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The scenario is this: I'm basically creating a "convenience" website, wherein I make it easy for customers of a niche industry find the product they want (since there is no definitive place on the web they can find this product category; it's scattered all over the web). The products are listed on my site. Since the transactions are simple enough, I want to accept payments for those products, plus a tiny fee for myself, then pass those payments to the merchants come a certain date. Then I will no longer accept payments for that product, while new other products are added to the website. And the cycle continues. I may accept around 2500 payments per month, which may total around 15,000 USD. (I write USD but I'm really from the Philippines, and my bank account is in PHP).

Since I'm just a simple ordinary guy (I don't have a registered business yet, the registration process in my country is too tedious), I plan to use PayPal to accept payments, and not accept credit card details on my own. So that is, user pays Product Price + PayPal fees + My own tiny "convenience" fee. When I need to send the payments to the merchants, I retain my convenience fee.

I've scavenged around the PayPal documentation but I find it too cryptic. Could someone help me out?

I have a PayPal Personal Account. For testing, I created a Buy Now button, bought something on my site. PayPal page opens with two options: With PayPal Account or Without PayPal Account. I paid, it worked - I received the payment!

Here are my questions:

  1. PayPal's Which account type is right for you? page says the Premier and Business Accounts can Accept unlimited credit card payments. When I did my test purchase, I chose Without PayPal Account option, so I entered my credit card details. Is that option considered a credit card payment?

  2. If YES to #1, how come I was able to offer that type of payment (credit card) even if I only have a Personal Account? Is there some sort of limit as to how many times that option (Without PayPal Account) will appear to my users, given that I'm using a Personal Account? How about the With PayPal Account option - is that unlimited to Personal Accounts?

  3. What if I'd like to use my website's name as the "business name" so that it appears during the PayPal checkout. Would it be possible to use a PayPal Business Account even though I don't have a registered business in my country?

  4. Should I upgrade to Premier or even a Business Account?

  5. Any other general advice you'd give to me? (Like maybe on the business aspect, or maybe you have other suggestions that I can try, aside from PayPal?)

I'd really appreciate any help you can provide. :)

share|improve this question
This question is way too broad. I suggest looking into Paypal Adaptive Payments for your payment needs and go from there. – John Conde♦ Apr 30 '12 at 1:34
I checked, Adaptive Payments isn't something I'd need. Thanks though – Obay Apr 30 '12 at 2:35

closed as too localized by John Conde♦ Apr 30 '12 at 1:33

This question is unlikely to help any future visitors; it is only relevant to a small geographic area, a specific moment in time, or an extraordinarily narrow situation that is not generally applicable to the worldwide audience of the internet. For help making this question more broadly applicable, see the FAQ.