One of the things that makes the internet so useful is being able to buy things on online shops.
I’m finding it particularly useful as I start Christmas shopping – to avoid the queues.
And quite a lot of shops use PayPal as a way for you to pay for things.
If you have a PayPal account, that’s great – the shop takes you to the PayPal website so you can tell PayPal to pay them – and the shop itself never gets your card details. That way you can have a bit more security. In fact even if a web shop gives me a choice of paying by PayPal or directly by card, I’ll usually choose PayPal for the extra security of not giving the website itself my card details.
(You do have to give PayPal your card details of course, but only once and their security is much stronger than the average shop website).
We use it on our website for some things (though others, like the new Smartphone books I’ve been talking about, we do on a free trial, so you don’t need to give us any card details at all when you order).
But what if you don’t have a PayPal account but want to buy from a shop that uses it? You could set one up, of course. It doesn’t cost you anything and it might be useful in the future as well.
But if for some reason you don’t want to set up a PayPal account… or are in a rush and don’t want to do it at that time, there’s also an option to pay through PayPal without having an account with them. They try to discourage you choosing it, of course, but it’s there.
Usually, when you’re at your “cart” or “shopping basket” screen, on the right you’ll have a yellow button marked PayPal Check Out (which is for if you have a PayPal Account) – and underneath it, it’ll say in slightly fainter writing “or Check Out” and underneath it “Pay without a PayPal Account”.
If you want to do it without an account, you need to click on the second “Check Out” – the one on a grey background. The thing is the grey background can look almost invisible on some screens, so it just look like writing saying Check Out Pay Without a PayPal Account and you might not realise you can click on it. I did say PayPal would prefer you to create an account!
You’ll then get a screen where you put in your name and address and your card details – and make sure the box saying “no” is still ticked where it asks if you’d like to create an account.
Then it’ll check your card details and (provided they go through OK) that should be that.
So if you’re doing any Christmas shopping with websites that use PayPal and you’d rather not set up an account, now you know how.
An important customer says…
I think all my customers are important, of course. And technically, this one isn’t really even a customer…
You see last week I sent a set of the new smartphone books off to Mum and Dad as they got a smartphone earlier this year and sometimes they struggle with it a bit. I thought the books could help when I’m not there!
And I got this email back from Dad:
Hi Tim, many many thanks for the phone books, absolutely great. Still mid-read, I’m learning a lot and only 30% through so far. I think these are going to save me a lot of money or stop me wasting it as well as giving more enjoyment/usefulness to the phone.
Lots of love Mum & Dad XXXX
So Mum and Dad are finding them useful – they’re no technical experts so it shows the books really are helpful for “normal” people!
Anyway, after today I don’t plan to mention them (the books that is, not Mum and Dad!) in my emails again, so if you’ve wondered if they might be helpful, best have a read of the information and decide now – don’t put it off and risk forgetting or losing the email.
After all, if you’re not sure you can order a set on free trial knowing that if they don’t turn out to be any help, you can send them back and owe nothing. I don’t expect you to want to do that once you’ve seen them, but the offer is there to put your mind at rest.
not always as secure as you think. We were scammed by a site that looked exactly like pay pal with information only pay pal had
It pays to be vigilant with requests from PayPal that” accounts are being updated”? I pass them on to [email protected] and usually get an acknowledgment thanking me for helping them keep aware of the latest scams!
Also, if you pay directly with a credit card and the item doesn’t turn up you have protection and will get a refund from the credit card company. Not so if paid by Paypal, even if you use a credit card in Paypal
Hello
it’s an important point and I’ll be writing a bit more about security aspects of using PayPal in my next newsletter.
One important thing to know, though, is that if you pay by PayPal and the item doesn’t turn up (or isn’t as described) and you contact PayPal within the time limit (I think it’s over 100 days, so it’s plenty of time), they will refund you – and then investigate what’s happened.
What they don’t offer if insurance or improved warranties on things you buy (which some credit cards do), but they will refund things that don’t turn up or aren’t as described.
Anyway, as I say, more on this in Monday’s newsletter.
Tim
I didn’t know that, Lynne, I joined a couple of days ago using my credit card as a means of payment, they should make that clear in the application. I’ll not use it for purchases, only for receiving winnings from FPCL, if ever!!!
Hi Norman
I’m writing about this in next week’s newsletter but in the meantime you might want to see my reply to Lynne below – PayPal do refund payments if the thing you bought didn’t turn up or isn’t what you paid for, they just don’t offer as much protection in the way of extended insurance or warranties as some credit cards.
Tim
Thanks for a fantastic smart phone book. As i live in Millom I popped in and picked one up myself, very pleasant staff as usual.
I think this book should be sold with every smart phone.
I have learnt so much from it, the info you get with the phone is none existent,they just seem to want you to go to their web site.
wishing you continued success , and a happy Christmas to you all
Thanks very much – and I agree that every phone should come with a book like this! And nice to hear you found the staff pleasant – I think we have a good bunch of people!
I wonder if you’d be happy for me to use your comments in any of our marketing materials? Many customers prefer to read things written by other actual customers rather than what I say!
Of course, I could leave off your name and just list “J B” at the end of it, to keep your name private, if you prefer.
Anyway, whether you’re happy for us to quote you or not, thanks for the nice comments either way!
Tim