopefully, we have been able to outline some of the advantages of using PayPal. Now, go and make an educated decision about what forms of payment you will be accepting for your eBay transactions.

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