PayPal Account Types

The three PayPal account types differ in some important ways. All have access to PayPal's core features, which include:

• Send Money
• Request Money
• Auction Tools
• Website Payments
• Money Market
• Virtual Debit Card
• Account Insurance
• E-mail Customer service

Personal accounts give you access to the core features, but that's all. Customer support is mostly via e-mail. There is a phone number available, but it is not toll-free and it sends users to a low-priority line with long wait times. There are no transaction fees for personal accounts, though there are fees for some other features, such as currency exchange. Personal accounts are also subject to volume limits of $500 per month. If you receive more than that, you will need to upgrade to a Premier or Business account (or deny the transfer that would have put you over the limit).

PayPal account types

Premier and Business accounts are almost the same. The main difference is that a Business account must be registered with a business or group name, while a Premier account can be registered with a business, group or individual. Business accounts can also be set up for multiple users.

Business and Premier accounts allow access to all of the core features, plus the ability to accept:

• Unlimited Credit Card Payments
• Payment Receiving Preferences
• Subscriptions
• ATM/Debit Card
• Mass Payments

Business and Premier Accounts also get a toll-free customer service number and extended customer service hours.

These extra features come at the cost of transaction fees. Sending money is still free, but 2.9 percent is charged for funds received. Extremely high-volume accounts get a break -- after $3,000 has been received in a month, the percentage drops to 2.5 percent. Above $10,000, it goes to 2.2 percent, and money in excess of $100,000 received in a single month is only charged at 1.9 percent. In addition, all transactions in which money is received, regardless of volume, have a $0.30 fee added.

Next, we'll check out some different ways to use PayPal to make payments.

Sending Limits One confusing part of PayPal is the sending limit that they place on new accounts. These limits are typically $2,000 for new users, but sometimes users outside of the United States can't use the account to send money at all until they go through a verification process that lifts the limit. It's a lifetime limit -- once you hit that level, you can no longer send until you verify the account. However, the limits aren't consistent and some transactions don't count towards the limit. PayPal's user agreement does not make clear when or why the limits change, or what charges don't count towards the limit.