PayPal has existed since 1998.
In Italy , however , it landed in 2005 .
And yes, that means we’ve been using PayPal for 18 years now.
Many? Few?
Try to think back to when you used the service.
To that time when you saved time by paying with PayPal.
To the one where you sent money to your friend using the application1.
Even the one where you luckily paid with PayPal and received a refund for your qualifying purchase when you didn’t receive what you bought2.
Or, again, that time when you have collected the amount needed for a group gift to a friend.
Or you can think about when you rounded up the amount and donated 1 euro to your favorite charity.
PayPal is therefore a versatile and very valid tool. Help for anyone shopping online. And, know it, there are so many of us who buy technology, furniture, food and clothes online.
PayPal and online purchases in Italy
According to the PayPal e-Commerce Index 2022, il 96% – NINETY-SIX PERCENT – of Italians shop online, of these 55% buy something on the Internet at least once a week. 15% buy something every day. Spending average? €290 per month3.
The preferred device for online shopping is obviously the smartphone. Followed by the desktop PC, the laptop, the tablet.
Il 67% of Italian companies sell through social platforms, with 15% of purchases being made on these apps. And on social media you buy a little bit of everything: clothing, sporting goods, electronics, books and health and beauty products3.
If you’re wondering about some of the ways people pay online, well… PayPal is one of them. In fact, 64% of those interviewed prefer to rely on this global service3. Among other things, the presence of this payment method can help incentivize people to buy, with a relative increase of 203%3.
In short, sellers that include PayPal can earn more because users trust a service that over the years has proven to be safe, simple and reliable3.
In short, PayPal provides Protection for eligible purchases, it is not necessary to re-enter the card details each time at checkout, it provides direct access to the current account and, last year, it also introduced the option for payment in installments, so if you don’t have immediate availability, you can pay the purchase in installments, without interest.
Pay in 3 PayPal installments
How does it work? Basically, during the payment phase, you will see two options: pay the total or choose Pay in 3 installments.
Selecting the latter you can divide the amount into 3 tranches.
It is, to all intents and purposes, a loan so you will have to accept the contractual terms to proceed. In addition, Pay in 3 installments is subject to approval by PayPal. Not all requests are therefore necessarily approved.
Paga in 3 rate it’s availableonly for residents of Italy over the age of 18 e on purchases that go from €30 to €2,000. For more information on PayPal’s Pay in 3 installments you can visit: https://www.paypal.com/it/webapps/mpp/paga-in-3-rate.
In addition – and we must not underestimate this – Pay in 3 installments can be used with PagoPA.
PagoPA and PayPal
PagoPA is the national platform for payments to the Public Administration.
Tributes, taxes, tuition fees, stamp duties… these are all things you pay using PagoPA.
What does PayPal have to do with it? Simple: is one of the supported payment methods, both online and through the IO application. This means that you can manage your administrative procedures in a streamlined and immediate way. For more information you can visit: https://www.paypal.com/it/webapps/mpp/pay-public-administration-with-paypal.
You can also use Paga in 3 installments on the web version of the PagoPA platform. Since last year, in fact, Italian residents can split payments to the Public Administration by installmentsobviously counting on everything we have told you before.
What does all this mean? Imagine having to pay the university tuition. You can do it in a single tranche or, if you prefer, in 3. It all boils down to a few simple steps.
Simplicity and speed are not the only advantages, however.
In the era of digital nomadism, PayPal allows you to make remote payments.
Imagine being abroad or in a completely different part of Italy compared to your usual residence: you don’t have to go back and maybe physically go to the post office to pay the amount.
You can do it almost anywhere in the world in minutes.
Donate with one click
“Donate 3.0”4 is the study commissioned by PayPal and Rete del Dono to BVA Doxa. A study that was created to analyze the diffusion of donations in Italy.
Why do we talk about it? Why 85%of the individuals analyzed donated at least once in the last 12 months.
We can do better, definitely, but that’s already a pretty impressive number.
And it’s a number that looks set to grow with the help of the program Give at Checkout.
Have you ever noticed?
When you buy something with PayPal you have the option of donate 1 euro to a charitychosen by you – by selecting your favorite from the PayPal app or the donation hub – or proposed by the system.
If you are thinking “well, but it’s only 1 euro, what can it ever do?”, try to change your perspective.
For you it’s just one euro but, together with the single euro donated by thousands of other people, it turns into a figure that can make – and does – make a difference.
Curious to know what kind of charity others do?
According to “Donare 3.0”, the category “health and scientific research” (55%) is the area most chosen by donors, followed by “emergency and civil protection” (35%), “protection of the environment and animals” (27%), “social assistance” (26%) and “support and services for the disabled” (19%)”.
In short, a decent variety that helps support charities, even one euro at a time.
Desire for entrepreneurship
According to a study called Think Forwardrecently people are considering the possibility of looking for, or creating, a second job5.
Making it increasingly possible is the extreme diffusion of hybrid work: by spending a lot of time at home, users have the opportunity to organize themselves better and give vent to their entrepreneurial spirit.
Come? Often with platforms, like Shopify and Etsy, that support PayPal, thus helping to make the process safe and streamlined.
First of all, the platform allows you to receive payments with PayPal credit, with credit, debit and prepaid cards and by current account. Add to this the local payment methods if you sell outside Italy and ad support over 100 different currencies.
Second, PayPal allows you to receive automatic payments e recurring invoices, to create pro-forma invoices and even to generate estimates.
The service also puts at your disposal a number of tools to help minimize fraud and avoid reversals and claims in the event of a dispute.
And then you have reporting, analysis and shipping tools in a single dashboard, structured to be intuitive and understandable even by newbies.
It’s time to create a PayPal account
Back to the original question: why should I create a PayPal account?
Over the years the offer has been enriched, allowing the service to become essential in all of our lives.
With PayPal you can pay for food delivery services and online shopping, buy in 3 installments when you need to, settle university fees and bills, receive payments from all over the world…
If you still don’t have an account, it’s time to fix it. Also because signing up is free. We already told you, right?
*Article in collaboration with PayPal
[1] A PayPal account is required to send and receive money.
[2] Available on qualifying purchases. Restrictions apply: https://www.paypal.com/it/webapps/mpp/paypal-safety-and-security
[3] eCommerce Index https://www.paypal.com/it/enterprise/campaigns/ecommerce-index. The research report was compiled by PayPal based on a study conducted by ACA Research of more than 1,031 consumers and 405 businesses between June and July 2022. It contains general observations on trends in online shopping, social commerce and international trade, as well as tech trends like NFTs and the metaverse. The study does not focus on the goals, situation or needs of any specific company or person.
[4] Donare 3.0 is a quantitative research conducted by Doxa on behalf of PayPal Italia and Rete del Dono, with interviews (administered in March/April 2023) through its proprietary panel. 1,000 interviews were carried out representing approximately 20 million Italian internet users aged between 18-64 plus 30 individual qualitative interviews with Millennials (people aged between 25 and 40).
[5] PayPal “The role of brands: uncertain times require empathy” report, May 2023: https://www.paypal.com/it/webapps/mpp/campaigns/enterprise/think-forward-abm