PayPal is a globally recognized online payment gateway and it is used by millions of people to send and receive money. PayPal is accepted almost everywhere and people are using it to make payments on eCommerce store and other online marketplaces.

Many online entrepreneurs in South Africa rely on PayPal to receive payment from their clients. However, many do not know how to open a verified PayPal account to send and receive money in South Africa.

For the purpose of those who don’t have much idea of it, I will describe what PayPal account is, and then explain how to open a verified business PayPal account in South Africa.

One interesting thing about PayPal is that you can withdraw the funds to your local FNB bank account in South Africa. All you need to get started is to follow this guide below.

What is PayPal?

PayPal is an online payment platform owned by PayPal Holding Inc. PayPal is one of the widely used online payment processors, supporting payment in almost all countries.

With a PayPal account, you can pay for products and services online, without the merchant seeing your local bank account detail. Besides PayPal is a comfortable way to pay on Amazon, Godaddy, Gearbest, Aliexpress,  Ebay and other international e-commerce websites.

Reasons Why You Should Own a PayPal Account

Why do most people love to use PayPal and not any other payment method? Well, it is because PayPal has been around for long and is robust and very trusted. Here are some benefits you can enjoy after opening a verified PayPal account in South Africa.

1. It’s Free

Who can argue with FREE? There’s no catch. PayPal makes money on the money in your account, like any bank, and by charging transaction fees for online sellers of goods and services. If you are not an online seller, there’s no cost to you.

2. It’s Secure

With PayPal, you don’t need to disclose your card details when carrying out online financial transactions. You can safely link up your bank account and credit cards so you don’t have to provide your credit card details every time you want to transact online.

Once you sign up with PayPal, they collect your credit card details. With them, your card details are encrypted and secured, which allows you to simply carry out online transaction without fear of having your credit card details compromised or stolen.

3. It’s Fast

With PayPal, you can make payment with just a few clicks. You don’t need to enter your financial information when checking out at any online store. You simply log in with your email and password and pay. It’s that easy. All you have to do is connect one or more credit cards to your PayPal wallet. It even lets you select which card to use at checkout.

How to Open a PayPal account in South Africa

I am about to take you through a step by step guide on how to open a verified PayPal account for your business, please take note of the steps and follow same accordingly.

• Log in to the official website of PayPal.
• Once you are there, the next thing is to click on the ‘Sign Up’ button which you will find at the top of your computer screen.
• After that, you will need to select the kind of account that you want to create. Depending on your need, you could either opt for a personal account or you register for a business account if you are registering for your business transactions.
• Fill in your details as accurate as possible. Also, make sure that whatever secret password that you choose is such that you can easily remember but difficult for anyone to guess.
• Then, you would be required to accept the terms and agreement for using their services. After you have read through and understood, you go on and do the needful.
• Congratulations, you have successfully registered for your PayPal account.

How to Verify your PayPal Account in South Africa

Once you are done with that, you will need to verify your Paypal account by linking your local bank account to it. We recommend you use an FNB account so that you can easily withdraw the funds to your local account.

Provide your bank details including the routing number. For FNB, the routing number is 081205112. Once you have everything in place, follow the steps below.

• Log in to your PayPal dashboard;
• Click on the ‘Add/Edit Credit Card’ button;
• Once the form opens up, fill in the required information including your name, details on the card as well as billing address.
• After you have done all those, you would be charged a minimal amount to verify the process which the company will reimburse later.
• The next thing to do after adding the card is to go to ‘Add/Edit Credit Card’ and then, click on the ‘Confirm my card’ button.
• You need to request for your 4 Digit Code which you would need to further the verification process. For that, you would still be debited another little amount of money which would be reimbursed within 4-5 working days.
• Once you have gotten the code, following the same process above, add the code and pay attention to the instructions that you would be given.

How to Link your PayPal account to FNB

Before you link your PayPal account to FNB you need to open an online account with FNB. However, after verification, the next thing to do to start withdrawing money is to link your PayPal account with the FNB account.

You can link your PayPal account to FNB by following the steps below.

• Log in to your FNB account on their official website with the username and password that you registered with initially.
• Once you are redirected to your dashboard, select ‘Forex’ option.
• Also, click on the ‘PayPal services’.
• From the list that shows up, choose ‘Link your PayPal Profile’ option. Ensure that you input the information that has to do with the details of your FNB and PayPal accounts.

If you have an account with FNB, you will need to fill or confirm your details, and from there, an FNB online verification would be carried out. An authorisation to link your PayPal information would also be required, and as such, you will need to sign in with your details to effect that process. Then, note that occasionally, some customers have FNB online banking login problems and so, in case you encounter same, do not panic; you could contact the Customer service to rectify whatever issues of concern that you have.