Freelancing and Paypal

[Hookswords]

I've been looking into different avenues for making money and freelancing. It seems more than evident that I need a paypal account. I've been browsing the website and a lot of it seems to be just too vague of terms for me to feel comfortable with. I know a lot of you cats have paypal as one of or your main payment methods. What manner of account do I want to set up for receiving payments? Premier or Business? Any tips otherwise?

[HunterKiller_]

Personal account is fine for receiving payments.

There's a small fee (1.3% I think) for receiving payment, but it can be avoided if the payer uses 'mass payment' from their business account, or they send you money as 'personal transfer' rather than 'purchase'.

[Dizon]

I'm also interested in how Paypal works when receiving money. Where is the money transferred ? Do you also need a credit card or bank account to get a Paypal Account?

[HunterKiller_]

You can find out all of that on http://www.paypal.com ;)
but yes, you do need a credit card and a bank account.

[Harkins]

I use a personal account with just a credit card attached. You don't need a bank account attached if you don't plan on sending money. Hopefully, if you are freelancing, you will only ever have to receive money. :)

[Grendel Grack]

PayPal is an excellent service for freelancers. There is a small fee based upon the amount of the transaction. Consider adding this amount to the cost of the project, unless the client wishes to pay by another method. As was previously mentioned, you do need a bank account. What is really nice about PayPal is that it makes it very easy to stay organized. You can print monthly reports of your transactions and you can send invoices to clients, among many other services offered. The money arrives instantly when the client transfers it and it takes a few days at most to transfer it directly to your bank account (or card, whatever you choose).

I really like PayPal and have been using the "Premier" account for several years without a problem. But, as with anything else involving finances and your career, do your research to make sure it is the best fit for you.

[Riley Stark]

I use Paypal and I love it. It's definitely very convenient for transferring money/accepting payments from clients as opposed to the whole old "the check's in the mail" waiting game.

I have a Premier account, which you need to get if you transfer more than $500.00 a month, which is what I think the limit is on the personal account. They do take a percentage out of what you're transferring, but it's pretty small.

The money takes a few days to show up in your bank account once it has been transferred, but I've never had an issue - always works flawlessly. No muss, no fuss.

[Hookswords]

Thanks for the feedback folks. I see that it has invoicing and what not, but what about other payment relationships. Like, for example, I've been looking at websites that clients go to looking for logos and things like that. So basically there is a contest for each client, who ever is interested will submit an entry, the client picks one, and you get paid via paypal. Or I remember Cheeks putting out a art book and to order it was through paypal but it wasnt through a website, seems like it was just an account. How does that happen or where does one go to pay that?

[Qitsune]

You can use paypal to set up a simple online store on your site, you just set up the product in paypal and it gives you the code that you put on your page, when a user clicks on it, it brings him on the paypal generated e-commerce page for the product you set up. When the command is completed, you receive the order and the money and you have to ship whatever it is to the client.

[J Wilson]

One day earlier this year I decided I needed a PayPal account. This was a totally out of the blue decision, spurred by nothing more than a vague idea that it would be good to have.

Two days later I had money in the account. It seems an old client that never paid me (one I had completely written off as lost), plugged in my email to see if I had a paypal account, found that I did, and then sent me the amount due, along with a request for more work. Talk about good timing!

Since then I honestly haven't used it, but I do like having it available.