i registered in paypal with my bank account infomation and my
registration was confirmed succesfully then i was asked to put in
three digit number before my account will be activated,which i do not
understand.i will like you to help me out so that i can be able to
activate it on time.it is very urgent.

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Request for Question Clarification by rainbow-ga on 12 Oct 2005 08:44 PDT

Let me know if this solves your problem:

Opening a Personal account

...Open your e-mail program and look for an e-mail from PayPal.

Look for an e-mail from service@paypal.com with a subject heading of
"Activate Your PayPal Account!"

Click the Click here to activate your account link, which can be found
in the body of the e-mail. (Alternatively, you can copy the link and
paste it into the address bar of your browser.)

Clicking the link takes you to a page where you are prompted to enter
the password you designated when you registered for the account.

Type your password and click the Confirm button.

Your Paypal account should be activated now.

Looking forward to your clarification.

Best regards,
Rainbow

The 3-digit number that PayPal is requesting is your Card Verification
Value (CVV) number. This is a number that is printed on the credit
card or debit card that you've registered with Paypal.

To find your card's 3-digit CVV number, look on the back side of the
card. There should be a number printed on the horizontal strip where
your authorized signature goes. The last three digits of that number
is your CVV number.

From the PayPal help center:

"For your safety and security, PayPal requires that you enter your
card's verification number. The verification number is a 3-digit
number printed on the back of your card. It appears after and to the
right of your card number."

PayPal: 3 Digit Card Verification Number
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/acc/cvv_info_pop-outside

"In order to continually improve the safety of the PayPal network, we
ask members to enter their card verification numbers when registering
a credit/debit card to their account. If a card verification number is
NOT displayed on your card, you must use another credit card, as
PayPal does not accept cards that do not have this number."

PayPal: Making Payments - Payment Methods - Credit Cards
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_help-ext&eloc=856

"What if I don't have a Card Verification Number on my credit card?

If your credit card or debit card does not have a Card Verification
Number displayed, it cannot be registered on PayPal. PayPal does not
accept cards without a Verification Number for the safety of the
PayPal network. PayPal is currently working on an alternative
verification method so credit cards and debit cards without a
Verification Number can be registered."

PayPal: Making Payments - Payment Methods - Credit Cards
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_help-ext&eloc=857

The purpose of the CVV number is fraud prevention. By asking for this
verification number, PayPal can help to minimize the unauthorized use
of stolen credit card information. By requiring the CVV number, a
merchant ensures that a person who has obtained a credit card number,
but is not in possession of the actual credit card, cannot charge a
purchase.

Visa, MasterCard, and Discover use three-digit CVV numbers that are
the last three digits printed on the signature panel on the back of
the card; American Express uses a four-digit number that is on the
front of the card above the card's account number.

As mentioned in the PayPal information cited above, PayPal does not
currently permit the registration of cards that do not have
verification numbers. If your card lacks a CVV number, you may want to
check with the institution that issued the card to see whether a CVV
number may be available for your account.

My Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: site:paypal.com "3 OR three digit number"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Apaypal.com+%223+OR+three+digit+number%22

I hope this is helpful. If anything is unclear or incomplete, please
request clarification; I'll gladly offer further assistance before you
rate my answer.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

A warning. Thieves are sending large amounts of spam, claiming there
is a problem with your paypal account, and giving you a link to input
your credit card number. It is not the official paypal link, and they
are gleaning credit card numbers for sale overseas.

How to tell the difference? I am guessing that any e-mail/link request
for an entire credit card number is bogus.  Go back to the original
URL, and try to see if they really need it.

IN any case, if you are aware of these bogus attacks, I am sure you
can figure out what is correct and what is not.

Part of the PAYPAL registration process requires that PAYPAL will make
small charges to your credit card and/or chequing account (like
$0.02). You are then required to look until the billing cycle of your
bank account shows the amount charged and the name/concept of that
charge.

For credit card verification this could be how your charge shows up:
Aug 25  9999PAYPAL--*EXPUSE 999-999 9999          2.45

For a checking account the verification charge looks like:
PAYPAL CANADA MSP/DIV   $0.09

You then take either the numbers after 'EXPUSE' or the amount of cents
charged on your checking account as part of your confirmation number.

This might not be accurate so review this with paypal for the exact
number asked. One way to force Paypal to give you more information is
by entering erroneous information (i.e. letters) and hopefully you
will get back an error message with an example of what the field is
expecting.

Hope this helps.