How to Accept Credit Cards Besides PayPal in eBay

1. Log in to your eBay seller account if you aren't already logged in. Click the 'My eBay' link at the top of the screen to access your account's 'My eBay' page.
2. Move your mouse pointer over the 'Accounts' tab on your 'My eBay' page. A menu will appear; click the 'Site Preferences' option to access your account's preference settings.
3. Locate the 'Selling Preferences' section. Click the 'Show' option beside the 'Payments from Buyers' listing. Click the 'Edit' link that appears to edit your payment preferences.
4. Click the 'Accept Credit or Debit Card Payments to Your Internet Merchant Account' option on the payment preferences page.
5. Select your payment gateway provider from the drop-down list on the merchant account setup page.
6. Enter your merchant account ID, also known as a gateway login or API login ID, and enter your password or transaction key. Provide any additional information required by the gateway provider, such as a merchant ID or Partner ID.
7. Select the credit cards you wish to accept and whether you want credit card users to pass address or security code checks.
8. Enter the card information for a credit card of your own which adheres to the settings you've selected. Your card won't be charged; it is simply used to verify that the settings are set properly and that your merchant account is functioning correctly.
9. Click the 'Submit' button to finish setting up your merchant account. You can now use this account to process credit card payments for your eBay sales instead of having to use PayPal.

How to Get PayPal to Release Funds

1. Contact the customer service Help Desk, reachable through the PayPal website (see Resources), and ask why the funds have been placed on hold. Include pertinent information about yourself, your buyer and the purchase.
2. Ask the PayPal representative if the funds can be released early. If your account is new, offer to use a credit card as a backup funding source. This may assure PayPal and the buyer that it is safe to release your money.
3. Try to resolve any conflict with your buyer. If your funds are being held over a conflict of some sort, contact the buyer and ask him what needs to be done to resolve the conflict. If the problem can be resolved, ask the buyer to contact PayPal to let the service know that the issue has been resolved.Try offering the buyer a partial refund. Issuing any sort of refund to your buyer will normally unlock the hold on your funds.

How to Use PayPal to Facilitate a Transaction Between Two Users

1. Sign up for a PayPal account and ask the other person to do the same. Register for PayPal by supplying your email address, name and address, as well as checking account or credit card information. Create a unique password to access your account. Activate your account by verifying your email address through the special link that's emailed to you.
2. Notify the other person of the email account you used to register with PayPal; ask him for the same information. Don't exchange PayPal passwords. Agree on the amount of funds to be exchanged. The person sending the money needs to log into his PayPal account and select 'Send Money' under the menu options; he then selects the recipient's email address in the 'Send To' field. Follow the prompts to complete the transaction.
3. Check your email for a receipt or notification of the transaction. The sender receives an email receipt, while the recipient receives notification that the funds have been sent. The recipient must then log into PayPal, select 'Withdraw' from the 'My Account' options and select a method of receiving the funds. PayPal sends email notifications to confirm each activity, so check your email for verification.

How to Use PayPal Without a Credit Card or Bank Number

1. Go to a store that sells MoneyPaks. Chains that sell them include Wal-Mart, CVS, Walgreen’s, Rite Aid, Kroger and Kmart.
2. Pay for the MoneyPak with the amount you want to add to the PayPal account, plus a service fee, which is $4.95 maximum. You can add between $20 and $500, up to $1,100 at Wal-Mart.
3. Log into PayPal and create an account, if you don’t have one. Go to “My Account,” “Add Funds,” “Add Funds from MoneyPak.”
4. Enter the number at the bottom of your MoneyPak ticket, or enter the activation number on your receipt if you bought it at Wal-Mart.

How to Accept Credit Cards on eBay

1. Set up a PayPal account (see Resources). You will need to provide PayPal with personal details such as your address and checking account information. PayPal will verify your checking account, making two small deposits of between one and 20 cents. You will need to check your bank statement for the exact amount of the deposits, then enter that information on the PayPal site.
2. When you're listing your items, eBay will ask you to select payment methods. Under PayPal, you can enter the e-mail address you used to set up your PayPal account. Payments will go to that account.
3. Ebay requires sellers to offer PayPal as a method of payment. However, you can also offer alternative ways for your customers to pay with a credit card. Google Checkout is a popular alternative. You can set up an account with it by clicking on the link below (see Resources).
4. If you sell a lot on eBay, you may want to consider establishing yourself as business (sole proprietorship), rather than an individual seller. You can set up a merchant account with both eBay and Paypal. The main benefit of this is lower transaction fees. The drawback is that the IRS will look more carefully into your taxes. To qualify for a business account with Paypal, you have to have been registered with Paypal for at least 90 days. You must have received at least $3,000 in payments in the last calendar month. To keep the account active, you must maintain at least a $1,000/month sales average.
5. If you are a merchant, you may also want to consider Authorize.net (see Resources) as an alternative to PayPal. It has over 200,000 users and lower fees but is still much less popular on eBay than PayPal.

How to Use PayPal Storefront

1. Sign into PayPal Storefront. Use your PayPal email and password. If you don't have a PayPal account, you'll need to set up one before using Storefront.
2. Select your decorations, title and policies for your Storefront widget. You can also add a logo, if you have an image that's 60 by 35 pixels. Your policies include how you ship products, how customers can contact you and anything else you'd like a customer to know about you and your products.
3. Add your product details. Click on the "Products" tab to open up the products page. Here you can give a title to the product you're selling, in addition to setting its price and giving some information about it. You can add a picture, but it should be 188 by 168 pixels and it should be hosted somewhere else--on a free photo site such as Flickr or Photobucket. Paste the photo's URL in the box labeled "Picture of Product."
4. Add your inventory information. The inventory page has options to add sizes, for example, if you're selling T-shirts. Beyond that, you can show how much of any product you have in stock so people can't continue buying a product if it's sold out. This is the place where you should provide special shipping information or specific notes about the product.
5. Add the rest of your products. Press the "+" button to add a new product and repeat the last two steps until you've added everything you need to add.
6. Set your shipping rates. Click on the "Shipping" tab to bring this up. You can make a tiered shipping-rate system, perhaps lowering the shipping rate as more money is spent.
7. Open your store. Click the "Store Open" tab and make sure that your store is open.
8. Publish your Storefront. Click on the "Publish" tab to bring up your options. If you have a MySpace account or a TypePad account, you can choose one of these sites from the list, and Storefront automatically publishes to your MySpace page or TypePad blog. Otherwise you can copy the HTML code that's given to you and paste it into your own website.
9. Update your Storefront as you add stock or change policies.

How to Rent a Car With a PayPal Debit Card

1. Call the rental car company in advance or review their policies online to make sure that they accept Paypal debit cards. The majority of companies that accept bank-issued debit cards will also accept Paypal, but make sure before you begin the rental process.
2. Review Paypal's policy concerning debit card usage. Paypal will hold the funds associated with a transaction for approximately 5 business days in order to give the merchant time to claim the funds. If the funds are not claimed, the hold is released, but the merchant still has 30 days from the original transaction date to claim the funds.
3. Read the rental agreement carefully. Many rental car companies also place temporary holds greater than the amount of the transaction on customer's debit cards to cover any damages that may occur during the rental period. Take note of the total amount to be charged to your card, and when the hold on any additional funds will be released.