# Should I upgrade my Paypal account to business (from personal)?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-upgrade-my-paypal-account-to-business-from-personal/549640>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 8, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-upgrade-my-paypal-account-to-business-from-personal/549640 "2010-08-08T23:15:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![supergoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@supergoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supergoose)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-upgrade-my-paypal-account-to-business-from-personal/549640/1 "2010-08-08T23:15:18Z")

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I sell things (mainly saint medals) on Etsy and am primarily (except for the occasional check or money order through snail mail) paid through Paypal.

I received a payment today that Paypal says I can’t claim until I upgrade my account to a business account.

I couldn’t find much information on Paypal’s site regarding requirements for having a business rather than a personal account except that a personal account is “used for non-business purposes and used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.”

I don’t know if what I have qualifies as a business. Does it? How does having a business account effect other things? Would it effect taxes or something? (I’m completely clueless and ignorant, obviously.)

Should I stick with the personal account or upgrade?  
Also, why is Paypal insisting that I upgrade? I can’t find a great deal of information on how this payment might be different from others. Is it a once-you-earn-a-certain-amount thing or is it something specific with how this customer paid? (In other words, do I \*have \*to upgrade or can I request that this customer do something differently so that I can keep the personal account?)

Thank you so much.

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**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-upgrade-my-paypal-account-to-business-from-personal/549640/2 "2010-08-09T19:48:31Z")

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Have you previously received credit-card payments via Paypal? I seem to recall that unless you upgrade to a business account, you can’t get credit card payments. Of course, then Paypal takes a fee from everything you receive even payments funded from bank accounts where no credit cards are involved.

This is based on my understanding from a couple of years ago, so may not be current.