How to get paid through PayPal Business Account

If you’re setting up a new business, you might be considering using PayPal UK Business to get paid, either by invoicing clients, taking payment online via your website, or even in person using a PayPal Here card reader.

Before you get started though, it pays to look at the process involved, the wide variety of options open to your business and — importantly — the costs of all of them. If you’re planning to expand your business globally, or will be working with clients based overseas, then it’s especially useful to note the PayPal UK Business international fees. You might find you get a better deal with a specialist in international money transfers, such as Wise.

How to get paid on PayPal: Step by Step

If you want to use PayPal to receive payments from your clients, you’ll have to take a few steps to get started.

1. Set up a business account
2. Confirm your email address, linked bank account and business information
3. Choose how you'd like to get paid
4. Start getting paid online and in person through PayPal invoice and PayPal here card reader

Step 1: Set up a business account

You can upgrade your PayPal personal account to a business account if you’re a sole trader — but if you’re operating any other type of business you’ll need to open a new business account.¹

To upgrade your personal account, click on the settings tab, and select account options. Here you can choose to upgrade to a business account, and follow the steps set out.¹

If you need to set up a new PayPal business account, you can go to the PayPal UK Business website listed as source 2 at the end of this article.²

Step 2: Confirm your email address, linked bank account and business information

As part of the verification process for receiving payments on PayPal, you might have to give some further information, including confirming your email address and bank account.³ Whether or not this is needed depends on how your account was initially set up.

If you’re an international trader, having a multi-currency account with Wise to withdraw your balance from PayPal can save you up to 19x on conversion fees. By taking advantage of Wise’s real exchange rate and small, fair conversion fee, you can avoid PayPal’s conversion (2.5% to 4%).⁷ Conversions with Wise are optimised so that the fees can be reduced up to 0.75% on average. That’s 1.75% to 3.25% savings for you.

Get a multi-currency account

Step 3: Choose how you’d like to get paid using PayPal

This is where you’ll have the most decisions to make. PayPal offers a load of different options to accept payments, depending on the sort of business you run. There are different costs associated with different options — make sure you’re clear on the PayPal fees before you decide what’s best for your business.

You can use PayPal to be paid online, or in person. Depending on the business you run, you might add a checkout button to your online store, or send an invoice to a client which they can then pay instantly via PayPal. Or, if you trade in person, you can accept contactless payments using chip and PIN cards, and the PayPal app, in most places in the UK.³

Some options allow you to set everything up yourself, even if you’re not a developer. Other options involve working with a PayPal partner like Shopify or Woocommerce to allow customers to make payments.³

Step 4: Start getting paid online and in person through PayPal invoices and PayPal here card reader

Once you’ve decided how you want to use PayPal to take payments for your business, you can get started. This could be as simple as adding a button to your webpage or choosing an online shopping provider already integrated with PayPal like Magento or PrestaShop.⁴

Or, if you choose an off-the-shelf option, you may need to follow further steps, such as ordering a PayPal Here card reader to take payment in person.⁵ If you don’t deal in a lot of transactions everyday, you may still prefer the more personable touch of creating a custom invoice and sending it to your clients.⁶

How long does it take to receive money on PayPal

In many instances, once the customer has made payment, the money is deposited in your PayPal wallet within just a few minutes.³ However, there are some fee structures and payment methods you may choose which will delay access to your customers’ funds for 1-2 business days.⁷

But after the money is available, you can then withdraw the cash to your bank account, which takes a further couple of hours usually and you’ll need to do manually — but more on that in the section on getting cash from PayPal later.

Is there a fee to receive PayPal payments?

There are fees to use PayPal to take payments. In fact, likely far more than you’d realize. These vary depending on how you choose to use PayPal, and the volume and type of payments you’re receiving. Check out our PayPal fees Calculator for more information about the fees.

How to avoid PayPal fees?

If you’re using your PayPal UK Business account to take payment from customers and clients then you’ll struggle to avoid the PayPal fees. If you are used to sending invoices, or your clients and customers can easily send you a local bank transfer in regions like the UK, the US, the Eurozone, Australia, and Asia, a great option may be for you to set up a Wise Multi-currency account and activate local bank details in any of those regions. That way you can receive payments fee-free, and with no poor exchange rates added to the mix.

Summary
PayPal UK Business offers a dazzling array of options for people holding a business account, with different payment methods, integration options, and partners who can help you take payment via PayPal. However, all this comes at a cost. If you’re concerned about the fees involved in running your business using PayPal payments, it’s worth checking out alternatives — especially if you have international clients. Check out specialists in international money transfers, like Wise, and see if you can save your business, and yourself, money.

Sources:

1. PayPal Help Centre
2. PayPal website - Merchant Account
3. PayPal website - Getting Started
4. PayPal App Center
5. PayPal Here Guide
6. PayPal Invoice Generator
7. PayPal Merchant fee