I’m spending money left right and centre at the moment. Christmas is rushing towards me and I am making the most of the convenience the internet offers to get some of the gifts bought in good time.
Today’s app is the PayPal app. I’m making lots of online payments via PayPal. I have the PayPal app installed on my phone for 2 reasons:
1. I know when someone buys something
I offer some services to clients via PayPal. They can pay me online without me needing to have set up my website to take payment. This means that PayPal manage all the card details and I don’t have to worry about keeping financial information securely.
When someone purchases something I get an alert on my phone. This means I can check that the automated emails that should get sent when someone signs up have definitely been sent, or drop them a personal email to say thanks! This is great for customer service.
2. I know when I buy something!
I also get an alert when a payment has been taken. In these busy purchasing periods the scammers are also busy. It’s so easy to miss an email coming through when you are getting lots. The PayPal notifications, which just pop up on the phone saying ‘You have paid £7.99 to Readly’ or similar are much easier to see and give me peace of mind. It means that every PayPal purchase that goes through my account is flagged to me and I know that if something suspicous occured I can quickly check whether it was meant (sometimes I do forget I signed up for something, oops) and question things that seem wrong.
Aside from the app itself, PayPal is a fantastic service. I know they charge quite high fees but look at the service you get for that! 10 years ago you needed a merchant account from your bank to be able to take payment online and not just anyone could get that. Now it’s so easy and quick to get paid online and PayPal is a frontrunner in this being our new reality. Thanks PayPal!