Those of you that are paid mystery shops through paypay please tell me do you have the paypal debit card. According to paypal it is faster than having the money transferred to your bank account. Also, is there any type of fee or balance involved? Bank transfer is 3-4 days. Paypal debit is suppose to be instantly when they receive your money.

Pay Pal debit card? Didn't know there was such an animal. I know they have a Pay Pal credit card.
I don't like Pay Pal, never have liked it and never will. But I have to use it for some shops I do.

I used to do Ebay and had some problems with Pay Pal. Glitches in the system and they lost some of my money.

Yes paypal has a debit card, which is separate from their credit card. Does anyone out there use the debit card.

I have one...........you use it like a credit card and I get 1% back on it. I have earned almost $50 cash back this year. Last year, it was over $100. Kind of nice to recycle your MS money AND earn more cash back. Makes those small paying shops add up!! It just takes the funds you have in your account........and if you don't have enough...you can attach your regular bank account on it.....(I have w/ a $200 limit) You can also use it at ATM and withdraw funds but there is a $2 fee.
I do believe you have to have a premier business account to get one though. I don't think it is offered on a personal account. There aren't any fees for the debit card. It is a MASTERCARD!


Basically thoughfrom their site)
Question :How do I get a PayPal Debit Card? Question :
Answer : The PayPal Debit Card is available to users who:
Have a U.S. PayPal account
Have been a PayPal member for at least 60 days
Registered a credit card where the monthly statement is sent to a physical street address (not a P.O. box)
Are Verified (completed PayPal's Verification process)
Have upgraded to a Premier or Business account
Are an active PayPal member in good standing, as determined by our Account Review Department
If you meet these requirements, log in to your account and click the ATM/Debit Card link in the footer of any PayPal page to request your card.

After you submit your card request, our Account Review department processes your application. You should receive your card in two to four weeks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/2008 02:15PM by bugspost.

I find it works just as well to transfer funds on to my bank. It takes "3-4 business days" though most often the funds show up in my bank as "processing" 2 business days later. I have 3 credit cards, none with PayPal that I can use for mystery shopping. One is rarely used as it has no cash back feature. One pays 2% at some establishments but 1% or less at others, while the third card pays 1% across the board. If I am shopping a discount establishment I use the one that is 1% across the board, for other shops I am likely to use the 2% card. With about $6000 in MS reimbursements last year, that mounts up to a nice chunk 'o change no matter how you cut it.

My plan exactly Flash. But I'm not into credit cards either for my shops. I pay with cash. Keep a record of expenditures and when my checks/paypal payments come I deduct the amount of cash from my pay.

Credit cards have more interest than they have "paybacks" The only way to beat the credit card system is to pay the balance in full each month.

I may have to change things as I go along with Mystery Shopping but for the moment I'm running on cash.

Maybe one of those 0% interest for a year will come in the mail. I detest interest on credit cards.

One set of assignments I get monthly or each six weeks is for a chain that does not tell its employees to give receipts. The MSP suggests that I use a credit card so I can get a receipt to show them. I haven't yet done this, but a PayPal card would work just as well. I usually say my husband wants to know where our money is going, which is a viable excuse in this economy.

Fortunately I am in a situation where I do pay my credit cards in full each month. I use them mostly as "free money" for a month while my cash earns whatever pitiful rate my checking/savings account is paying at the moment. I figure it is to my advantage because there is a series of payments coming in for previous work that will have added to my accounts nicely by the time the credit card needs to be paid. So earning the paltry interest for 15 to 45 days extra and the cash back works well for me. I also take into account that one of my credit cards closes for the statement on the 10th and the other on the 18th, so I tend to use the one that closes on the 10th more until the one for the 18th closes--all other things being equal--to stretch as much as possible the date when payment is actually due. And of course putting the charges on the cards also helps verify the business expenses.

I have a grocery/gas/eatingout card we pay off every month. A personal card with only 2% interest but so far everything has worked out Jim Dandy for the monthly pay off. We're just careful we don't exceed our budget for these things.

And I collect receipts, receipts and receipts on everything and add them to Quick Books. And have a special file for receipts. My husband is in his own business and Quick Books is how he manages his business.

I'm managing my Mystery shopping the same way. Once I got everything organized it's easy as pie to separate the "cost" from the income produced, including gas.

I know some of my shops I only break even with the cost of gas. But I'm having fun and free eats!!
We have gone to dinner several times and have basically had a free meal. With the rising cost of groceries and free meal twice a week or more works great for us!!

The meal in exchange for a report works for me. While I love to cook, I also love to eat out. Not an insignificant fringe benefit is that my sweetie insists on eating with the TV turned on at home so a meal out is a chance to talk over dinner. Guess we have just been together too long . . .

Me too Flash. Eating out is a great pleasure for me. Hubby likes to eat out too!!

No cooking, no dishes...just fun!!

Our TV thing changes with the season. Summer time we hardly have the thing on and in the winter you will find us, eating and watching the news.

Here it is an election year, when I am usually glued to the TV news and haven't had the news on for a couple months. I get my news on Yahoo. LOL!!

Yep I see eating out free for form a Great thing!!

I use my PayPal debit card all the time and I love it. I do not have any credit cards anymore and I have all my shops paid by PayPal that I can and I use the PayPal debit card for all my shop purchases. Of course I don't Ms full time, so we are not talking about boatloads of money.

How do you get by the instructions to not use a card to purchase. I get that all the time in my instructions...Pay Cash!
And I understand the instructions...I don't want every person working for scheduling company knowing the numbers on my credit card. Or debit card. I think it's a safety issue with your credit/debit card.

Relatively few of my shops call for a cash purchase and of course when they do I pay cash. My credit card receipts at most show the last 4 digits of my card, which I see as no problem. When I do bank shops that show my account number or any shop I feel gives too much information I use my Sharpie marker to black it out before I scan and upload or email it.

billienicolosi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How do you get by the instructions to not use a
> card to purchase. I get that all the time in my
> instructions...Pay Cash!
> And I understand the instructions...I don't want
> every person working for scheduling company
> knowing the numbers on my credit card. Or debit
> card. I think it's a safety issue with your
> credit/debit card.


Many shops require credit card especially restaurant shops........the schedulers would not know your cc numbers........they are not even on your receipt and if for some reason in your state they are.........you can black them out.
I use cc for grocery, gas, restaurant shops. Now, there are some shops that require CASH.

Some MSPs tell you to make sure you black out the #. I always just tape a little piece of paper over the # in case I want to return something

I haven't run across a required credit card yet but I'm basically new with Mystery shopping. However I use a credit card for grocery shops. Fits within our grocery budget and my instructions weren't specific as to how to pay.

For higher cash back rewards, check out Costco's American Express. It gives 3% on gas and restaurants, 2% on travel, and 1% on everything else. I just love mine and it comes with your picture on the back for those pesky photo ID requests!

sella Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Those of you that are paid mystery shops through
> paypay please tell me do you have the paypal debit
> card. According to paypal it is faster than
> having the money transferred to your bank account.
> Also, is there any type of fee or balance
> involved? Bank transfer is 3-4 days. Paypal debit
> is suppose to be instantly when they receive your
> money.


Back to your questions on "Paypal debit cards"... I have had and use paypal debit cards for several years, and I love it! I have never had a problem using paypal, and you don't have to have a credit card to open an account, if you have a debit card from your bank with your checking account, you can use that. I use my paypal debit card mostly as a Master Card, I rarely use it as a debit card, because that costs money. lol It takes 3-4 days to transfer money from your checking account, unless you do it with your debit card, then it usually gets there a little quicker. As far as others transferring money to your account, it is pretty close to intantly from the time they make the deposit.

As far as the amount of cash back you recieve through Paypal, it is 1.5% cashback, I know that isn't much more then 1%, but it adds up as well. Also they have a Money Markey that you can join, and you will get a dividend of the amount of money in your account throughout the month, and currently it is at 2.33%. The money market isn't invested by paypal, but via an independent investment company, and they warn you that you could lose money through it, but in the past 7 years, I have not lost any money, but rather the opposite, I have gotten a divedend deposit in my account every month on the 1st, which is a very nice bonus additive.

I also wanted to let you know that your online records of your paypal transactions are very clear concerning both transactions a deposits. Paypal also stands behind you when it comes to CC fraud, whether it is a CC or debit card. They offer great protection. They have gotten a lot better about everything through the years. That is a big reason why a lot of people only take paypal now, especially if their business is online. It is a great idea!

Best Wishes and Great Shopping,
Sonja