There are many more alternatives to PayPal than you can imagine at first, however, having been in the market for more than 20 years, it seems that it is the only safe option when paying for online purchases.
As online shopping has become our daily bread, large companies have decided to bet on offering secure solutions so that users can buy safely.
But, before talking about the alternatives to PayPal, we must know how it works and what this payment platform offers us.
What is Paypal
PayPal is a payment gateway to make payments over the Internet in a completely secure way and without using our credit card, but an email address.
This email address is associated with a checking account, credit or debit card, where purchases are charged. The details of our current account and credit card do not leave PayPal, no one other than PayPal has access to them.
Thus, we avoid sharing our credit card numbers. The only way to get money from our PayPal account is by accessing it.
To make payments through PayPal, we must enter our account email address and password in the pop-up window that shows us the website where we want to make the payment.
We may also use PayPal to receive money from sales we make, money our family members send us, money we can withdraw to a checking account smoothly.
Before making an online payment
The first thing we must do before making a purchase online is to make sure that the website uses the https protocol.
This communication protocol encrypts the sending of data, so that it can only be accessed by the website that receives the data from our credit or debit card to make the payment.
If the website where you want to buy does not show a padlock in the front part of the URL, you can forget about it. Not only because your card data can circulate freely over the internet without being encrypted.
But also because it is most likely that it is a fraudulent website that will send you the products you buy or services you hire.
If, even so, you have doubts about the website where you want to buy, search the internet for opinions. In just a few seconds you will check if the website is reliable or if it is a scam whose sole objective is to get hold of your credit or debit card details.
Alternatives to Paypal
Post Office Mastercard
One of the best options to buy safely over the internet is to use a prepaid card, such as the one offered by Correos.
Being a prepaid card, we can recharge the amount we want (from 10 euros) and buy without running the risk that the data of our usual credit or debit card circulate on the internet and charges for services or purchases begin to arrive. that we have not done.
To add an additional security plus, every time we enter the details of our Correos prepaid card, we will receive a message to confirm that we want to make the payment.
In this way, we prevent unwanted purchases from being charged to our card.
Bizum
Bizum is an electronic payment platform that allows us to send and receive money to other users using our phone number.
Unlike PayPal, where an email account is used, with Bizum, we only need the telephone number of the business to which we want to make the payment.
The money is entered directly into the checking account associated with the phone number. Although it is not yet as widespread in online commerce as PayPal, little by little the number of companies that are beginning to implement it is increasing.
In order to use this payment platform, the first thing we must do is check if our bank is included in the list that we leave below:
- CaixaBank
- Santander
- BBVA
- Sabadell
- Unicaja Bank
- kutxabank
- country face
- iberBox
- Cooperative Group Cajamar
- Abanca
- bankinter
- Kutxa Laboral
- Evo
- BncaMarch
- Rural Eurobox
- Engineers box
- Pueyo Bank
- mediolanum
- boxalmendralejo
- arquia banking
- Banco Caminos
- Caixa Guissona
- Caixa Ontinyent
- cajasur
- Deutsche Bank
- Imagine
- ING
- Liberbank
- Openbank
- orange-bank
- Targo Bank
This is the list of banks compatible with Bizum in April 2022. If your bank is not among them, go to the Bizum's website or ask at your bank.
Apple Pay
Apple Pay is Apple's payment platform, a platform that allows us to make payments securely with an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac. But, in addition, it also allows us to make payments over the internet as long as we use the Safari browser.
Like PayPal, Apple does not share the data of our credit or debit card to which we have associated our account. Although it has become an excellent option for making mobile payments, like Google Pay, it is not yet available in most online stores.
Google Pay
The Android payment platform par excellence is called Google Pay (not to be confused with Google Play, the application store). Like Apple Pay, this platform is designed to make payments using the NFC chip of mobile devices.
Fortunately, the number of electronic businesses that are adopting this alternative payment method to PayPal is increasing, to offer users a greater number of secure payment options.
If we use our Google Pay account, Google is responsible for sending the payment to the merchant, without sharing the data of our associated credit or debit card at any time.
Samsung Pay
Samsung Pay is the same as Google Pay and Apple Pay, but from the Korean company Samsung. While Apple Pay is only available on Apple devices, Samsung Pay only works on Samsung-branded terminals.
If you are a Samsung Pay user and the merchant where you plan to make a purchase offers support for this payment method, you can use it without the need to enter your credit or debit card details.