Introduction
To the non-business owner, opening a PayPal business account can seem like a daunting prospect. If you’re just starting out, it’s tempting to think you need to set up yet another entity in order to be able to accept payments online. While this is ultimately true if you want your company’s name on the site (because PayPal won’t list businesses that haven’t been registered), there’s actually no need for creating a separate legal entity when first getting started with a
PayPal Business Account.
PayPal allows you to open a free personal account and then upgrade to a business account at any time.
You can upgrade to a
PayPal Business Account at any time.
You don’t need to wait until you’re ready to start selling products or services online. In fact, there are many reasons why it’s a good idea to open your personal PayPal account before you do anything else:
- It will give you time to learn about how PayPal works and get comfortable with managing your money through the service. This way, when it comes time for your business account (which will use the same email address), everything will be familiar and easy-peasy!
- You’ll have an opportunity to get used to using PayPal as part of everyday life so that when people send money in exchange for goods or services offered by your company–or by anyone else’s company–you won’t find yourself confused about what just happened (or why).
There’s no longer an option for opening a basic or premier business account without first having an existing personal PayPal account.
You can still open a
PayPal Business Account. However, you will need to upgrade to a business account at some point in order for PayPal to verify your identity and determine which type of account is best suited for your needs. If you don’t have an existing personal PayPal account, then opening one first is required.
If you do not have a credit card or email address (or both), then getting set up with one before applying for the basic or premier version of the business product won’t be possible without jumping through some hoops first–specifically by calling up customer service and asking them nicely if they could help set up both items simultaneously so that everything goes smoothly when they finally do get around calling back later on down the road!
You can use your personal email address to set up a PayPal business account.
You can use your personal email address to set up a PayPal merchant account.
You’ll need to provide the following information:
Personal details, including your name, address and phone number.
The type of business you are starting (e.g., consultant or freelance worker). If you’re unsure which one best describes what you do, select “other” and then explain in the space provided why it doesn’t fit any other category listed on this page.
Your bank account details so that we can transfer money into it for payment processing purposes if necessary; this is optional but highly recommended if you plan on accepting payments through PayPal!
You can add your business manually, but this will only work if it’s already listed on the site. If you haven’t gotten accepted by PayPal yet and want to apply for a new account, the best way to do so is by being an existing merchant with a good history. If this isn’t possible for any reason–for example, if you don’t have any sales yet or they were all through another payment processor who doesn’t allow businesses with low volumes–then there are still other avenues available to try out:
- Accepting credit cards directly through Stripe (or Braintree) instead of going through their partner company first;
- Getting approved as an individual user before applying for business status;
- Getting approved after submitting an application online and waiting for approval via snail mail.*
Your bank, credit card issuer and e-commerce platform will all see your new business account as a personal, not business, transaction.
You can have a PayPal business account without setting up a business.
If you have an existing personal PayPal account and want to use it as your payment gateway, then your bank, credit card issuer and e-commerce platform will all see your new business account as a personal, not business transaction.
You can open a PayPal merchant account without creating a separate company or entity under which to operate (you just have to upgrade when you’re ready).
You can open a PayPal business account without creating a separate company or entity under which to operate (you just have to upgrade when you’re ready).
You can use your personal email address for your PayPal merchant account, but it must be the same one that you use on other sites like Amazon and eBay. If you want to create a new email address just for your online shopping needs, that’s fine too! Just make sure it doesn’t look like an official business email address–like [email protected] instead of [email protected].
You don’t need any special licences or permits in order to operate as an independent contractor in most states; however, some countries do require certain licences depending on what type of work you do and whether or not there are any laws against doing so within their borders.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a number of ways that you can open a
PayPal merchant account without having an existing company. If this is something that interests you, then we would recommend starting with the free personal account and then upgrading when ready. While it may not be as easy as opening up an account from scratch with all of the required information already filled out, it does save time in the long run!
