How to Accept Payments Online - An Illustrated Guide for Upgrading Your PayPal Account From Premier to Business

Congratulations!  Your PayPal payments are at the point where you’re ready to upgrade to a Business account.  The good news is that upgrading is a simple process, although it does involve several steps. The following article will walk you through the process of setting up your business account for payments.

Step 1 – Navigate to your Personal/Business Information Page

Once you’ve logged into your PayPal account navigate to the following page, My Account -> Profile -> Personal/Business Information.

Step 2 – Click the Upgrade Button

Step 3 – Enter Your Business Information

In this step you provide PayPal with your physical address, contact information for customer service reasons, and some data regarding what type of business you run and how much money you make.

Step 4 – Upgrade Completion & Business Account Confirmation 

You’ll know you’ve successfully entered your business information once you reach the page shown below, however, you’re not finished yet.

When you go back into your account the screen below will show up above your Account History section on the My Account -> Overview page.

Click the Go button and you’ll be taken to the confirmation page.

Step 5 – Submit Your Debit or Credit Card

When you click the Save & Continue button shown in the image below you authorize PayPal to place a small charge on your card that you’ll use in the next step to verify you’re the owner of the card. 

You’ll know you successfully submitted your information when you’re taken to the following page.

You should then receive an email that looks something like the one below:

Your card ending in XXXX has been charged $1.95 USD on Apr. 1, 20XX.

Check your card statement in 2-3 days and find the 4-digit PayPal code for the charge.

Return to PayPal and enter the 4-digit code to confirm your credit card.

The charge will be refunded to your PayPal account after you confirm your card. When you confirm your card, your Sending, Receiving and Withdrawal limits will be lifted and you will be a Verified member.

If you access your card statement online, you will see the number within 2-3 business days. If you don’t have online access to your statement, please wait for your printed statement to arrive by mail.

Step 6 – Confirm Your Debit or Credit Card

The charge will appear on your credit or debit card statement as shown below.  You’ll see a four digit code that PayPal associated with your transaction.

When you log back into your PayPal account, the “Verify Your Information” screen below will show up above your Account History section on the My Account -> Overview page.

Click the Go button and you’ll be taken to the page below. Enter your PayPal code and click the Submit button. If you lost the PayPal code you can request it be emailed to you again with the “Resend PayPal Code” button.

Upon submission of your PayPal code the $1.95 charge is refunded and you’re taken to the screen below.  Click on the Account Overview link.

Step 7 – Choose Your Payment Solution

You’ll see the last part of the business account setup on your Account Overview page shown below.  Click the Go button.

PayPal will ask you a few questions regarding your business needs on accepting payments online, processing credit cards, sending email invoices, and merchant bank account access.

Based on your answers, PayPal will suggest which of their payment solutions that should would work for your business.  Don’t worry about answering all the questions appropriately the first time, you can always go back through the Recommendation Wizard to review the options.

The different methods of receiving payments offered by PayPal are:

• PayPal for your eBay business
• PayPal as an Additional Payment Option
• Virtual Terminal
• Email Payments
• Website Payments Pro
• Website Payments Standard

Business Account Upgrade Complete

Now your business can use PayPal to let your customers pay for your products or services with a credit card, electronic checks, or their PayPal balance.