Using Paypal for non-ebay purchases

Catseyez

Hi,

I'm going abroad soon and have booked myself on an excursion which has asked for a deposit. I have the option of a)paying by wire transfer but with an admin cost of US$26 (so about £13) or, b) via paypal with a much smaller transaction fee.

I've only ever used my paypal account for ebay and it currently has a balance of £0. I don't have the first clue in how to use it to make a non-ebay purchase. Also, the account it's linked to is my Nationwide one and that doesn't charge commission on foreign purchases. If I pay the deposit via paypal, will there be a commission charge as the payment will be in US$?

Any advice appreciated

BruceyBonus

If you log in to the PayPal site, click "Send Money". Enter the email address and amount of the person you want to send the money to.

You will be prompted with several options for payment:
1. PayPal balance (your's in £0 so this isn't an option)
2. eCheque - Money is taken in pounds (converted by PayPal) by direct debit from your bank account.
3. Instant Bank Transfer - Money is taken in pounds (converted by PayPal) by direct debit from your bank account.
4. Credit/debit card - You can choose whether PayPal or Visa convert the amount on your behalf.

If you are using a Visa card (i.e. you Nationwide debit card), then you will be prompted as to whether you want your card issuer to convert the amount, or allow PayPal to do it for you.

To get the best rate and no commission, choose card issuer conversion - you then receive Visa's exchange rate, which is shown here: http://corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_services/consumer_ex_results.jsp?from=GBP&to=USD&rate=0.0

Hope this helps

BB

Compound_2

BruceyBonus wrote: »

2. eCheque - Money is taken in pounds (converted by PayPal) by direct debit from your bank account.
3. Instant Bank Transfer - Money is taken in pounds (converted by PayPal) by direct debit from your bank account.

Out of interest, what's the difference between 2 and 3?

masonic

Compound wrote: »

Out of interest, what's the difference between 2 and 3?

From what I remember 2 takes an eternity (at least 10 working days) to clear, but that probably isn't a problem in this case. 3 requires you to become 'verified', which involves proving you own the bank account and live at your registered address.

BruceyBonus

masonic wrote: »

From what I remember 2 takes an eternity (at least 10 working days) to clear, but that probably isn't a problem in this case. 3 requires you to become 'verified', which involves proving you own the bank account and live at your registered address.

I've used 3 without being verified - you just need a credit/debit card on file that they will use as a backup payment method if your direct debit bounces.

masonic

BruceyBonus wrote: »

I've used 3 without being verified - you just need a credit/debit card on file that they will use as a backup payment method if your direct debit bounces.

That's 2 then, isn't it, if it's just a direct debit payment? Otherwise, if the direct debit bounces AND the subsequent credit/debit card payment is refused paypal would have to take back a cleared payment from the seller. I always understood that instant bank transfers work on a different mandate (funds are reserved through your debit card at the time of payment). In any case, comfirming your bank account is definitely needed to set up instant bank transfers, confirming your address may not be.