Adding funds?

[achaudhry]

What does it exactly mean to "add funds" to your account? Does it mean PayPal takes money from your bank account and places into your PayPal account? If I want to buy something online will I always have to make sure I have some money added into my PayPal account via "add funds"? Or does PayPal, even though I might not have any money in my PayPal balance but I  do have the required money in a bank account linked to my PayPal account, take money directly from your bank account? What I'm basically trying to ask is do you have to have money in your PayPal balance to purchase something online or no?

[achaudhry]

So still no one has been able to answer my question? Amazing

[skier]

The majority of the folks who support the forum are NOT paid PayPal employees.   They volunteer their time and experience because they want to help others.   Whiners are ignored. 

To answer your questions:

PayPal's main site has a pretty good Help Section,  if you go there an click on the Help link, you will see under "Using your bank or credit card" section, a link for Add Funds.   There are several FAQs for various scenarios.  You should find some answers there.

To answer your basic question, no, you do not have to have a balance in your PayPal Account for making a purchase.  Assuming you have gone through the account verification process, PayPal will use your primary backup funding source to pay for the transaction.   In most cases, this source is either a bank account or credit card. 

Regards,

skier

[Bruna]

Thank you so much. I was about to ask the same question.

Peope like you are very appreciate....

[mtlady]

I think this is an excellent question--mostly because I have the same question!  In the past, I have always made deposits to my bank account to cover Paypal purchases.  I never knew that I should  "Add Funds" to Paypal after depositing money in the bank, and I have never done that.  Paypal transactions always showed up on my bank statements as INST XFER's.  No problem. 

I just checked my Paypal account online and my balance is quite low.  With all the fees that Paypal charges, I am reluctant to start using the "Add Funds" from my bank feature, even though it LOOKS as though there is no fee for doing that.  Since I can't be sure, I think I'll just keep doing things the way I have been. 

So, is there any advantage or disadvantage to using "Add Funds" versus letting Paypal take the money directly from your bank account?