PayPal is one of the most commonly accepted payment methods online, along with credit cards. This article will focus on what you need to know about PayPal.

3 Types of PayPal Accounts

To accept payments via PayPal, you’ll need to sign up for a free PayPal account. Below is a comparison of the 3 types of PayPal accounts available. All 3 account types are free to sign up for.

To accept payments online, you can either use a Premier or Business account. You can use either of them to easily integrate into your Online Stores, such as Shopify.

The main difference between a Premier and Business account is the information they display to the buyer upon checkout.

Premier Account

When a customer buys from someone with a Premier Account, their PayPal receipt will display the seller’s actual name. Other than that, in terms of selling and receiving money, a Premier Account is no different from a Business Account. If display of actual name is a concern, you can consider getting a Business Account instead.

Business Account

When a customer buys from someone with a Business Account, their PayPal receipt will display the seller’s business name. (No, you do not actually have to have a legally registered company to use a Business Account – I’ve called PayPal to check).

Note that PayPal wants you to verify your real identity with their accounts, and based on my phone call conversations with them, they limit you to have 1 Personal and 1 Premier OR Business account.

3 Types of PayPal Payment Gateways

In terms of selling online, there are 3 types of PayPal payment gateways you can accept PayPal and credit cards via PayPal on your website/online store. You’ll need either a Premier or Business Account to receipt credit card payments via PayPal.

Notes: transaction fees decreases as your sales volume increases. PayPal also localizes transaction fees for each country outside of U.S. (e.g., in Singapore the fee is 3.9% + $0.50 SGD) – do check your local rates on the PayPal website.

PayPal Standard

In terms of functionality, PayPal Standard is great that it accepts both PayPal and Credit Cards. However, it has a really poor checkout experience as it redirects to PayPal’s website (potentially causing friction from confusion), and the Credit Card option is not really obvious – many customers will not notice the option to use Credit Card to pay.

PayPal Standard comes free with your PayPal account – no need to sign up – just provide your PayPal email address.

PayPal Advanced

PayPal Advanced also accepts both PayPal and Credit Cards. In addition, it allows you to enable the checkout process on your own online store or website, instead of redirecting to PayPal. However, it requires you to use one of 3 inbuilt layouts.

PayPal Pro

If you use PayPal Pro however, the checkout process will take place on your website, and you can fully customize the checkout process. (hence no screenshot is provided)

Accepting PayPal on Your Online Store

As this guide is meant for users who are setting up Online Stores, the options that I cover – Shopify has already integrated all 3 PayPal options – Standard, Advanced and Pro – so it’s a matter of entering the simple information they ask for to implement these gateways – there’s absolutely no need for any programming on your part.

Note that this relates to PayPal options for the use of integration with your Online Store, which I’m primarily covering Shopify. If you are looking to use PayPal for other reasons, there may be additional material differences that you’ll want to take note of.

To summarize, in order to accept PayPal and/or Credit Cards on Shopify:

Step 1 – Sign Up for a PayPal account – decide between Premier and Business account

Step 2 – Sign Up for a PayPal Payment Gateway – Decide between PayPal Standard (no need to sign up), Advanced or Pro

Step 3 – Simply key in simple requested information – e.g. PayPal email address

Availability in Your Country

In Singapore where I live, PayPal Standard and PayPal Pro is supported, but not PayPal Advanced. If you live outside of the U.S., you do need to check out what options are available to you.

Accepting Credit Cards Online

PayPal is not the only solution to accept credit cards online. Here’s an overview of other great options to accept Credit Cards on your online store.