PayPal - personal or business account?
Initiator des Themas: Luke Hubbard (X)
Luke Hubbard (X)
Luke Hubbard (X)  Identity Verified
Vereinigtes Königreich
Local time: 06:40
Deutsch > Englisch
Feb 14, 2019

Hi,

I've just opened a business bank account and I think that some agencies and clients will want to do PayPal payments. I looked at both business and personal and I think I'm sort of in between. I'm using it for my business but with the business account I don't need to create invoices or get payments via my website. Which of the two do you use?

Thank you


 
Tomasz Sienicki
Tomasz Sienicki  Identity Verified
Dänemark
Local time: 07:40
Mitglied (2007)
Dänisch > Polnisch
+ ...
Business Feb 14, 2019

AFAIR PayPal will force you to switch to business account once you start receiving payments anyway.

Dan Lucas
 
Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hongkong
Local time: 14:40
Mitglied
Chinesisch > Englisch
+ ...
Business Feb 14, 2019

It doesn't cost anything to open one anyway.

 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Niederlande
Local time: 07:40
Mitglied (2006)
Englisch > Afrikaans
+ ...
... Feb 14, 2019

...

[Edited at 2019-02-14 16:17 GMT]


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Niederlande
Local time: 07:40
Mitglied (2006)
Englisch > Afrikaans
+ ...
@Luke Feb 14, 2019

Luke Hubbard wrote:
I think that some agencies and clients will want to do PayPal payments. I looked at both business and personal and I think I'm sort of in between.


I find it very difficult to find answers to PayPal related questions. All responses from more than 3 years ago are useless, because PayPal changes its system now and then. What was true when I got my personal PayPal account is no longer true for people who register today.

Shortly after I registered with PayPal and started getting payments, PayPal forced me to upgrade from personal to premium due to exceeded some threshold. PayPal no longer offers premium accounts (I still have a "premium" account but I can upgrade to business if I want to). I do pay the same transaction fees as business account holders do.

I suspect Tomasz is right: if you use a personal account, and PayPal believes you need a business account, they'll just freeze your account for a week or two and force you to upgrade.

Remember, you are allowed to have both a personal and a business account, but if you start out with a personal account (and all your clients have your personal account's e-mail address on their records) and then switch to business, you're going to have to spend a lot of effort getting all your clients to change their records to reflect your new PayPal e-mail account, so it may be better to use business from the start.

Receiving money with a personal account is free, but every time anyone here talks about PayPal fees, they always talk about the fees that a business account would typically have, so I suspect most people here have a business account (or a premium account).

[Edited at 2019-02-14 16:14 GMT]


John Fossey
Dan Lucas
 
Colleen Roach, PhD
Colleen Roach, PhD  Identity Verified
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 22:40
Französisch > Englisch
+ ...
PayPal web site info on this question Feb 15, 2019

I was researching this question a short time ago, not for receiving translation payments but for some small-time online selling. Here's what Paypal itself says (below) Regarding fees, if you go to this web page the word "fees" in the last part is a link. I didn't end up carrying out my small time selling project, but I would check carefully what types of fees are associated with transactions as there could be significant differences -- with a personal account definitely being cheaper. If there ... See more
I was researching this question a short time ago, not for receiving translation payments but for some small-time online selling. Here's what Paypal itself says (below) Regarding fees, if you go to this web page the word "fees" in the last part is a link. I didn't end up carrying out my small time selling project, but I would check carefully what types of fees are associated with transactions as there could be significant differences -- with a personal account definitely being cheaper. If there are very significant differences, and it is not "illegal" (i.e. doesn't violate the TOS of Paypal), I'd carefully consider a Personal account vs. a Business one. But again -- I don't have a PP account -- I just did some research. Sellers on sites like ebay (+others) were by and large in favor of using a personal account because of fees. On the other hand, if the difference in fees (personal vs. business) is negligible, the business account would obviously sound more professional to clients.

https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/topic/PAYPAL_BASICS

What is the difference between Personal and Business accounts?
All PayPal accounts allow you to send and receive payments.
• Personal: Recommended for individuals who shop and pay online, or wish to send or receive personal payments for shared expenses such as splitting of dinner bills or rental charges; for casual sellers or non-businesses who wish to get paid online, and who also make online purchases.
• Business: Recommended for merchants who operate under a company/group name. It offers additional features such as allowing up to 200 employees limited access to your account and customer service email alias for customer issues to be routed for faster follow-ups.

Fees:
For complete information on PayPal transaction fees, please see the fees section of our User Agreement or click Fees at the bottom of any PayPal webpage.
Collapse


 
Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 01:40
Deutsch > Englisch
Wait before doing anything Feb 15, 2019

Brexit could potentially affect cross-border financial transactions. I would wait before committing to any course of action. Since you're just starting out, basic financial services should suffice for the time being.

 
Luke Hubbard (X)
Luke Hubbard (X)  Identity Verified
Vereinigtes Königreich
Local time: 06:40
Deutsch > Englisch
THEMENSTARTER
Useful replies Feb 17, 2019

Hi all,

Thank you for thoughts. Just reading the difference between the two sort of confused me as although I'd be using my company name, I don't have employees and I won't be using the invoice service etc. Therefore I'd have a business account but wouldn't be using all the features. In terms of payments, I'd rather do bank transfers but obviously some agencies may prefer to do use PayPal. What I may do to begin with is get paid using my personal account and then transfer that betwe
... See more
Hi all,

Thank you for thoughts. Just reading the difference between the two sort of confused me as although I'd be using my company name, I don't have employees and I won't be using the invoice service etc. Therefore I'd have a business account but wouldn't be using all the features. In terms of payments, I'd rather do bank transfers but obviously some agencies may prefer to do use PayPal. What I may do to begin with is get paid using my personal account and then transfer that between my current and business bank accounts. Once work starts building up and if most clients use PayPal to pay me, then I'll consider the business account.
Collapse


 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:


You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

PayPal - personal or business account?







Trados Business Manager Lite
Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio

Trados Business Manager Lite helps to simplify and speed up some of the daily tasks, such as invoicing and reporting, associated with running your freelance translation business.

More info »
Wordfast Pro
Translation Memory Software for Any Platform

Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users! Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value

Buy now! »