I have avoided all MSCs that only pay by PayPal. I know that eliminates quite a few. I have reconsidered. How does PayPal work? Do you get assessed a fee for the MSC paying by PayPal? Please let me know. Thanks.

Hi. I have been with Paypal over 20 years. NO, they do not charge you to accept a payment or to buy something with your balance or a credit card. You can also transfer the money instantly (almost) from Paypal to your own bank account, free. Paypal keeps your credit cards and bank info very secure and confidential. If u hook your bank account to it, you can also pay from your account if u do not have a paypal balance or credit card and want to buy something from someone. It only charges you if u want to send money to someone (ie the MSC pays them a small fee). I heartily recommend their service.

To follow up on what Crickettt says, Paypal is safe to use. If you do an internet search, you will find a lot of complaints about Paypal freezing bank accounts. That's a small minority of people, and a lot of that has to do with Ebay transactions. Right now Ebay owns Paypal, but it is in the process of spinning Paypal into an independent company, but that is irrelevant for this discussion. Paypal is not a bank, it is in FDIC insured, it is basically a depository for money. Once money is in your Paypal account, there are three ways to use your money. You could have Paypal send you a paper check, and there is a fee ($2.50 I think). You could get a Paypal debit card (others on this board could explain how that works). Or you could have the money transferred to your bank account. There is no fee for this, and it takes 2-3 business days. If you don't want to connect your primary bank account to Paypal because of stories you've heard, you could always mystery shop a bank, open a small checking account and connect that to Paypal. I would never avoid a MSC because they pay by Paypal. About 75% of my shops are paid through Paypal. That would be a lot of business I would be missing out on. I have used Paypal for over 20 years (started because of Ebay) and I have never had an issue.

Paypal is easier for recordkeeping as well. If you forget to record that you received a payment from an MSC, you can tell right away by checking your Paypal account.

Also, Paypal is better than the paper checks as it won't get lost in the mail (or in my case, being forgetful!).

I just realized that if I use my PayPal debit card as a credit card (that is, with a signature rather than a pin number), that they will refund 1% of the amount I paid. That seems like a good deal, which in the past I have missed out on because I simply had money moved to my bank account.

I've been a PayPal user since about 2001. I've had nothing but good experiences with them, even when one problem occurred. The only issue happened when one Christmas season I purchase a large ticket item on Amazon using my PayPal debit card and PayPal denied the payment, flagging it as fraud because it was so far outside of my normal spending habits with them.

They actually called me to tell me of the activity on my card. I would have rather they waited to cancel the transaction until I had been notified, but I was still glad they were on top of things. When I went to purchase the item again, it wasn't available for delivery by Christmas. As an apology, PayPal customer service wrote me a personalized apology and issued a $20 credit to my account. I think that's pretty great.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/2015 06:15PM by TechSavvy.

for SOME transactions...paypal keeps a portion of the money sent to you...I have only come across 1 MSC that assesses the charge to the shopper..the other MSCs cover the fee.

when it is used for things like ebay when you sell items...they take your fee out

There are at least two MSCs who pass along the fee to the shopper opting for PayPal, Second to None and Stericycle/CORI. Both offer direct deposit at no charge. It is rare a company offering a single option such as PayPal will not cover the fee, but it can happen and shoppers should be familiar with policies prior to accepting a shop.

Paypal is awesome - do it. When I get paper checks now, I get annoyed and wish that MSC would get in the 21st century.

I have a paypal debit/credit card and have access to my money immediately. No fees.

Most of my payment that are paid on Paypal are in USD. The handy thing about this is that I'm in Canada, so I get the currency exchange. Its a nice little bonus, especially from Service Sleuth because they take so long to pay.

For the purposes of accepting payments as a mystery shopper, pretty much everything is covered. The debit card is the same as any bank debit card.

If you choose to transfer money directly to or from your bank account, there is a three day delay. They make a few extra days of interest off the money that way, a few cents to help pay for providing you a free service.

If you decide to use them to accept payments for selling stuff as a business, then you pay a small fee. For many the fees are a lot less expensive than a merchant account would cost.

I keep money in the account and use the card to pay for mystery shops, the 1% bonus doesn't hurt. I also use it for personal stuff.

Depending on where you are and how your bank posts payments, there is not always a three day delay. It can be 36-48 hours or 4 to 5 days. If I initiate a transfer to my bank on Monday, it is posted and available by Wednesday morning. That is the same amount of time as if I had deposited a check after 2 pm on Monday. On rare occasions I have initiated a transfer early in the morning and had it post to my bank the following day.

@myst4au wrote:

I just realized that if I use my PayPal debit card as a credit card (that is, with a signature rather than a pin number), that they will refund 1% of the amount I paid. That seems like a good deal, which in the past I have missed out on because I simply had money moved to my bank account.

@Crickettt wrote:

@myst4au wrote:

I just realized that if I use my PayPal debit card as a credit card (that is, with a signature rather than a pin number), that they will refund 1% of the amount I paid. That seems like a good deal, which in the past I have missed out on because I simply had money moved to my bank account.

Ya, I forgot about that, and that is a great thing. I used to have them transfer funds to my bank account, but when I got the debit card, and use it without a pin, they do give a small bit of change back into my account. I forgot about it as, these days, I spend the money at Paypal buying things online, so it usually goes out faster than it goes in. LOL

To add to everyones terrific information, you can also go to Wikipedia and read about their history. Paypal was founded in 1998, 17 years ago, and had it's IPO in 2002.
Pretty interesting read.
Good luck with your decision.

Pay Pal is good, instead of direct deposit to your bank account the money is paid to you through PayPal, I have not had any problem at all with this payment, you will get a e-mail stating the money has been deposited, and you log in to paypal and can either transferred to your bank for free, or get a paypal debit card and use the card as a debit card. Very safe

Paypal is essentially works like an online bank. You can earn interest on the account if you have enough money in the account. You can transfer the money you earn to a local bank and then withdraw the funds from your local bank for free. Usually the mystery shopping company pays a fee to paypal for the right to pay you through paypal (If they don't pay the fee, then don't work for them.)

I believe that until recently Paypal was owned by ebay, and it has been my understanding that paypal was originally set up for ebay users, i.e. it is easy to use.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2015 09:45PM by alannajm.

Hi Raffles,

I will say you are totally missing out. There are so many mystery shopping companies who are very good who use this method. The quality of your work life should go up when you join Paypal and register with those companies. Also I have received money via Paypal 7 days a week. You can get a credit on Sunday.

I am not going to explain what others have posted. When you join you need to register a bank account from what I remember. You just do not need to use it. You do need to confirm the bank account. You do not need to give any other type of accounts such as your credit cards or other bank accounts. When you get your Paypal debit card you can get your money instantly without fees at no fee ATMs. It would seem tedious to register but it is worth it.

What no one here mentions that can be of great use is Paypal credit. It used to be called Bill Me Later. When I applied you just needed a good credit score, in addition to a Paypal account. They did not check my credit report or employment. They raised my limit 3 times. I have not seen them listed on any of my 3 bureau credit reports. FYI. I am unsure (I have not been able to figure it out) but do not believe you can use your debit card to post to Paypal credit.

This is valuable because you can set it up where when you Paypal online it can be posted to Paypal credit. BUT not when you have a balance in Paypal to cover the purchase. I pay my car insurance with Progressive using Paypal. Since my amount due is greater than $250 Paypal credit grants 6 months grace with no interest or fees if paid in that time. I can pay my premium outright with no fees. This saves me $150 yearly and I get to do it in payments. You can do this with any company that accepts Paypal. I do not ever use the pay by Paypal credit option.

If the amount is low then it goes to Paypal credit's next statement. This means you are granted more time to pay that expense. An example is that you pay $75 for a laser printer at Newegg on June 15th. You will see the charge posted in your July Paypal credit statement. Paypal credit will expect payment with no interest charges or fees until August 2nd. If you have money in your Paypal on August 2nd to cover it you can instantly pay. If you pay by bank account there can be delays.

What I explain here is Paypal as the payor only, not Paypal credit. The recordkeeping is very easy and you can easily withdraw your money. A check takes time to come and then you have to cash it at a bank. This way also makes you more environmentally friendly. I personally accept forms of payment such as checks, direct deposit and Paypal only. I will pick a method of payment where I do not incur a fee. For Ath Power I had to sign up with Bill.com. When I receive payment it is directly deposited into my bank account. Paypal may be a nuisance if you combine this will selling activities or purchase used items online. If you engage in these activities you would be aware of the problem previous to signing up with Paypal.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2015 10:21PM by sandrapdunne.

Pay pal is a breeze. It's really no different than a direct deposit.

I am glad that a lot of people had good experiences with PayPal, I personally will never use them again. You have to remember that PayPal is not regulated and make up their own rules. I had a eBay account and despite no issues PayPal froze my account and kept several thousand dollars of mine for 6 months while not paying me any interest for the money they were holding. When I attempted to dispute it they refused to tell me the reason they were holding it and only stated that since they are not a bank they are allowed to do as they wish. I will never accept any PayPal payments or trust them to do business ever again.

Raffles,

Many MSPs use PayPal. I'm glad you are reconsidering because by not working with MSPs that only use PayPal you are eliminating a large number of MSPs, and perhaps a better payment method from some.

Personally, I prefer PayPal because it keeps a record, notifies me by email when a payment is received and allows me to transfer it to my bank. I have not used PayPal for payments or taken advantage of their credit/debit card type payment system. There is a down side, the two to four day float between date of transfer and arrival in my bank account.

Also, on the Paypal debit card, be sure to go and click on the offers they have to give you extra rewards. There are sometimes "Odd number men" listed there as well as other commonly shopped places.

Thanks everyone for the info. I ended up setting up a PayPal account and have signed up with several new MSCs.