Paypal

PayPal is one of the world's most recognised digital payment services, letting businesses accept payments online through checkout buttons, payment links and invoices, and letting hundreds of millions of consumers pay with an account they already have. For a small business, its core appeal is trust and familiarity: many customers will complete a purchase with PayPal when they would hesitate to type card details into an unfamiliar site, and setup requires no coding or lengthy onboarding.

PayPal suits SMBs that sell to consumers online - e-commerce shops, freelancers and service providers invoicing clients, sellers on marketplaces where PayPal is standard - and businesses that want a quick way to take payments without building a full checkout. It is frequently offered alongside card processing rather than instead of it, so customers can choose their preferred way to pay, and for businesses selling into markets where PayPal is especially popular it can be the difference between a completed sale and an abandoned basket.

Key features

• Online checkout: PayPal buttons and hosted checkout that plug into all major e-commerce platforms.
• Invoicing: create and send invoices that customers can settle online in a few clicks.
• Payment links and QR codes: request payment without a website or shopping cart.
• Multi-currency: accept payments from abroad in a wide range of currencies.
• Buyer and seller protections: dispute processes familiar to both sides of a transaction.
• Recurring payments and subscriptions: bill customers on a schedule for memberships and ongoing services.
• Pay Later options: instalment choices at checkout in supported markets, paid for by the buyer's plan while the merchant receives the full amount.
• Business account tools: balances, transfers to your bank, reporting and integration with accounting software.

How it fits an SMB finance stack

In the stack, PayPal occupies the same revenue-edge position as a card processor: money arrives in the PayPal balance and is transferred to the business bank account, net of fees. That balance behaves like an extra account the finance function must keep an eye on - sales, fees, refunds and currency conversions all happen inside it before the bank sees anything. Most SMBs connect PayPal to their accounting software or export its statements so revenue and fees are recorded properly, and treat the PayPal balance as part of their total cash position rather than an afterthought.

For planning purposes, PayPal activity matters twice: as an inflow when transfers land in the bank, and as cash sitting in the balance meanwhile. A cash flow management tool like Trezy captures the bank side automatically through bank synchronisation, so PayPal transfers appear in forecasts alongside other inflows, and exports can fill in the picture for what remains in the balance. That keeps a business from overestimating its available cash simply because some of it lives in PayPal rather than the bank.