How to Accept an EFT Electronic Check With PayPal

1. Visit PayPal's home page (see Resources) and click 'Sign Up.'
2. Select 'Premier' or 'Business' as your account type. These accounts are associated with receiving funds, such as an electronic check.
3. Fill in your basic information, such as your e-mail address, phone number, state, city, address, ZIP code and date of birth. Click 'Agree and Create Account.' Your account page will appear on the next page.
4. Hover over 'Profile' and click 'Add or Edit Bank Account.' Choose whether you want to link your savings account or checking account. Enter your banking routing and account numbers. Your bank's routing number is the left-hand string of numbers on the bottom of your check. The account number is the middle string of numbers.
5. Click 'Continue.' PayPal will deposit 20 to 30 cents into your bank account to verify the account, typically within 48 hours. After your bank account is verified, you can begin transferring money to and from PayPal.
6. Give your PayPal address to the person who wishes to send you an electronic check. The person can then send you the electronic check for the disclosed amount. The money will show up to in your account within seven days of its being sent. You can then transfer the money to your bank account or keep the money in your PayPal account for future purchases.

How to Determine if you are Really on the Paypal Web Site

1. Always type the URL (the Web address, for example www.paypal.com) into the address bar at the top of your computer screen rather than linking to it from another Web site. Online security experts advise this is a good general rule to avoid being directed to phishing sites.
2. Look for basic spelling or grammatical mistakes as well as "amateurish" Web pages. Many fake sites and phishing emails also address you as subscriber, account holder or a similar term-rather than by your name.
3. Be suspicious if you receive an email supposedly from PayPal that asks you to verify your account or for personal information-PayPal doesn't do that. And don't use the link to the PayPal Web site which may be in the email. To check your account, always type in the URL in the address bar.
4. Determine if the PayPal address in your browser is the actual PayPal address. There should be a backslash '/' immediately after 'paypal.com.' The real PayPal Web site should read: www.paypal.com/. An example of a fake site might be www.paypal@accounts.com.
5. Look for the little padlock symbol in your browser bar. If you are on the real PayPal site, it is a secure site, meaning your transactions and passwords are protected.
6. Don't click on any links or open any attachments from pop-up boxes or advertisements in email. It's a red flag; PayPal never uses these.

How to Set Up PayPal for a Business

1. Go to the PayPal website and click on 'Sign Up' (see Resources).
2. Choose the country in which you perform your business and the main language you use for your business.
3. Choose the 'Business' account from the drop-down menu. The other two choices are 'Personal' and 'Premier,' but they are for individuals. Hit 'Start Now.'
4. Click on 'Find Your Payment Solution' to choose the best payment solution for your business. Answer the questions on the menu and hit 'Continue.' You will need to enter your bank account information, including bank name, account number and routing number.
5. Click on the type of account you want to open for your business and hit 'Continue.'
6. Hit 'Go' and fill in the contact information for your business, including the name, address and other relevant information.
7. Check the bank account you connected to your PayPal account in a few days to get the 'verification amount.' You should notice a small deposit in your account made by 'PayPal.' Write down this number.
8. Log in to PayPal and enter in the amount of money that was recently deposited into your bank account. This assures PayPal that you have a legitimate bank account. You can now start using your business PayPal account.

How to Do an E

Using INTERAC
1. Log in to your financial institute and find the Transfer money tab or button. It should be located to the left of the page.
2. Fill out the money transfer form. The form will ask for the receiver's e-mail address, the amount to be transferred, and a security question.
3. An e-mail notification gets sent to the receiver's in-box. They must accept the money before the transfer can be completed.
Using PayPal
4. Create an account with Paypal. They require you to fill out an online form asking your name, address, e-mail address, and password.
5. Click on the Send tab to transfer money using an e-mail address. It is located toward the top of the page on a blue tab.
6. Enter the receiver's e-mail address and the amount to be transferred. The site will also ask you if you are sending money for goods, services, or eBay items. Click on the appropriate box.
7. Submit and confirm the transfer. The recipient should receive the e-mail notification shortly. They must accept the money through the e-mail and hold a PayPal account of their own for the money to transfer.

What Is the Difference Between PayPal amp; a Merchant#039;s Account?

Start-up Fees and Software
One of the ways that PayPal differs from merchant accounts is that with PayPal, you will not be charged a setup fee or be required to purchase software. When applying for a merchant's account, you may often be required to spend between $100 and $395 to set up your account and buy the appropriate software to accept credit cards. Some merchant account providers may not charge a setup fee or may offer special promotions that reduce the cost of software, but with PayPal you will never have to pay a setup fee or purchase processing software.
Monthly and Per-Transaction Fees
Merchant accounts always charge a monthly membership fee that typically ranges from about $7.99 to $25 per month, with additional charges for monthly statements and a 1 to 4 percent charge for each transaction. Some merchant accounts may offer a flat rate instead of a percentage -- typically $0.05 to $0.25 per transaction -- but will also apply a monetary penalty to accounts that do not meet a certain quota of sales. PayPal charges no monthly rates, requires no minimum amount of sales, and in 2011 charges a flat rate of $0.30 per transaction plus 2.9 percent.
Offline Transactions
If you are using PayPal to process customer credit and debit cards, you are restricted to only processing online sales. All of your clients and customers will be required to make credit card purchases via the Web, and all of your face-to-face and order-by-mail transactions will have to be made by cash or check. Merchant's accounts offer the flexibility of adding a portable credit card terminal to process on-site credit and debit card transactions. Some merchant accounts allow you to process credit cards over the phone by entering the customer's credit card number through an automated system.
Approval Process
Though you will be required to complete an application and provide all pertinent information such as your full, legal name, address, Social Security number and banking information -- for funds transferring -- there really is no particular criteria to establish a PayPal account; nearly everyone over 18 years old is approved. Merchant's accounts often require a more scrutinizing application and approval process, and not all applicants are accepted. Merchant accounts often perform background checks, investigate your credit report and evaluate your website, products, services and sales volume before granting you approval. In some instances, you may even lose a portion of your setup fee if your application is denied.
Credit Card Number Disclosure
PayPal is a great alternative for shoppers who prefer not to disclose their credit card information. Credit card information is never disclosed to PayPal merchants under any circumstances. Merchant's accounts on the other hand, offer full disclosure to the business owner, making all credit card information available at each and every transaction.
Direct Deposit And Federal Banking Regulations
PayPal is not a bank and therefore is not obligated to abide by federal banking regulations. Your funds are deposited into PayPal's bank and held until you transfer them to your integrated personal savings or checking account, which can take three to five business days. PayPal also reserves the right to freeze your account activity -- and funds -- at any time for indefinite periods at their discretion for a number of reasons including accepting unusually large payments -- it's rumored that $2,000 or more will trigger this flag -- customer complaints, exorbitant shipping fees and logging in from an unfamiliar IP address. Merchant's account funds are deposited directly into your financial institution account within a 48-hour card processing period and cannot be withheld from you.

How to be Safe When Using PayPal

1. Keeping your Password safe
The first thing you want to do is NEVER share your password with anyone. This makes sense, but it is surprising how many times someone will share a password. Keep in mind that PayPal employees will NEVER ask you for your password. If someone contacts you and says he/she works for PayPal and asks for your password, do not give it and contact PayPal immediately. Also, if you think someone has gotten a hold of your password, change it immediately and contact Paypal.
2. Creating a Secure Password
Again, this is common sense, but it is surprising how many people do not follow this. It is never a good idea to use a password that someone can easily guess: nicknames, birth dates, initials, etc. Always use a combination of letters, symbols and numbers when creating a password. Use random combinations as they are much harder to guess. Keep track of your passwords in a safe manner as well. See my companion article "How to Organize Passwords" in Resources below.
3. Do not 're-use' your password
Once you have created a password for PayPal (or any other site) do not use the same password for another site. While it might make it easy for you to remember if you only have one password for all your Internet sites, it is just as easy for someone else to get into all your sites if he or she happens to find out your password. PayPal has a feature called PayPal Security Key that adds an extra layer of security and uniqueness to your PayPal login. It is a small oval shaped 'key' that generates a random six digit number whenever you click the button. You add this six digit number to your password every time you log into PayPal, making your login truly unique as not even you will know the number until you press the button when logging into PayPal. You can find information about the Security Key in resources below. The key works in both eBay and PayPal accounts.
4. Phishing Protection
Never click on links in emails that ask for your personal information. Even clicking on these links will provide some information to a 'phisher.' It is always better to enter Websites through their original URLs, not through links in emails unless you are absolutely positive the link is legitimate. Again, PayPal will NEVER send an email asking for your personal information.
5. How to identify Phishing emails
If the greeting in the email is generic, like "Dear PayPal User" or "Dear Member," beware. If the email is legitimate from PayPal, it will be addressed to you or your business name, however you have the account set up. If the email is addressed to you, but asks for login information or any other personal information, it is NOT legitimately from PayPal, no matter how professional it looks. Also look for typos or odd syntax in the language of the email as a flag for a phishing email.
6. Report all suspicious emails to PayPal
It is easy to report a suspected phishing scam to PayPal. Simply forward the email to Spoof@paypal.com. I have done this several times and each time I received an email back from PayPal thanking me for alerting them and assuring me that they investigated the email and determined it was indeed phishing. PayPal will also notify you if the email is legitimate. Do not just delete these emails, forward them on to PayPal so they can deal with them.
7. Attachments in PayPal email
PayPal will never send an attachment or software update for you to download or install on your computer. If you get an email that looks like it is from PayPal that contains an attachment or requests you to download software, it is a phishing email and needs to be reported immediately to Spoof@paypal.com.
8. Use your account wisely
Never share your PayPal account. If someone approaches you and asks if they can use your PayPal account to send or receive money, deny the request and contact PayPal immediately. This is likely an attempt to get your banking information.

How to Put My Form on the Same Page With a PayPal Form

1. Open up Notepad and paste the HTML code for your PayPal form.
2. Save the form and name it as 'paypal.html.'
3. Open Notepad again and paste the code of your own form. In the section where you want the PayPal form to appear, insert the following :<iframe src ='paypal.html' width='200' height='300' frameborder=0><p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p></iframe>
4. Save the form as an HTML file.
5. Test the form by viewing it on your browser. Pressing the PayPal button should take you to the PayPal site, while pressing the Submit button on your form will execute the action that you set in your HTML code.