This guide will show you how to open a PayPal account in Kenya. We live in modern times, and nowadays, a PayPal account is like a bank account. It helps you receive money online and buy goods and services easily online.
Kenya has made significant strides in the internet world. Many people already do so much online, and you don’t need to be left behind.
We are going to create a PayPal account step by step.
What is PayPal?
PayPal is a digital payment platform that allows users to send and receive money online. It was founded in 1998 and has become one of the most popular payment processors.
You can use PayPal to make online purchases or send money to friends and family.
You need to create an account and link it to your bank account or credit card to use PayPal. Once your account is set up, you can use PayPal to pay for online purchases or transfer money to other people.
In addition to its website, PayPal offers a mobile app that allows users to manage their accounts. As a result, PayPal is a convenient and easy way to send and receive money online while in Kenya.
Types of PayPal accounts
You should know that anyone can operate two types of PayPal accounts. These are PayPal Personal Account and PayPal Business Account.
Here is a brief description of the two:
Personal Account
Personal accounts are suitable for buying things online and sending money to friends and family. All you need is an email address, and you can use your account to pay for goods and services or send money to anyone with an email address.
Personal accounts are free; you can link them to your bank account or debit card to easily make payments.
You can also top up your account with funds when you need to pay.
Personal accounts are ideal if you buy things online or want to send money to friends and family regularly.
Business Account
Business accounts are designed for merchants running online stores or selling products and services online.
Business accounts come with additional features, such as setting up invoicing and business profiles.
Businesses can also apply for a merchant account to accept credit and debit card payments.
We are going to set up a Personal Account in this guide. Most people start with it.
How to open a PayPal account in Kenya
Now that you know what PayPal is about let us open a PayPal account in Kenya online.
Step 1: Visit the PayPal website.
The first step to accessing PayPal in Kenya is to create an account on PayPal.com. For a smooth experience, I advise you to do this on a computer. Most of the screenshots below are from a computer.
Visit paypal.com, and on the top right, you will see the button Sign Up.
Step 2: Choose an account type.
Select the personal account type in this step and click on the blue button labelled continue. Most people operate a personal account. If you want to set up an account to receive money online, you can start with a personal account and upgrade to a business account later.
Step 3: Provide your details.
This is the most crucial step in filling out a form: fillings. You will notice it has already selected your country (Kenya). If not, choose Kenya from the drop-down.
Fill out your account details and ensure you have access to the email address you input. This is because PayPal will use your email as an account name and number.
Step 4 – Verify your details.
In this step, you will see another form where you input more details about yourself. In the second row, you will see Driver’s License Selected. If you don’t have one, click on the drop-down and select National ID or Passport.
You are safe to skip the boxes marked with an optional tag.
Don’t check the box that says, “Stay logged in for faster checkout.” But check the last box to agree to PayPal’s terms and conditions.
Ensure you confirm all the details before clicking on the Agree and Create Account Button. If everything seems fine, click the button.
Step 5 – Done
You are done; you have successfully opened a PayPal account, and you will see a message telling you you are now done.
From here, there are two options on what you can do next.
- Link your card with PayPal to verify the account.
- Skip and go to your Dashboard
Let’s Skip it for now and link our card later.
The most important thing you can do at this stage is to confirm your email address. PayPal asked you for an email address during account creation, and they have sent a link to confirm the email.
Log in to the email account you provided and click on it to confirm your email address.
How to link your card
Now that you have an account, PayPal will limit the amount of money you transact until you link and verify a valid credit card.
PayPal accepts all Kenyan banks’ ATM cards, whether Visa or MasterCard. You can contact your bank to be sure if they allow that.
Since we skipped this step, here is how to do it once you are on your PayPal Dashboard.
- Navigate to the summary tab. If not on it
- You will see the Bank accounts and cards section on the left sidebar. Click on Add a Bank account or card. This will take you to your wallet.
- Skip the Adding a bank button and click on the Link a Card button. If you have a card, enter the details of your card. Your full name is displayed on the card. The Card Number is the Big number (not your account number if using an ATM), and CSC is the last three numbers on the back of your card.
- After you click save, PayPal will debit your card; they deduct about Ksh 250, refunding later after completing the steps.
- They will need a code to confirm the card if it is successful. They could send this code to your phone if they connected your account to your phone. If not, visit the bank and ask for the PayPal code sent to your number.
That is it; you are now the owner of a brand new PayPal account in Kenya.
How to link PayPal to M-Pesa
Now that you have an account let us link it to M-Pesa. Mpesa allows you to top-up your PayPal account in Kenya easily and fast.
You can also withdraw your M-Pesa from PayPal within minutes, and the rates are not alarming.
For this service to succeed, you must have an active M-Pesa-enabled Safaricom line and a PayPal account created as Kenyan.
So here is how to link PayPal to M-Pesa;
- Visit the PayPal Mpesa website
- Click on the big ‘Get Started button. Doing this will open a pop-up where you log in to your PayPal account.
- Agree to the privacy policy.
- Please enter your phone number, which is registered for M-PESA
- . they will send a code to your phone to enter the website and complete the steps.
That is it.
Just visit this website (https://www.paypal-mobilemoney.com/m-pesa) anytime you need to top up your PayPal account using M-Pesa or Withdraw from your account M-Pesa, and they will sort you.
