I have always found PayPal to be safe and easy to use, and really handy for online shopping on sites such as ebay where you don't want to give your credit card number away to strangers.

PayPal is owned by ebay, and can be used on ebay as well as many other websites. Basically how PayPal works is it stores you credit card and bank account details, allowing you to make and receive payments without giving your card number or bank details to anyone - very safe, and necessary in the modern world!

PayPal takes every precaution - when the amount of money that has gone through your account goes over £1,700 they lock your account until you have verified your bank details (by giving them details of two small payments, under a pound, that they pay into your account), verified your credit card (they charge you one pound and you give them the number that appears on your credit card bill), and verified your home phone number by calling you. After this somewhat tedious, but totally necessary process, they give the use of your PayPal account back to you. This process really reassured me about the safety of PayPal.

Also, until you have developed a long-standing good track record on ebay, money you receive is held up in PayPal's system for twelve days (or less, if the buyer confirms they have received it). While this can be a bit annoying, it is great from a buyer's point of view as it prevents fraudulent sellers from making money.

The website is not complicated and easy to navigate.

All in all, I don't think internet shopping in a format such as ebay's could possibly work without a system like PayPal. It's great to know there is a safe, secure and easy way to pay!

Thanks for reading. This review is also published on ciao.co.uk under the same username.