How to sign up for a Paypal account

Paypal is probably the most popular payment system in the planet today. Only recently have they started to allow the Philippines to register for their service as well as withdraw money locally.

Paypal in the Philippines opened further the gates of globalization to the common Filipino, because Paypal is an established brand that offers secure and easy transactions online. Other nationalities now will have confidence in transacting with Filipino’s because of this too. I myself prefer to transact with companies that accept Paypal as a payment because of the benefits mentioned below.

To register for Paypal, head on over to their site and click on sign-up. Be sure to select “Philippines” when asked about your country.

Benefits of Paypal:

1. Pay online without exposing your credit card no. You don’t have to worry about where your credit card number will end up since Paypal will be a buffer between the merchant and your Credit Card No.
2. Receive money from paypal accounts and up to 5 credit card payments per year
3. If you have a business or premium account, you can receive unlimited credit card payment, schedule payment and receive invoices

Downside of Paypal:

1. Almost less $1 on the conversion rate given when transferring money to your local account
2. You can only transfer money to a peso denominated account. Meaning you cannot transfer dollars to a dollar account if you have one.

What type of Paypal Accounts are there?
There are 3 types of paypal account:

1. Personal - For individuals who shop online
2. Premier - For individuals who buy and sell online
3. Business - For merchants who use a company or group name

If you are just going to receive money from other Paypal accounts then I would suggest getting just a personal account. But if you want to receive money from credit cards go for the Premier account. If however you want to transact business under a business name then go for the Business account. Unlike a personal account, with a Premier or Business account you will be charged for each payment made via a Paypal account.

Check out the Paypal Fee’s table here which also show’s what the difference in each account is.

How Do I receive money in my Paypal account?:
First you need to verify your account in Paypal. This done by registering on your paypal account your mastercard or visa credit card.

If you aren’t fortunate enough to have a credit card, the second option is to apply for a debit card. The one that is most popular in the Philippines right now that can be used with Paypal is Unionbank’s EON card. For under P400 a year you can get your own EON card. Paypal will charge you $1.95 for registering your card in the expanded use program. So make sure that if you are using a debit card it has about $1.95 in its account.

To begin registering your credit or debit card. Go to the navigation bar and click on “Profile” then on the drop down hit “Add/Edit Credit Card.” Click on Add then enter the pertinent information and follow the instructions on the screen.

How do I withdraw my Paypal funds to my bank account in the Philippines?

First you have to register your bank account to your Paypal account.

To begin registering your Philippine Bank Account in Paypal, go to the navigation bar and click on “Profile” then on the drop down hit “Add/Edit Bank Account.” Click on Add then enter the pertinent information and follow the instructions on the screen. Select the country to be Philippines. Enter your name that has to match with your bank account. Then the name of the bank and its Bank Code code.

Complete list of Philippine Bank Codes in Paypal can be found here.

Then input your bank account no. Be sure to input the correct information, otherwise you will be hit with a return fee (usually P250.00) for causing a failed transaction.

Bank transfers will usually take 3-5 banking days (weekends not counted). Some banks will usually charge you with a transfer fee amounting to P200 for each transaction. Paypal will also hit you with a transfer fee of P50 if the amount you are transferring is less than P7000.00.

As soon as your bank account registers in your Paypal account you can transfer the money by hitting “Withdraw” on the navigation tab then “Withdraw funds to your bank account.” You can use the currency converter to check how much the amount will be actually transferred to your account before hitting the “Continue” button.

You can also choose “Withdraw funds to your card” to transfer the funds to your credit card instead, but this will incurr you a $5 transaction fee from paypal.

Security Tips with Your Paypal Account
Ok so now I have a Paypal account, how do I keep it secure?

1. Always use a password that is more than 8 characters long, that is a mix of numbers and characters with different capitalization and that is not part of a known word in the dictionary.
2. Try to use a separate email account that is unknown to anybody but you, from a reputable email service (Gmail, Yahoo), when registering for a paypal account. Although it might not always stop people from entering your account, at least it adds a layer of security.
3. Login to your Paypal account and conduct your online payment transactions in a secure computer (usually your own) that has a virus protection software running. Public internet cafe’s are a no-no because they could house key logging software and other malware that can harvest your paypal log-in information. Try to not visit websites that could download malware and other spyware to your computer.
4. Identity theft is one way that people can hack into your account. Read up on Paypal’s site how to stop Identity Theft.
5. Phishing is another way for people to steal your Paypal login information. These are emails impersonating to be from the Paypal company and asking you to login to your account, but in actuality you are logging in to their website where they can harvest your login information. Check out Paypal’s how not to fall victim to Phishing. And if you do find one of these emails. Be sure to login to Paypal by typing the URL of paypal directly to your browser and not clicking on the URL found in the email. Also report immediately these phishing attempts to Paypal so that others can be warned.
6. Hit the logout button always when you are finished transacting in Paypal so that nobody can access your account afterwards from the computer you are using.