How To Get A PayPal Account
Now that South Africa has finally got access to PayPal, one of the easiest and safest methods of online payment, we’re getting a lot of queries about how to get a PayPal account. (For those who’ve been living under a rock, PayPal allows you to make and receive online payments, without needing facilities to accept credit card payments, or exposing your credit card details online.)
As we mentioned in our earlier articles, (PayPal Coming To SA? and South Africa Gets PayPal), at the moment the sole rights to interface with PayPal are vested in FNB. It’s not known how long the exclusivity clause will last, so at the moment, if you’d like to use PayPal, you’ll need an FNB account.
Getting A PayPal Account
Here’s a simple list of the things you need to do in order to make use of this widely accepted payment system.
- Sign up for a South African PayPal account at www.paypal.com/za
- Link any South African credit card or cheque card to the PayPal Account.
- Verify your PayPal account and linked credit/cheque card.
- Open a a qualifying FNB account. (Savings, cheque or transmission accounts qualify.)
- Sign up for FNB’s internet banking service.
- Log-in to your FNB account, and link it to your verified PayPal account.
Once you’ve completed these simple steps, you’ll be able to top up your account with funds to use via PayPal, and withdraw any money that has been deposited into your PayPal account by others.
Transaction Charges
All PayPal transactions are currently conducted only in US dollars, so all deposits into the account are converted at the current exchange rate. (This rate may differ depending on whether you are depositing (buying dollars), or withdrawing (selling dollars).
FNB charges a transaction fee of 1.5% on each deposit you make into the account, and each withdrawal you make from it.
Although it is free to open a PayPal account, and there are no charges on deposits into your PayPal account from your bank account, PayPal does charge a fee on certain other transactions, based on their terms and conditions. This fee however does not usually exceed 3.5%.
In addition, in order to comply with South Africa’s foreign exchange regulations, you’ll need to declare the purpose of your transaction, (such as payment for goods, gifts, donations, etc.) when you make deposits or withdrawals from your account.
Convenient Online Payment
We think that the introduction of PayPal will prove a real boon to South Africans, both consumers and service providers. It will open up new realms of opportunity for online entrepreneurs in South Africa, and have a positive impact on the expansion of online business, by making it easy and convenient to both make, and receive, payment via the internet.