When I first heard about PayPal I thought it was just another online payment service, like Western Union and Money Bookers. I never really gave it much thought. I didn’t even know what features it offered. A few days later I received an unexpected email from a friend, who told me about how lucrative the service could be. With the aid of several successful stories, he managed to convince me to try out the service, and today I’d like to share with you some of the ways in which you can utilize PayPal to make money online.
The Many Ways to Make Money With PayPal
Let’s get into it. PayPal has multiple features of which you can make the most of. I’ll cover the most lucrative ones here.
1. Money Transfers
This is probably the most popular and, frankly, the best way to make money through PayPal. Basically, you can set up a PayPal account, link it to a bank account you hold at another financial institution, and start receiving payments. The catch is that you have to be at least 18 years old to get a PayPal account. After that, all you need is a debit card to carry out money transfers.
2. Invoicing
With Invoicing, you can set up a PayPal account, link it to a bank account you hold at another financial institution, and start accepting payments for your products or services. The advantage of accepting payments for your product/service is that you don’t necessarily have to sell a product to make money with this option. You can use your services to provide a valuable resource to others and then invoice them for your efforts. PayPal takes care of the rest. When you receive a payment, you can create an invoice and settle the amount with your bank account.
3. Online shops
The purpose of having a PayPal account is to make money online, but you can also use it to run an online shop of some sort. When someone makes a purchase from your online shop, you can collect the money and then transfer it into your bank account. Keep in mind that to do this you’ll need to verify the credit card of the buyer in case there’s a dispute. But other than that it’s quite straight forward.
4. Pay-what-you-want
With Pay-what-you-want, you can set up a PayPal account, link it to a bank account you hold at another financial institution, and start receiving payments. The catch is that you have to place a limit on how much you’ll accept, and make sure to include a disclaimer that the price will change once you’ve received the payment. After that, you’ll need to set the price you’re willing to accept for each product you have for sale. Once you’ve set the price, PayPal takes care of the rest. When a customer pays you what you ask for, you can create an invoice and settle the amount with your bank account.
5. Renting Your Devices
This is pretty much self-explanatory. You can set up a PayPal account, link it to a bank account you hold at another financial institution, and start receiving payments for using others’ devices. You’ll need to negotiate a fee with the person you’re renting from. You can’t charge them for the use of your equipment, but you can ask for compensation in the form of free services or merchandise of value. Keep in mind that you’ll need to provide customer support for the duration of the rental period. You can accomplish this in multiple ways, such as via phone or email. In my case, I provide a support ticketing system for my clients so they can access answers to common questions from their dashboard. It’s a win-win for both of us.
What About Recurring Revenue?
You’ll notice that I didn’t mention anything about getting paid for serving ads, which is usually how most people make money online. However, this is where the rub lies. While serving ads is a quick way to make money online, you won’t be able to sustain a profitable business based on this method. The key is to build a large audience and then monetize your blog or website through affiliate marketing. When someone clicks a monetized link or buys a product that’s promoted on your site, you’ll earn a small commission. If someone buys a product that’s promoted on your site for the same price in an e-commerce store, you’ll earn a larger commission. Just remember that you need a large audience to be able to sustain profitable blogging. Ideally, you’ll want to build a list of at least 500 names before you even think about trying to monetize your content.
A couple of months ago, I published a blog post about making money with affiliate marketing.
- If you’re looking to make money online, why not consider trying affiliate marketing?
- It’s a great way to make money online. You don’t necessarily need a massive audience to be able to pull in the bucks. (Hint: You don’t.)
- Even a modest audience of a few hundred people can earn you hundreds of dollars per month. (Hey, at least I know I can!)
In case you’re interested, here’s a link to that particular article:
How to Make Money With Affiliate Marketing
As you can see, there are several ways to make money with PayPal. Some of them are more suitable for individuals, while others are geared to make money online businesses. You need to determine what you’re comfortable with and then evaluate which option suits you best. Not all of them will make you rich, but then again, financial independence isn’t the point. The point is to find a way to make money to support your lifestyle.