The pros and cons of a PayPal business account
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A PayPal account can either be personal or business. A personal account comes with PayPal's basic features, while a business account provides the exact same features with a few extra ones.
Therefore, a business account is objectively better for businesses, but how would it fare against business accounts from other digital payment platforms? Find out the answer to that question as this article tackles the pros and cons of a PayPal business account.
Pros
1. A PayPal business account comes with merchant features
As stated earlier, a PayPal business account comes with basic features in addition to a few extra ones. These extra features are merchant support features. They're designed specifically to help businesses that sell products and services. Below are some examples of these features:
- Business account users can enjoy discounts on UPS and USPS shipping. They can also track the deliveries and confirm the arrival of packages through the system.
- Through PayPal, you can view all the business transactions you've made since your account's conception.
- The platform has built-in marketing tools that can gather shopper insights that you can use to gain an edge when advertising your products. It's most commonly used to create personalised incentives that are most suitable to your specific audience.
- PayPal allows business account users to send electronic invoices to customers.
You may end up not using some of these features, but their existence alone goes to show that there are a lot of benefits that come with having a PayPal business account.
2. PayPal can integrate into many business solutions
PayPal is the most popular payment platform on the internet. Although popularity isn't always a measure of quality, there are countless benefits that come with it. One particular benefit that comes from PayPal's popularity is how many business solutions on the internet support it.
If you use a website builder, for example, chances are PayPal is one of the available options when adding a payment section to your store. The same goes for other business solutions, like marketing platforms, billing software and payroll systems.
In fact, if you look at PayPal's website, you'll find that platform providers can register officially as PayPal partners. In doing so, these providers are provided with help on how to integrate PayPal into their systems.
Furthermore, certain platforms even provide coupons or discounts for their subscription services if you decide to integrate PayPal as a payment option into their offerings.
3. PayPal offers financing options
For the longest time, online payment platforms have only focused on providing an exceptional payment gateway for online stores. However, recently, a handful of payment platforms are now also offering financing options to businesses, be it through loans or credits. Keep in mind that there are conditions you must fulfil to be eligible for these loans.
Cons
1. PayPal is a popular target of cyber criminals
According to a survey by Vade, PayPal is consistently at the top of the rankings when it comes to being most frequently impersonated by cyber criminals. It basically means there are a lot more hackers trying to create PayPal impersonations in an attempt to trick users into giving their banking information.
Of course, that's not to say that PayPal's security system is lacking compared with other online payment platforms. It simply means PayPal is a popular target.
So, while PayPal is safe from hackers, its users aren't. The good news is, this isn't threatening to your company as long as you and your employees know how to spot phishing attempts. Always be on the lookout for poorly written messages and suspicious links or attachments.
2. Customer service needs to be improved
One of the main complaints of PayPal users, regardless of whether they use a personal or business account, is the platform's poor customer service. In many cases, PayPal representatives fail to provide the correct instructions to resolve basic issues like refunds or fraudulent transactions.
PayPal is also not very responsive, as issues tend to last for over a day. Compared with other online payment platforms, one may argue that PayPal is among the worst in terms of customer support.
Closing thoughts
Although the cons of a PayPal business account make it seem less appealing of an option than its alternatives, one must keep in mind that no platform is perfect. Some of its alternatives may have exceptional customer support, but they may be lacking in other aspects.
If you wish to find the most suitable payment gateway for your business needs, you have to weigh the pros and cons and consider your specific needs.
