PayPal initially had started of as a consumer to consumer money transfer system; it has changed and continually evolved to become the most preferred merchant payment system. It allows a merchant to accept money from customers with an amazing ease and at he click of a mouse.

The ease of use and simplicity, have been the most wonderful features of PayPal since the inception. It only takes about 10 minutes to setup and start collecting payments.  To top the qualities and advantages of using PayPal, it comes free of cost. PayPal only charges a transaction fee and varies from country to country with the lowest at 1.9% and the highest at 3.9%.

PayPal now offers three kinds of accounts to transact with:

Personal: This is most simple and standard PayPal account used by individuals for money transfer and online shopping.

Premier: This account is for traders, and facilitates buying and selling. In this category PayPal accepts credit cards, debit cards, and bank wire transfer and check payments.

Business: This category of PayPal account is made for online business. The features are same as the Premier account but there could be multiple users here.

PayPal today is the most preferred money exchange gateway on the internet and has the following features:

1)  PayPal comes with a free and highly customizable built-in shopping cart. PayPal can also integrate easily with many popular shopping carts like MonsterCommerce, OSCommerce and the likes.

2. Recurring Payments: Setting up recurring payments is very easy. This feature is very useful for membership and subscription based sites.

3. Donations: Facilitates donations from individuals. This is probably the most common use of the PayPal payment system.

4. Multiple currencies: Using PayPal you can accept payments in various currencies like Dollars from US, Australia and Canada, Pounds from UK, Yen or Euro.

5. Real-time notifications are sent for payments made and received facilitating faster order processing and thus customer satisfaction.

6. Optional: Once upon a time, it was necessary that a customer have a PayPal account in order to pay a merchant. It is not so now and the payment can be made by the customer using his credit card, debit card or bank account.

7. Payment Pages: PayPal payment pages can be customized according to your needs by adding or changing colors and logos.

8. Invoicing: Detailed invoices can be sent to customers using various PayPal invoice templates.

9. Refunds: PayPal facilitates partial or full refunds to your customers up to 60 days after the sale.

10. Integrated Shipping: PayPal facilitates creation of packing slips for your shipments thus personalizing your business.

11. PayPal can automatically send order updates and status notifications.

12. Mass Payments: Payments to large groups-like affiliates can be made through PayPal easily.

13. Auto Return: A customer id directed back to your webpage after he makes the payment which can be used to give the customer any further information or just to thank him.

The above features and more continuously evolving features are making PayPal an indispensable tool to online businessmen. PayPal has been the pioneer and has revolutionized the way ecommerce works and simplified it to an extent where business becomes faster and trustworthy. Opening a PayPal account for a eBay storefront or any other business an online business may pursue is mandatory and necessary, since most customers have also come to use PayPal because of its ease of use in transacting online.

Despite using other options available today, PayPal is mandatory to make your online business a success, because of its goodwill, ease of use and trust it carries. Most customers prefer PayPal top most other available options.