PayPal Review 2024

PayPal is a popular payment app allowing users to send and receive money. It has many more features than most people realize.

In this PayPal Review, I’ll help you discover everything PayPal has to offer!

What Is PayPal?

PayPal is a payments app allowing users to pay businesses for goods or services or transfer money to friends or family with a PayPal account. You can use PayPal as a mobile app or on your web browser to manage your transactions.

PayPal is a household name that has been around since 1998 under Confinity. It officially became PayPal in March 2000. PayPal has been accredited with the Better Business Bureau since 2001 and has an A rating as of the date of this post.

How PayPal Works

Creating a PayPal account is free for anyone. You can use your account to shop either online or in person and transfer funds all under one account. To receive funds easier and without the risk of error, you can use your PayPal.me link or share your individual QR code. You can also shop in person with PayPal using QR codes.

If you don’t use the QR code or PayPal.me link, you’ll need the recipient’s username on PayPal, mobile phone number, or email address to send the funds.

The PayPal app makes tracking where you’ve sent funds, seeing how much you’ve received, and even splitting the bill with friends or family simple.

Who PayPal Is For

PayPal is highly versatile, offering services for personal and business use. Users can pay companies or individuals domestically or abroad. The app works well for anyone who wants a secure way to transfer funds or pay major retailers.

PayPal Costs

Using PayPal usually incurs fees, except for paying friends or family. Here’s what PayPal charges.

Domestic and International Fees

There’s no fee to send money domestically to friends or family using your PayPal balance, bank account, or debit card. There’s also no fee to send money using Amex Send. However, if you pay the transaction with a credit card, you’ll pay a fee of 2.9% plus $0.30.

If you send money to friends or family internationally, you’ll pay a 5% fee of the amount transferred, with a minimum fee of $0.99 and a maximum fee of $4.99.

Transferring Funds Out of PayPal

To transfer your PayPal funds out of PayPal into your bank account, or a card, or to receive a mailed check incurs the following fees:

• $0 for standard bank transfer (1 to 3 business days)
• 1.75% of the amount transferred for instant transfer to a bank account or card (maximum $25 fee)
• $1.50 for a mailed paper check

Receiving QR Code Payments

To receive payments via a QR code, you’ll pay the following fees:

• 1.9% of the total plus $0.10 for transactions over $10
• 1.4% of the total plus $0.10 for transactions below $10

Unique Features and Benefits

You already know payment apps allow you to send and receive money, but PayPal does much more, including the following features.

1. Buy Now, Pay Later

PayPal’s Buy Now, Pay Later is like many other ‘pay in 4’ payment apps available today. With PayPal’s Buy Now, Pay Later, you can make one payment when you purchase the item. You’ll then make the remaining three payments every two weeks with no interest.

You can also choose the pay monthly option for larger purchases, choosing a 6, 12, or 24-month plan. This option accrues interest of 9.99% to 29.99%. The exact interest rate you pay depends on your creditworthiness.

2. Money Transfer

Money transfers are simple with PayPal. Whether you make a purchase, send money to friends, or donate, you can do so securely with PayPal.

When you pay friends or family with a PayPal account, sending money is fast, almost instant. This makes it much easier to split bills when not everyone has cash or you only have a credit card but need to pay someone fast.

3. Digital Wallet

PayPal’s digital wallet makes it easy to check out almost anywhere. To pay, you must add your credit or debit card to your wallet, and then you can check out wherever PayPal is accepted. You can load your rewards credit cards and continue earning rewards, or choose buy now, pay later to split the cost into four equal payments.

The PayPal digital wallet secures your payment information since they don’t share your financial information for the purchase, giving you an extra layer of security when shopping.

4. Small Business

If you run a small business, use PayPal to collect payments and get paid fast. PayPal provides three ways to get paid as a seller, including:

• QR code: Always get paid without fail using your individual QR code
• Seller profile: PayPal can provide you with a personal payment link you can share with your customers
• Invoices: Create personalized invoices in PayPal and send them to your customers to get paid fast

5. Deals and Cash Back

Get exclusive deals through PayPal by activating deals or coupons to your favorite stores. You can also earn cashback on certain items in PayPal. If you also link a rewards credit card to your PayPal account, you can ‘double dip’ by getting rewards from PayPal and your credit card for the same purchase.

6. Fundraising

PayPal makes it easy to give to your favorite charities. You can set your favorite charity and always donate $1 when you check out. You can also donate individually to your favorite charities and causes.

If you donate to a charity using PayPal, they’ll cover the transaction fees, or you can raise money for family, friends, or even local businesses.

Security

Security is an important consideration when dealing with any type of payment app, whether paying someone, receiving funds, or running a business.

To keep your information safe, PayPal uses 2-factor authentication, security questions, strong password requirements, and the option to request that PayPal delete your data.

Customer Support

Getting in touch with PayPal is just as important as keeping your information safe. Fortunately, PayPal offers many opportunities for customer service, including:

• Instant chatting with the PayPal assistant
• Leave a message for a PayPal agent
• Ask the community, a forum of PayPal members that can help one another
• Resolution Center to get help with account or transaction issues
• Phone customer service, but you must log into your account to get the number

PayPal Ratings

PayPal has an A rating with the Better Business Bureau but only 1.3 stars on Trustpilot. However, most of the negative reviews on TrustPilot are from international countries, and those from the US have to do with international payments.

On the BBB, PayPal has had 11,500 complaints closed in the last 12 months. This means PayPal resolved the issue with the person filing the complaint.

Pros & Cons

Understanding PayPal’s pros and cons can help determine if it’s right for you. Here are some important factors to consider.

Pros

• PayPal is a household name that many people trust
• There are many ways to transfer money to people or pay for services without fees
• PayPal offers many ways to save money or get deals

Cons

• The fees can be steep if you aren’t using a PayPal balance or debit card
• They freeze money in accounts without warning

PayPal Success Stories

PayPal has had thousands of success stories, helping individuals and businesses manage their money.

Here are two PayPal success stories that stuck out to me:

Oneika Raymond loves to travel the world, and as soon as she could after the pandemic, she started again. She left her New York City apartment and began traveling the world with her husband and young daughter. She credits her financial success on her travels to PayPal, which she uses to track her spending, split bills, and find deals to make traveling affordable.

André Jeanpierre, a self-proclaimed bargain hunter, has learned how to master his finances and reduce financial stress using PayPal. Some ways the app helps him include PayPal Honey, a coupon app that automatically applies coupons at checkout, and PayPal Rewards, which pays cashback for purchases.

André also uses PayPal’s Buy Now, Pay Later feature to reduce his costs on large purchases, allowing him to spread the payments, paying an equal amount every two weeks.

Frequently Asked Questions

PayPal is a well-known company, but you may be unaware of everything it offers. Here are some common questions people have.

How Do I Receive Money With PayPal?

You can receive money using the email address or mobile phone number used to sign up for your PayPal account. Users send money to your PayPal account, and you can use the funds to shop and checkout with PayPal or transfer the funds to your bank account.

How Do I Send Money With PayPal?

It’s as easy as clicking ‘Send’ and ‘Request’ inside your PayPal account to send money. Enter the information you have, whether the recipient’s phone number, email, or user name, enter the amount, and choose your payment type. The money will be transferred to your recipient instantly.

Can I Cancel a Payment After I Send It?

You cannot cancel a payment you sent; however, the recipient doesn’t have to accept it. They can click ‘deny,’ and the payment will cancel. PayPal also cancels all transactions that aren’t accepted within 30 days.

What Is a Payment Hold and Why Would It Happen?

Sometimes PayPal puts holds on funds a business collects if there isn’t enough information about the transaction, you are a new business, or there are customer disputes. This may happen if you sell high-risk items, have unusual activity, or haven’t sold anything for a while. A PayPal payment hold can last for up to 21 days.

Should You Use PayPal?

If you’re looking for a secure payment platform that most people are familiar with and many retailers use, you’ve found it in PayPal.

Its fees can be steep if you use anything but your PayPal balance or a checking account, but PayPal offers security and many other benefits that a lot of other payment apps don’t.