With more people taking advantage of online shopping bargains, payment services like PayPal are also seeing an increase in use.

PayPal is a web-based system that allows people to safely pay for online shopping, bills, subscriptions, donations and more.

People who sign up to PayPal can choose to store bank details, credit and debit card numbers, then choose which one to use when paying for things online at participating merchants.

PayPal Pay it in 4

If you want to split a large purchase between your debit card and another payment method, you can use PayPal’s Pay it in 4 feature. This allows you to pay with two different cards or a card and your PayPal balance. To use this feature, you need to have a PayPal account and link your debit card to it. Then, when you check out with PayPal, you can choose to split the payment and select how much you want to pay with each method.

Some of the Australian stores currently offering payment services through PayPal include:

• JB Hi-Fi
• Flight Centre
• Event Cinemas
• JetStar
• Dick Smith; and
• Cellarmasters
• Post Billpay
• Stan
• Uber
• BCF
• BigW
• The Good Guys
• Myer
• SurfStich
• Country Road

International stores that will offer payment via PayPal include the popular online fashion stores Asos, Etsy and StrawberryNet, which all have a reputation for offering great fashion at affordable prices. It is also the preferred payment method for many eBay sellers.

Taking advantage of the added level of security that PayPal offers can give people more peace of mind of they are hesitant about shopping with a merchant or seller that is based overseas, so that people really can get the best deal possible.

Using PayPal may also help save on debit card surcharges that some places will add on to the total cost of purchases, so it can definitely be worthwhile to take advantage of this service if a lot of shopping is done online.

According to the PayPal website, over three million Australians shop online using their service, and this number will probably grow with the popularity of shopping online.

With a MasterCard or Visa debit card, people can easily use PayPal as part of their online shopping process. The simple steps below can be used to set up debit card payments through PayPal:

1. Create a PayPal account
2. Log in to the PayPal account
3. Click on “My Account” at the top of the page
4. Go to the “Profile” section at the top of the page
5. Select “Add or Edit Credit Card”
6. Click on “Add Card” and complete the details of the debit card

Once this process is done more cards or bank account details can be added for even more payment options.

With a service like PayPal on hand, there will be even more freedom to use your debit card online without worrying as much about the risk of entering details every time you find a bargain.