How do i pay friends and family on paypal

How do i pay friends and family on paypal

PayPal offers two options for sending money to someone: "Goods or Services" and "Friends and Family."

"Goods and Services" is how you pay for, well, goods and services. For example, say you're like the author of this article and you have a vinyl record habit; you would use PayPal Goods or Services to buy yet another grip of semi-collectible audible oddities through a website like eBay. If the seller doesn't ship anything, or sends a damaged item and won't issue a refund, you can submit a claim through PayPal and get reimbursed if the seller refuses to make it right. It protects you from scammers and bad merchants.

On the other hand, if you just need to send money to a family member, you can use the Friends and Family option. This allows the person sending the money to pay the fee for using the service, rather than the recipient (as with Goods or Services payments).

There is only one case in which you should use Friends and Family: when you're sending money to an actual friend or family member. Why? Because this payment option doesn't have the same protections. Once you send money, it's gone. There are no claims or disputes. It's like wiring money or using peer-to-peer money transfer apps like Venmo or CashApp.

This lack of recourse for the sender has led scammers to place ads for everything from electronics to rental properties, then attempt to convince interested parties into sending payment through PayPal Friends and Family. This allows them to steal money without the victim being able to claw any of it back through a claims process.

The second an online seller requests that you pay with Friends and Family, cut off all contact and report the merchant to whichever website they're selling on.

How do i pay friends and family on paypal

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PayPal is a convenient way to send money to a friend or family member and was probably the largest force in changing the way we send money to other people. As of 2022, 209.3 million people worldwide use PayPal to send money to friends or acquaintances.

Naturally, you might wonder if you should use a credit card to send money to another person using PayPal. After all, your credit card earns rewards—Why not earn additional cash back or transferable points when sending money?

Generally, the fees PayPal charges to send money to another person using a credit card are greater than the rewards you will earn, making it unattractive to use a credit card to send person-to-person money transfers through PayPal. There are some exceptions to this, but banks are also changing the way these transactions are processed, which might subject you to additional fees. Read on for more details.

PayPal Is Much More Than Person-to-Person Payments

PayPal checkout is integrated onto many websites and many smaller merchants use PayPal to invoice and accept payment for goods and services. Those types of transactions have a separate fee structure and are processed differently than person-to-person transactions. This article specifically covers using PayPal to send money to another person, not to pay for a purchase.

The Deal Breaker: Transaction Fees

One of the biggest drawbacks of using a credit card to send money to another person using PayPal is the processing fee. PayPal charges 2.9%, plus a fixed fee of 30 cents to process a person-to-person money transfer using a credit card. This fee can quickly eclipse any credit card rewards you might earn.

PayPal does not charge this fee for person-to-person money transfers using either your existing PayPal balance or a money transfer from your checking account.

Why Using a Credit Card Might Still Be Attractive

Despite the fee PayPal charges, there are a few cases where you could come out ahead after the credit card fee.

Credit Cards With Rotating 5% Bonus Categories

Some credit cards, such as the Chase Freedom Flex℠ offer rotating categories in which cardmembers enroll to earn 5% cash back. Categories earning bonus cash back change quarterly and have earning caps before their base rate earnings of 1% apply. Chase Freedom Flex℠ has historically included PayPal in the bonus cash back offering.

  • In 2020, Chase included PayPal in its cash-back calendar during Q4 (October through December).

Welcome Bonus Spending

If you have recently applied for a credit card that offers a welcome bonus after a certain amount of required spending, it might make sense to use PayPal to send money to another person using a credit card.

Beware The Cash Advance Fee

In 2020, the New York Times reported on a change in the way that money transfer transactions are coded and processed through Visa and Mastercard. This change means that banks can now charge cash advance fees for things like person-to-person money transfers through services like PayPal and Venmo.

Since this change has been implemented, some credit card users have reported being charged a cash advance fee when sending money using PayPal. In addition, Chase has been reported to be sending notices to existing cardmembers updating their terms and conditions to include person-to-person money transfers in the list of transaction types where they charge a cash advance fee.

Bottom Line

Generally, it is not advantageous to send money to another person using PayPal and a credit card.

Unless you are using a credit card that earns 5% back on transactions at PayPal or completing a welcome bonus spending requirement, you will usually pay more in fees than you earn in rewards. In addition, with banks starting to charge cash advance fees for person-to-person payments, there is a chance that your person-to-person payment may end up costing a lot more than the 2.9% fee.

If you are looking to send money to someone using PayPal, send money using your PayPal balance or linked checking account. For PayPal alternatives, consider some of the best ways to send money.

Where is the friends and family option on PayPal?

Log into the PayPal account. Select “Send & Request” Input the recipient's details using either the name, email address or phone number in the “Send money” section. Choose “Sending to a friend” when prompted.

Can you still send PayPal friends and family?

Effective July 28, 2022, PayPal will remove the Friends and Family option for domestic payments to U.S. business accounts, and all received payments will be subject to the seller fee.

Why is PayPal not giving me the friends and family option?

Paypal has announced that Paypal business accounts will no longer be able to accept or receive personal ('friends and family') payments transactions, and that no Paypal account will be able to send friend and family transactions to Paypal business accounts. This is effective next month, July 28, 2022.