PayPal 19 Tips and Tricks Guide to Mastering the Payment Service
We bring you a complete PayPal guide with 19 functions and tricks to master the online payment system. PayPal is a service that has become popular for acting as an intermediary between your bank account and the online store where you buy so as not to give them your account details, but it is a service that offers much more. PayPal 19 Tips and Tricks Guide to Mastering the Payment Service.
In this guide you will find all the main functions of this platform, from the methods to send money to other users to the cancellation of payments or refunds against scams. It also has other lesser-known options, such as a fundraising system and another for splitting accounts among your friends.
And as we always say in Engadget Basics, if you think we have missed any important or interesting function, or if you know a somewhat more elaborate trick, we invite you to share it with everyone .
Pay online with PayPal
Let's start with the most obvious function, that of being able to pay using your PayPal account. In accounts that accept PayPal as payment, you will be able to use the account you have created to pay without having to enter your card details on the website where you are going to make the payment. A good way to keep your card details safe by paying online with PayPal.
This is especially useful when you are going to pay on a website that you do not trust at all. As we will see later, PayPal has guarantees and security in the event that the purchase ends up being a fraud. In addition, when you are going to pay with PayPal you can choose which payment method to use in the event that you have more than one card or account numbers linked.
Check all your movements
PayPal has a tab called Activity, in which you can see the information about all your movements. Here, both payments in online establishments and money shipments and requests will be grouped, and if you click on one of the movements, an information page will open with all its details.
This section has several search filters, which include a search engine in which to enter the search terms, or a date selector to filter the results. You also have advanced filters to show results by the type of transaction, its status, or even the currency in which it was made.
Check automatic payments
In the web version of PayPal it is one of the filters on the activity screen, but in the mobile version it has a separate section. PayPal allows you to review the payments you make automatically, such as the subscriptions you have for online services. Thus, it will be easier to check what money you are giving without realizing it each month, and manage or eliminate PayPal as a form of payment so that no more payments are allowed in this service and your subscription is canceled.
Ask for a refund if you have been scammed
The main advantage of using PayPal as a payment system is that it has mechanisms to request a refund if you have been scammed. You just have to enter your PayPal account and right click on a payment you have made. Once inside the payment information tab, click on the option Report a problem to start the procedure.
You will be able to request a refund in several cases. For example, if the purchased item has not reached you, or if what has arrived does not match the description on the website. You can also request a refund if someone has made a payment on your behalf using your account, or if there have been billing problems such as duplicate charges.
Request a refund of return payments
Imagine that you buy something, but then you make use of your right of withdrawal to return it to the online store where you bought it. But hey, this online store wants to pay you return costs, that you pay for the return shipping of the product. Well, if you have paid with PayPal, you can request a refund of return payments so that it is free to return the product.
In order to use this function, you have to activate the service on the PayPal. website. Then, the product must have been purchased using PayPal to pay, and you must return it within the period stipulated by the conditions of the trade or seller. The item must have been sent back to the seller through the artical Office, courier or any other option or usual delivery service, and then make the request for a refund of these expenses within 30 days. The button to initiate the request is in the payment tab in PayPal.
Send or request money to your contacts
Another advantage of PayPal is that you can send or ask for money from your contacts who also have an account. It is a very simple process, since on the initial page you have the options to send or request money. Then, you will only have to write the name or email of the contact to continue with the process.
The contact email must be the one you used to register with PayPal. Once the contact has been chosen, you can set the amount of money you want to send or request, and attach a personalized message so that person can read it. You will also have to specify that it is about sending money to a friend or relative.
It also serves to send money abroad
And if you want to send money to a friend or relative who lives abroad, PayPal is a fairly inexpensive method to do so as long as that person has their own account. There is a different rate for each country, but they are usually much lower than those of banks when you are going to send money abroad, and compete with other alternatives such as Western Union.
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The process of sending money abroad or requesting it from a contact who lives abroad is exactly the same, write the email of the account of this contact in the form to send or receive money. PayPal will automatically recognize the country to which the account belongs, and will inform you about the currency exchange and the commissions that the operation has. There is also another alternative to send money directly to a bank, but it is more expensive.
PayPal Me to send or receive money with a link
As we have told you in the previous steps, to send money or request that someone else send you money, you need to use email as a method to identify yourself as a contact. However, there is another alternative that does not require giving personal information, a by-product of PayPal called PayPal.Me.
The only thing you need to use PayPal.Me is to have an account created in PayPal with a linked bank account. Then, with this system you can create a unique and personal link, which you can share with other people so that they can send you money or request that you send them money.
Manage your public profile
Your PayPal profile is much more than being able to add a PayPalMe address, you will be able to edit it whenever you want both from the web managing PayPalMe data and from the public profile section of the app. Here, you can change the profile picture you want to use, the information about your location or a short description of 200 characters maximum to talk about you.
But the most important thing about these settings is that you will also be able to configure how other users can find you on PayPal. You will be able to activate or deactivate the option of being found through the email with which you have registered, or with the phone that you have linked to your account.
You can send money with a greeting card
When you enter the official PayPal website or mobile application, on the main page you will only see the normal options to send or request money. However, there is a More menu that has other options that often go unnoticed. One of them is to send money to a contact ... but with a little more flair.
The option is called Send gift, and when you enter you just have to choose a contact to which you want to send money. By doing so, you can choose from several digital cards with different designs and motifs, and write a message on them as a congratulation. Sending money can be a bit cold when you want to do it as a gift, so these cards are a good alternative.
Add money to your PayPal balance
Paying using the money on your bank card can be dangerous if you don't control yourself. As an alternative, PayPal allows you to have a balance of money in your account, a specific amount that you spend from the account you have linked, and then you can use that money to make your payments online. To add balance, click on Transfer money in the PayPal Balance section, and you will see the option Add money to your balance.
This can be useful to say, okay, I am not going to spend more than this amount of money. In addition, when another user sends you money, it is automatically added to your PayPal balance in your account, and it is not sent directly to your bank account.
Transfer your money from PayPal to your bank account
You will also do the reverse of what we have told you in the previous step, and you can transfer the money from your PayPal account to your bank. In this way, if someone has sent you money using this method so that it is free doing it within the same country, then you can transfer that money to one of the accounts that you have linked in PayPal.
To add balance click on Transfer money in the PayPal Balance section, and once inside click on the Transfer to bank account option. Next, you will have to choose one of your bank accounts linked to the PayPal account to send the money, and when you do, you will only have to set the amount. The money will reach you in two or three days.
Cancel a payment with PayPal
To avoid purchases by mistake and the like, PayPal allows you to cancel payments in some cases. You can do it when they are payments that have not been claimed, which is when the payment still appears as pending because the person who is going to receive it has not yet made it. This state can last very little, so you have to be fast.
There are two other cases where you can void a payment that you made by hand. You can only do this in two cases, which is when you have sent money to an email address not associated with a PayPal account, or when you have sent it to a recipient with an email address that has not been confirmed, already that PayPal only credits the money to accounts that have this information confirmed to ensure that they are the same person.
Use your fingerprint or your face to log in
In the PayPal mobile app settings, you have a Login and Security section. With it, you can use your mobile's biometric identification system to log into the app. In this way you gain in security by using your face or your fingerprint to log in when you open the app, but you also gain in comfort because you do not have to type passwords and the process is faster.
Check the permissions you give to the webs
Like many services, PayPal allows you to link it to some pages, so that they have permissions to access certain data about your account. As you will have seen in the previous screenshot, within the Login and security options, you also have an option to review the Permissions that you have given.
If you click on this option, you will see a list of all the services to which you have given permission to access your PayPal data, and you will have the option to eliminate this link with the services that no longer interest you or have ceased to interest you. And as you can see in the screenshot of this point, you can also see the detail of what permissions each service that you have linked to your PayPal account has, so that you can make the most informed decision possible.
Create a common fund
If you are thinking of doing a fundraiser, either to ask for donations for something, or to make a gift or joint trip with your friends, PayPal has a tool to create fundraisers within the More menu. With it, you will create a page in which you can describe the project, and accept payments from other users. You will have a link that you will be able to share, both in messaging applications and in social networks or wherever you want.
All you have to do is enter the PayPal common funds section, and there you will be guided step by step in the creation of one of these funds. These fund pages are completely free to create, and maintain encryption to ensure their safety. The creator of the funds will be able to see who is donating the money.
Split a payment among multiple people
When you start the process, the steps are simple. You have to write the amount of money in the account and invite the participants. PayPal will automatically divide that amount by the number of participants, and everyone can make the payment. The bad thing is that everyone will need to have a PayPal account, and the good thing is that if you have paid at the establishment, you can deduct your part of the payment so as not to pay twice.
Pay with your mobile using the QR code
And if what you want is to make a direct payment from one person to another when you are physically together, PayPal has a direct payment system via QR code in its mobile application. The option is called Scan / pay, and it allows you both to scan a QR code to send a payment to that person and to show a QR code on your mobile screen so that another person can scan it and send you a payment.
You will be able to edit the QR code to add a specific amount to the payment, or to add a tip option. In addition, you can download the image of the code to spread it through social networks or messaging applications. You can also create a different code just for tips.
Check out the exclusive PayPal offers
And we end with a section in which PayPal offers exclusive offers and promotions. Here, I already warn you that PayPal itself has this section a bit abandoned, but from time to time you may come across some promotions that may be interesting,.
