About Payment Methods (2024)

PayPal allows you to make payments using a variety of methods including: Balance Account, a bank account, PayPal Credit, debit or credit cards, and rewards balance.

This page does not address unauthorized transactions. For information on your protection against unauthorized transactions, please see the Error Resolution section of the PayPal User Agreement.

Some sellers allow you to store PayPal as the way you pay when making purchases on their site, so you can check out faster. Often, this entails creating an agreement with the seller that permits them to request that we charge your PayPal account each time you make a purchase.

When you first set up an automatic payment agreement or store PayPal as a payment method with a seller, you may have the option to set up a preferred payment method for such agreement. You can review, set, or change a preferred payment method for an automatic payment agreement in your account settings on paypal.com or in the PayPal app. See here for a tutorial.

Your preferred payment method for an automatic payment agreement will be used for transactions with that seller. If you have available balance in a linked Balance Account, that balance may be used before your preferred payment method, depending on your applicable automatic payment agreement with the seller.

If you have not set a preferred payment method for an automatic payment agreement, or if your preferred payment method for an automatic payment agreement is unavailable (for example, due to fraud risk or because it is expired), you’ve authorized PayPal to charge the backup payment method in the following order, if applicable: 1. Balance Account, PayPal Debit Card (which allows you to access your Balance Account) or balance in your business account (if we’ve been able to verify the required identifying information you provide to us); 2. Bank account; 3. PayPal co-branded credit card; 4. Debit card; 5. Credit card; and 6. E-check. However, if a bank account is used as the payment method for a transaction and funding fails (for example, as a result of insufficient funds), PayPal may attempt another payment method as a backup notwithstanding the order specified above (typically a credit card, if applicable). To help minimize disruptions in your automatic payments, we may update your payment method information associated with such automatic payments.

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Certain one-time online transactions may require that a backup payment method be used in the event that your selected or preferred payment method is unavailable. In those instances, the backup method may be displayed to you on your transaction review page, before you complete the transaction. If PayPal determines currency conversion is necessary for a transaction that also requires a backup payment method, you may not be able to separately choose whether PayPal or your card issuer performs the currency conversion on your backup payment method.

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You can choose any of the payment methods in your PayPal account as your preferred payment method. You can select a preferred payment method in your account preferences on www.paypal.com or in the PayPal app. There may be times when your preferred payment method cannot be used, for example, if you select a credit card that is expired.

You can set separate preferred payment methods for online transactions, in-store transactions, and each of your automatic payment agreements, as described above.

If you have chosen a preferred payment method, it will be shown as the primary method of payment.

If no preferred payment method, it’s still your choice.

The availability of certain payment methods may be limited based on that particular seller or the third-party website you are using to complete the transaction.

If you have not selected a preferred payment method, or your preferred payment method is unavailable, we will show you available payment methods, including the payment method you used most often or most recently, at the time of transaction. You can also click on the “Manage” link to see all of your available payment methods, or add a new one, and select a payment method during the transaction.

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When you send money in the U.S. to Friends and Family using your Balance Account or your bank account, we waive all fees, so we always show you these payment options first, even if you have a set a preferred payment method for your online purchases. Remember, you always have the choice to select any payment method in your PayPal account by clicking the “Change” link on the Send Money page. If you select a payment method with a fee, we will always show you the fee before you send money.

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PayPal may allow you to redeem rewards associated with your eligible card(s) when making a purchase with your PayPal account through PayPal’s Pay with Rewards program. For example, rewards may include points, miles, or cash back, as well as other reward types.

All Pay with Rewards redemptions are subject to the terms of your card agreement and applicable reward program with your card issuer. Pay with Rewards is only available for eligible purchases with certain merchants, and PayPal or your issuer may limit, suspend, or terminate your ability to redeem rewards at any time, in accordance with the PayPal User Agreement and your card agreement and reward program terms.

Your issuer determines the value of rewards redeemed through PayPal and available redemption methods (e.g., to pay for your purchase or for a statement credit). In order to receive reward balance information from your issuer, PayPal and your issuer (or our service providers) will share information about your accounts with each other. If you have a reward balance that can be redeemed through PayPal, you will see an option to use those rewards when you check out through PayPal.

There may be a delay between checkout and processing of your payment. Only rewards available upon processing of your payment will be used. If your available reward balance changes during or after the checkout process, you may not see all your available rewards or may see rewards that are no longer available. Note, depending on the type of your purchase, your merchant may not process your payment until after a period of time after you check out. If your available reward balance changes or becomes unavailable before your payment is processed, or if you modify your final checkout purchase amount, at PayPal's and your issuer’s discretion, your transaction may fail, a lesser amount of rewards may be used, or no rewards may be used. Because your reward balance and/or transaction amount may change, whenever you request to redeem rewards for a purchase, you also authorize PayPal to charge up to the full payment amount to your associated card if that happens.

Cancellations and refunds are subject to your merchant’s cancellation and refund policy. PayPal may cancel your transaction as outlined in the PayPal User Agreement. If your transaction is cancelled or you return your purchase, your refund will be processed back as a dollar amount; depending on your card agreement and reward program terms with your issuer, your issuer may or may not credit your purchase back to your reward balance. If you split your payment between your reward balance and another payment method, PayPal and/or your issuer will choose the order and split of funds when processing a cancellation or refund.

You should follow PayPal’s normal dispute resolution process for any purchase made with rewards. Each card issuer may treat chargebacks for purchases involving rewards redemption differently, please check with your card issuer for more information.

If your card information changes (including if it is reissued with a new account number), you may need to update your PayPal wallet and re-enroll your card to continue using rewards.

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PayPal Purchase Protection (also known as PayPal Buyer Protection) applies for certain, qualifying purchases regardless of the payment method. For these qualifying purchases, PayPal will cover you for the full amount of the item plus original shipping costs if you do not receive the item or if you receive an item but it is significantly different than the description the seller provided. To receive reimbursem*nt for items that are significantly not as described, you will be required to return the item to the seller, or in some cases to PayPal, and to pay the return shipping costs. PayPal Purchase Protection is not available for personal payments and other ineligible purchases.

The program terms and conditions are set out in PayPal’s Purchase Protection program page.

You may pursue a Dispute/Claim with PayPal, or you may contact your credit card company and file a chargeback. You may not pursue both at the same time or seek a double recovery. If you have an open Dispute or Claim with PayPal, and also file a chargeback with your credit card company, PayPal will close your Dispute or Claim, and you will have to rely solely on your chargeback rights.

If you pursue a Claim with PayPal and if you do not receive a full recovery, you can then file a chargeback.

Credit card companies must abide by these statutory guidelines, including but not limited to the following:

If a consumer claims a "billing error" because an item is not received or is refused at the time of delivery, the card issuer is obliged to investigate, resolve, and to correct written claims filed by the consumer within 60 days of receipt of the applicable credit card statement.

If a consumer claims a dispute with a merchant, the card issuer is obliged to investigate and resolve consumer claims, provided the consumer: (i) has not paid for the charge (ii) has made a good faith attempt to settle the dispute with the merchant (iii) lives in the same state as or within 100 miles of the merchant and (iv) paid more than $50 for the item.

You should contact your credit card issuer to learn more about your rights and remedies.

Your debit card issuer is not required by law to provide you with protection against items that you do not receive or that are significantly not as described. Many debit card issuers voluntarily provide protection similar to the chargeback rights provided by credit card issuers.

PayPal may process debit card transactions through either (a) an ATM debit network such as STAR or NYCE, or (b) a Visa or Mastercard network. If we process your debit card through an ATM debit network, we may provide you with the opportunity to switch to a Visa or Mastercard network by clicking the "Funding Sources" link on the payment confirmation page. Choosing the Visa / Mastercard network may give you additional protection compared to the ATM debit networks. You should contact your debit card issuer to learn more about your rights and remedies if you pay with your debit card.