My friend who lives in the middle east in paraiticual the UAE and he
wants to get paypal so that he can buy stuff from ebay. He asked me
because i have posted other questions for my friends here. I am not
sure if he wants only paypal or something that will work as good.

Note whenever i browse ebay my self i see lots of paypal posted there
does that mean that only paypal user can buy it?. I checked on the
paypal site and it does not show UAE listed on there.

Hello jashnimal-ga:

It was a pleasure to answer your question. I myself have a PayPal
account and have done quite a bit of transactions through PayPal.
First an interesting thing you might or might not know. As of October
2002, eBay bought PayPal.

Please be patient I will answer all of your questions step by step.

First, something about opening a PayPal account and than I will answer
your questions.

Your friend can buy things from eBay using PayPal.  For that he will
have to open up a PayPal account. There are two ways to open an
account.
1) You can provide them with a valid credit card or a debit card
number 2) Your friend can provide them his bank account number and the
Name of the Bank etc.
Why do you need these? It is because whenever you will buy something
from eBay or any other store that accept PayPal, PayPal will
automatically deduct that amount from your personal account or credit
card (whichever option you choose).

ANSWERS
________________________________________________________________________

If you see a PayPal sign posted somewhere on the eBay that merely
means that the store accepts PayPal transactions. There are several
methods to buy from an eBay store that include PayPal, e-checks,
credit cards and other methods. As far as I know most (nearly everyone
at eBay) accept other methods than PayPal. You don’t really have to
have a PayPal in order to buy something from eBay. Yes, if the only
option that a store or a seller provides you is to buy from a PayPal
account than you will need a PayPal account to buy that item.
________________________________________________________________________

As you said that you checked the PayPal website and saw that UAE was
not posted there, I assume that you fear that someone living in UAE
might not be able to buy. NO THIS IS NOT THE CASE. PayPal services are
available to anyone having a valid credit card and certified Bank
Account anywhere in the world.

It is true that the PayPal services are offered in 38 countries
(that’s why you didn’t see UAE) but these are countries among which
money transfer can take place. Please be aware that PayPal is much
more than a buying tool. WHY does anyone need PayPal? It’s generally
for people who want to sell something and need to accept credit cards
online from other people. There are other advantages to this too
including money transfer from your bank account to anywhere in 38
countries (with some exceptions) online in an easy and quick fashion.

Your friend really doesn’t need a PayPal account if he only wants to
buy things from eBay. He can do it by a valid credit / debit card OR
having a valid bank account so he may pay the seller through credit
card number or through e-check.

In case there is a store OR a seller that only accepts PayPal payments
than your friend might want to open a PayPal account to give them the
money.

Again, it doesn’t mean that I am asking your friend not to have a
PayPal. It might be vary useful for him to have a PayPal as most of
the sellers and eBay stores accept PayPal and there are some other
advantages, too.
________________________________________________________________________

Please be aware that if your friend wants to buy something from eBay,
make sure that the store or a seller ships worldwide. Check their
shipping & payment details. Most of the times, Electronics such as
computers and other high priced items are not shipped worldwide. But
again, most of the items I come across that doesn’t fall in this
category are able to ship worldwide. The shipping & policy methods
differ from individual to individual. Every eBay seller has ‘SHIPPING
& PAYMENT DETAILS’ and ‘PAYMENT METHODS ACCEPTED’ sections. Read them
carefully.
Take a look at one example. It is a seller that ships worldwide and
accepts varies methods of payment including PayPal.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2559630104&category=37962#ShippingPayment
________________________________________________________________________

Yes, other eBay payment methods such as credit/debit card payments,
e-checks and money orders work as well as PayPal. Once you see the
section ‘Payment methods accepted’, click on the link ‘learn about the
payment methods’ and you will learn the advantages of every method.

------------------------ BREAK------------------------
BREAK--------------------------------------

CONCLUSION

If your friend just wants to buy from eBay, it doesn’t matter if he
opens a PayPal or not. He can pay by credit/debit or e-check. Again,
having PayPal doesn’t hurt either. He will be able to pay any seller
who only accepts PayPal(its very rare though). Or, he might want to
have PayPal so he can just pay from PayPal without typing in credit
card or bank account numbers everytime (since most of the sellers on
eBay accept PayPal and it has other advantages, too).

If a seller has PayPal sign posted it just means that they accept
PayPal. There might be other payment methods available (Most eBay
stores have several payment methods).

When paying through PayPal or any other method, it doesn’t matter
where you live; the only thing that does matter is if the seller can
ship the product (worldwide shipping option).

**********************************

I hope the explanation helps. I know there is a lot of information to
digest so if you have any further questions, please clarify and I will
answer.

Thanks for using Google Answers and good luck with the future
shopping.

Sincerely,
Leader-ga.

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Request for Answer Clarification by jashnimal-ga on 20 Sep 2003 10:48 PDT

Thank you very much for that info, this is a 10 start answer but i
have two question?

1- How can he register a paypal account in the UAE? what country does
he pick.
2- Would he be able to to logon to his paypal account from diffrent
countrys? most of the time it will not let him logon and send an email
to the person saying the his ip 213.212.22.910 tryed to accsess the
account.

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Clarification of Answer by leader-ga on 20 Sep 2003 10:58 PDT

Thank You for clarifying. I will get back to you very shortly (within
24 hours). I have send an email to one of the representatives
regarding your question.

Sincerly,
leader-ga.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by jashnimal-ga on 20 Sep 2003 13:04 PDT

Ok i will be waiting

---

Clarification of Answer by leader-ga on 20 Sep 2003 20:23 PDT

Hello jashnimal-ga:

First of all I want to apologize for one of my wrong clarification. I
contacted one of the PayPal representatives and discussed your
situation. I have learned that you have to be a resident of certain
countries (38 countries) in order to open a PayPal account. These are:

Anguilla, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada,
Chile, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy,
Jamaica ,Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,
Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan
and United Kingdom.

For more information log onto http://www.paypal.com and click on the
‘user agreement’ at the bottom. Read the clause 4 regarding ‘Non-US
use’.

Unfortunately you will only be able to access a PayPal account from
the above mentioned countries. It doesn’t allow anyone to access the
account from other countries beside the ones listed above. That is why
your friend wasn’t able to access the account. Even if it does, the
person won’t be able to complete any transactions. This is for safety
reasons and it might change in the future.

You can contact PayPal customer services at 1-888-221-1161 OR
402-935-2050 (7 days a week, from 6 A.M. to midnight CST.)

I am aware of the fact that I provided you with a wrong clarification
therefore be assured that I will help you to come out with a different
solution, if you like. Also be reminded that you don’t have to have a
PayPal account in order to shop from eBay.

Thanks for the clarification and please accept my apologies.

Sincerely,
Leader-ga.

Hi jashnimal,

Another option is BidPay - it is as convenient as PayPal but it is
really just Western Union money orders (with fees).

Q.What is the BidPay.com service?
A. The BidPay service sends payment on your behalf for items purchased
through online auctions. You use a credit, debit or charge card to
make the payment and the BidPay service sends the seller a money
order.
http://www.bidpay.com/faq.asp#6

BidPay is a Western Union® branded money order. If the seller is
registered with BidPay, a money order will be sent to them. If the
seller is not a registered user, a money order will be sent to you and
you can forward it on to the seller.
"Auction sellers are not required to be registered with BidPay.com to
receive payments, we will mail you a Western Union® Money OrderSM.
http://www.bidpay.com/

"Click here to pay for an auction":
http://www.bidpay.com/purchasemo.asp

Fees:
http://www.bidpay.com/pricing.asp

Best regards,
hummer