Hi msmeghan,
Great question. We will always use the available funds in your PayPal account first before going to a bank or credit card.
In most situations*, PayPal will display the payment method during checkout before the payment is initiated. That means that you would have the option to change it to a different payment method only during checkout. There will be a "change" or "more funding options" link that allows those changes to be made. This will always happen with eBay checkout payments on the eBay website. To the best of my knowledge, there isn't a way to allow PayPal to automatically purchase items.
* The reason I say "in most situations" is because it works differently for subscriptions or any preapproved payments. Since those payments are being billed automatically, there is no way to change it during a checkout. There is a way to set which payment methods you would like to be available for a specific subscription or preapproval.
- When you log into PayPal, click the profile link which is in the white bar just below the blue tabs.
- You can click "profile" or "more options".
- From there click the "My money" link on the left
- Find the section labeled "My preapproved payments" and click the "update" link on the right
This page will list all the agreements that allow merchants to automatically bill your PayPal account. You can click the "Set Available Funding Sources" link in the upper right portion of the table to set which payment methods can be used for all preapproved payments. Or you can click on the individual merchant names to choose for that particular merchant.
I went a bit overboard on the information here so thanks for reading this long post. I hope it's helpful! 😄
- Frank
... View more