You've finally realized that you really do need to have separate bank accounts for your business and your personal money. It really does just make life so much easier having them separated. And it also makes your bookkeeping for your business that much easier too!
But now you don't know how to set up your business PayPal account.
Maybe you've only had a personal PayPal account for years. And when things in your business asked you to link to your Paypal account, you just used your personal account.
And then you have this one account that requires you to have a business PayPal account or you can't receive your money.
Amiright?!?
Honestly, as a business owner, you should have a business PayPal account anyway. (And yes, you should have separate personal and business accounts. I know you were gonna ask that question!)
So how do you set up a business PayPal account?
Setting Up a Business PayPal Account - Brand New Account
Step 1 - Go to PayPal.com
In the upper right corner of your screen, you will see the option to login or signup. Click signup.
You will then be taken to this page, where you will select a personal account or business account.
Select the appropriate radio button and hit next.
Step 2 - Enter Your Email Address
You want to enter your email address that you want to use for this business account.
If you use an email address that is already attached to another PayPal account, you will get kicked back to the login screen.
Enter the email address that you want to use and hit continue.
Step 3 - Create your Password
Now create your password for your account. This is for a form of online banking so you want a secure password here, not something like your pet's name and a number.
Make sure you use some capital and lowercase letters, some numbers and some symbols. Make it really hard for someone else to guess, but for you to remember.
Enter your password and hit continue.
Step 4 - Enter Your Contact Details
Now you are going to enter the main contact name for your business, your business name, phone number and address.
Enter all of the details, then check the checkbox, and hit continue to move on to the next step.
NOTE: Your legal business name can be your own name, especially if you are a sole proprietor. And you always have the ability to change your business name later as well after you create your account. But you have to have a name in the field in order to move on to the next step.
Step 5 - Business Details
First you are going to select the type of business you have: individual/sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, nonprofit, government entity.
Most of you reading this are going to be an individual/sole proprietor or corporation.
NOTE: If your business is an LLC, you are going to select Corporation.
After you select your type of business, more boxes will show up that you need to fill out.
If you select Individual/sole proprietor, you will receive the following options that you need to fill in.
If you select corporation, you will receive the following options that you need to fill in.
The only difference between the two is the EIN number that you will provide as a corporation.
But when you fill out the box for the monthly sales, you want to overestimate this number. It is also recommended to tell PayPal customer service when you are planning a launch of a new service or program and expect to receive a lot more money into your business PayPal account that month.
When you tell PayPal customer service that you are expecting a huge amount of money (more than normal for your business) in a certain period of time, they will put a note on your account and it can help with your account NOT getting flagged for suspicious activity.
Your account can get flagged for all kinds of reasons, but when you fill out the paperwork completely, and have all of the information needed in your account, there is a much smaller chance of your account getting flagged. BUT this is not a guarantee.
Step 6 - Fill Out Your Personal Information
The final step is to fill out your personal information. Your address will autopopulate from when you filled it out earlier for your business. If the two are not the same, then you would have to just change the information to what is correct.
You have a Business PayPal Account!
Congratulations! You have just opened up a business PayPal account. Now you just need to link your bank account and you are officially in business!
Converting a Personal PayPal Account to a Business PayPal Account
If you already have a personal PayPal Account and want to just convert that to a business PayPal account, you can also do that. Keep in mind, that you will still want to have a separate personal and business PayPal account.
Follow these steps.
Step 1 - Convert Your Personal PayPal Account to a Business PayPal Account
If you click on the round tool in the top of your toolbar, right next to the word logout and the bell, you'll be brought to this page.
In the bottom left column, you see the option Upgrade to a business account.
Click that button.
Step 2 - Select Your Email Address
After you click the upgrade to a business account button, you will be taken to the next step, which is to choose which email address you want to use.
Select the correct radio button and hit next.
Step 3 - Enter Your Contact Information
Fill out the contact information for your business, then check the checkbox and hit agree.
NOTE: Your legal business name can be your own name, especially if you are a sole proprietor. And you always have the ability to change your business name later as well after you create your account. But you have to have a name in the field in order to move on to the next step.
Step 4 - Business Details
First you are going to select the type of business you have: individual/sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, nonprofit, government entity.
Most of you reading this are going to be an individual/sole proprietor or corporation.
NOTE: If your business is an LLC, you are going to select Corporation.
After you select your type of business, more boxes will show up that you need to fill out.
If you select Individual/sole proprietor, you will receive the following options that you need to fill in.
If you select corporation, you will receive the following options that you need to fill in.
The only difference between the two is the EIN number that you will provide as a corporation.
But when you fill out the box for the monthly sales, you want to overestimate this number. It is also recommended to tell PayPal customer service when you are planning a launch of a new service or program and expect to receive a lot more money into your business PayPal account that month.
When you tell PayPal customer service that you are expecting a huge amount of money (more than normal for your business) in a certain period of time, they will put a note on your account and it can help with your account NOT getting flagged for suspicious activity.
Your account can get flagged for all kinds of reasons, but when you fill out the paperwork completely, and have all of the information needed in your account, there is a much smaller chance of your account getting flagged. BUT this is not a guarantee.
Step 5 - Fill Out Your Personal Information
The final step is to fill out your personal information. Your address will autopopulate from when you filled it out earlier for your business. If the two are not the same, then you would have to just change the information to what is correct.
You have a Business PayPal Account!
Congratulations! You have just converted your personal PayPal account to a business PayPal account. Now you just need to link your bank account and you are officially in business!
Don't let the process of having a business bank account stress you out. PayPal is an option that makes running your business easy, so you are going to want to set it up.
I personally know a lot of people who will not purchase something if the option to buy through PayPal is not available. It is easy to link your cards and information in a PayPal account and not have to enter your card details every time you want to make a purchase.
So make it easy on yourself to make sales in your business by having the option of a PayPal purchase for your customers. And then make it even easier on yourself by having a business PayPal account.
