Paypal issues

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Paypal issues

If you are a long time and frequent Paypal user with a lot of transaction history, you probably don't need to read this section because you have already faced most of these issues.

Paypal will accept credit cards for your event as long as you have either a Premium or Business account. Paypal suggests you have a Business account if you want to accept credit cards. Business accounts do not cost extra.
Paypal may suspend your account after reaching a certain level of credit card usage. Since they must cover those credit cards should there be a dispute, they will probably call you and have you verify that you are legitimate. They may ask for proof that you are who you say you are and are providing a legitimate service. Paypal is attacked constantly by fraudsters, so they tend to watch their back carefully. If you are legit and provide the documentation they ask for, you should not have a problem. Be patient and don't get mad - look at it from their point of view
Should Paypal suspend your account while verifying your business/ identity, they may continue to accept credit cards, but not provide you with the funds.
People may become confused when presented with the Paypal payment screen. If they abandon their Paypal payment, they are still registered, just not paid. These attendees are shown with a Hold status.
The registration system sends 2 emails to people who pay via Paypal. The first email is a notification that we have their registration and are waiting for payment verification from Paypal. If Paypal verifies their payment, they get a second email which is a full confirmation of their registration. The first email has all the information they need to access their registration and initiate a payment. If you have an alternative payment option, they may choose that when they return. If they originally chose Paypal and you also take checks, they can choose to pay by check when the retrieve their registration. See the Attendee maintenance section for information on how to apply checks.
It is a good idea, but not necessary, that you offer an alternative way to pay - especially if your event requires has a large cost.

The video below shows a typical Paypal session. It shows the user paying for their event with a credit card (1:52).