# Is there a way to send money via Paypal without an account? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-send-money-via-paypal-without-an-account/708311 "2014-12-27T23:38:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-send-money-via-paypal-without-an-account/708311/1 "2014-12-27T23:38:52Z")
Is there a way to send money via Paypal without an account? There used to be, but I can’t locate one now. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-send-money-via-paypal-without-an-account/708311/2 "2014-12-28T00:02:38Z")
The recipient can send you an invoice and you can pay without an account, I am pretty sure. This may incur fees for the recipient, tho. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-send-money-via-paypal-without-an-account/708311/3 "2014-12-28T00:33:29Z")
hmmm… ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-send-money-via-paypal-without-an-account/708311/4 "2014-12-28T05:56:42Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > The recipient can send you an invoice and you can pay without an account, I am pretty sure. This may incur fees for the recipient, tho. Paypal recently removed this feature, previously someone could pay an invoice via credit card but now you have to have a paypal account. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-send-money-via-paypal-without-an-account/708311/5 "2014-12-28T13:03:19Z")
If you’re concerned, create the account and send the money. Once the recipient has it, remove the credit card from the Paypal account: no credit card, no risk if hacked. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-send-money-via-paypal-without-an-account/708311/6 "2014-12-28T13:49:06Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > The recipient can send you an invoice and you can pay without an account, I am pretty sure. This may incur fees for the recipient, tho. the person I was talking to also suggested this. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-send-money-via-paypal-without-an-account/708311/7 "2014-12-28T15:04:59Z")
How about a bank transfer. You just need the recipients sort coda and account number to transfer funds from your current account. I do this (online) fairly frequently and incur no costs whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-send-money-via-paypal-without-an-account/708311/8 "2014-12-28T16:13:50Z")
Exactly what are you trying to avoid? If you really don’t want a PayPal account at all, I dunno. But if you don’t want to tie up you money sitting in the PayPal account, that’s okay. Your balance can be zero, and each time you need to pay for something you give it your credit/debit card number so that the money moves straight from your card throuh PayPal to the destination. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-send-money-via-paypal-without-an-account/708311/9 "2014-12-28T17:33:29Z")
> [@Myglaren](#): > > How about a bank transfer. You just need the recipients sort coda and account number to transfer funds from your current account. > I do this (online) fairly frequently and incur no costs whatsoever. Not a good choice. Trust issues. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-send-money-via-paypal-without-an-account/708311/10 "2014-12-28T18:21:03Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Exactly what are you trying to avoid? If you really don’t want a PayPal account at all, I dunno. But if you don’t want to tie up you money sitting in the PayPal account, that’s okay. Your balance can be zero, and each time you need to pay for something you give it your credit/debit card number so that the money moves straight from your card throuh PayPal to the destination. I second this I’m not seeing the negative to having a zeroed but active account sitting around. Be aware that if this is needed ASAP it may take a few days for the paypal account verification process to be completed and the account activated as they have to send test sums to the account and have you verify it (unless it’s changed since I did it several years ago). ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-send-money-via-paypal-without-an-account/708311/11 "2014-12-28T19:29:56Z")
[Walmart online money transfer](http://www.walmart.com/cp/Online-Money-Transfers/1089406). ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-send-money-via-paypal-without-an-account/708311/12 "2014-12-28T20:59:02Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Not a good choice. > > Trust issues. Your bank may be different but apart from the usual security checks when logging in, my bank sends a one-time code to my mobile that I have to respond to and expires in half an hour, before they will accept the transfer as valid. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-send-money-via-paypal-without-an-account/708311/13 "2014-12-28T21:41:35Z")
Issue resolved.