Finally, you can now create a fully verified PayPal account and use it from Ghana.
When you start working online, you’ll at some point in your journey need a mode to send and receive payments. Using your credit card or debit card partly serves the purpose when you want to make payments. However, you need to utilize services like PayPal or Payoneer to be able to receive payments overseas.
As an online entrepreneur, I have spent many nights racking my brain, trying to figure this one out for myself. I yearned for that one reliable information that can just show me the exact way to create a verified PayPal account and use it from Ghana.
As one of the oldest players in the space, Paypal is a very trusted service to send and receive payments. You’ll find this payment service to be the best especially if you are from Asia or the United States or countries where PayPal is accepted.
How about if you are from a country like Ghana, where PayPal is not supported.
Don’t worry.
In this article today, you’ll learn all the steps to create a fully verified PayPal account here in Ghana.
Benefits of using a PayPal Account in Ghana
The below list will show you how beneficial it is to use PayPal for your online transactions:
- You will be able to send and receive money online without exposing your credit card details.
- You can use your debit card to make payments through PayPal. (More of this later)
- You can collect payments from overseas accounts. (Such as clients if you are a freelancer/affiliate marketer or advertising payments if you are a blogger.)
- Many online subscription services charge recurring payments. With PayPal, you can cancel or stop recurring payments at any point in time.
- Using PayPal, you can also make mass payments.
- Especially for freelancers, you can create and send invoices directly to your clients.
- If you run an e-commerce business, you can integrate PayPal on your site to give your customers flexible payment options.
Now that you know how useful this PayPal is in Ghana, let’s begin the steps to register one.
Creating a PayPal Account in Ghana (Unsupported Country)
Just so you know, PayPal is not a supported service in Ghana. This doesn’t mean you can’t use it. I’ll show you how to create and use one in a short while. The only restriction is that you cannot use the PayPal mobile app to process transactions.
PayPal does not publicly mention the reason why it does not service particular countries like Ghana. Media speculation, however, suggests common reasons could include insufficient regulation and security in a country’s banking system, or failure of a country to comply with the U.S. tax law.
The availability of the PayPal service in Ghana can and will soon change. But how soon? That I can’t tell.
So, if the PayPal service is not supported in Ghana, how can a Ghanaian residing in Ghana create and use a PayPal account?
Well, the only way to go around this is to register the account as a business in a nearby country that supports PayPal. Lesotho or Kenya for example. At least these are the countries we’ve tried and tested which worked fine.
This means that you are giving PayPal the idea that you are a Ghanaian citizen who do business in a nearby country, Lesotho or Kenya. And Lesotho and Kenya are both PayPal compliant countries.
This way, PayPal will allow you to create and verify your account, and operate it from Ghana without any issues.
Now that you grab the concept, let’s go ahead with the steps.
How to Register a Verified PayPal Account in Ghana
If you follow the steps below very well, you’ll be able to create a fully verified PayPal account as a Ghanaian living in Ghana without any problem.
I’ll first highlight the steps involved before I explain each step in detail.
PS: If you want the process to go well for you, I recommend you use your PC or Laptop and not your smartphone. Using a smartphone is fine if you are very much comfortable with technology: the idea is all you need.
Paypal in Ghana Quick Guide:
- Open your browser and go to paypal.com/ls or paypal.com/ke.
- Click the Sign-Up button on the top right section of your screen.
- Select the Business Account and hit on Continue.
- Enter the email address you want to use for this PayPal account.
- Choose a password for the account.
- In the next step, fill your business details. (More on this later)
- After filling all the necessary forms, click on Submit to finally create your account.
- Verify the email address you used by clicking on the link PayPal sent to that email address.
- Now link your bank card to your PayPal account. (More on this later)
- Enjoy.
These are basically the steps you need to create a fully registered PayPal account in Ghana.
The steps above are brief. Keep reading below if you don’t get a point. I’ll explain each step in detail.
How To Open Your PayPal Account (Step by Step)
First of all, go to Paypal.com/ls or Paypal.com/ke and click on the “Sign Up” button to create your PayPal account.
On the next page, PayPal will give you the option to select between a “Personal and business account”.
PayPal personal accounts are designed for those who primarily use PayPal for online shopping or to send money to friends and family. That said, this type of account can also be used to sell goods and services. The business accounts also include everything a personal account does and more.
Personal or business account, which one is right for you?
Here, you have no option but to select the business account.
Remember the idea that you are a Ghanaian who does business in a nearby country, Lesotho, or Kenya, which are both PayPal compliant countries.
If you choose a personal account you won’t be able to verify and link your bank or card to the account later on. So don’t forget to select the Business Account option.
The next steps involve the normal process of filling any online form.
So, Enter your email address where necessary.
Also choose a strong password for your account.
Under the Business contact fields, enter your first and last name as required.
Then under business details, type your business name. You can use your first and last name as the business name. If you want your trading name to be different from your business name, uncheck the “Trading name is the same as the business name” checkbox and then specify your trading name.
Type your phone number. Make sure to select Ghana as the country. And also fill in your address.
On the next page, you’ll be asked to describe your business with some predefined business types.
If you don’t know what to select here, I recommend you to select as in the below screenshot. Leave the Business URL blank if you or your business don’t have a website.
Now is the time to give PayPal your personal details. Give it to them and move on to the next.
The signup is complete now and you’ll be presented with a dashboard similar to the screenshot below.
The next step is to confirm your Email. When you sign up, you will get an Email from PayPal to confirm your account. All you need to do here is click on the confirmation link in the email they sent to you.
At this point, you have finally created a fully functional PayPal account for yourself.
The next thing you need to do is to link and confirm your debit or credit card. You can also link your bank account.
Linking a debit or credit card to PayPal Account in Ghana
As soon as your account is created, you need to link your Visa or Master Card for you to be able to transfer funds between your PayPal account and your bank account.
With your card linked, you can also make purchases using funds on your card through PayPal. This gives you the power to transact online without sharing your card details.
With that being said, below are the steps you may follow to link your card to your PayPal account in Ghana.
NOTE: The recommended card is UBA AfriCard. It is the one many so many people have used and it worked fine. You can use other bank cards too.
Once you have your card ready, please obey the following steps to link it to your PayPal account.
- Go to settings > Account Settings.
On the upper right section of your browser window, you’ll see the settings icon, click on it, and select Account Settings from the drop-down list.
Note: Paypal may update their website and reposition things. So look for the settings icon/button somewhere on the page.
- Select Money, banks and cards.
On the left pane, you should see Money, banks, and cards. Click on it to open this category.
- Click on Link a credit or debit card.
- You should also see Link a bank if that’s what you want to do so that you can transfer funds between your PayPal account and your linked bank account.
- Enter your card number, type, expiration date, CVV, and billing address.
- Then click Link card.
After linking your card, you’ll need to confirm it with PayPal by requesting a PayPal code. To do this you will need to:
- Log in to your account
- Go to Settings > Account Setting, then select Money, banks and cards from the left pane and select the card you want to confirm.
- Click the Confirm card link.
- Check that the information is correct, and then click OK.
- Wait for the $1.95 temporary charge to be applied to your debit card.
- Navigate back to your Wallet and then to the card that needs to be confirmed.
- Enter the 4-digit code that came with your bank statement or transaction history along with the $1.95 charge from PayPal, then click Confirm.
After successfully linking your card or bank account, you can now add money to PayPal from your debit card or bank account.
Common Questions and Answers about PayPal in Ghana
I’ve been there. Searching all over Google trying to find answers about PayPal in Ghana.
So, in this section, I’ve answered some of the commonly asked questions about PayPal.
Without any further ado, let’s dive right into the FAQ.
Is PayPal allowed in Ghana? | Can you use PayPal in Ghana?
PayPal is not a supported service in Ghana. This doesn’t mean you can’t use it. If you follow very well the steps in this blog, you’ll be able to get yourself a working PayPal account. The only restriction is that you cannot use the PayPal mobile app to process transactions.
PayPal does not publicly mention the reason why it does not service particular countries like Ghana. Media speculation, however, suggests common reasons could include insufficient regulation and security in a country’s banking system, or failure of a country to comply with the U.S. tax law.
How do you register for PayPal in Ghana?
As of this writing, PayPal is not supported in Ghana. The only way to get a working PayPal account here is to register the account as a business in a nearby country that supports PayPal. Lesotho or Kenya for example. At least these are the countries that we’ve tried and tested that worked.
This means that you are giving PayPal the idea that you are a Ghanaian citizen who do business in a nearby country, Lesotho or Kenya. And Lesotho and Kenya are both PayPal compliant countries.
This way, PayPal will allow you to create and verify your account, and operate it from Ghana without any issues.
How do you Withdraw Money from PayPal in Ghana?
There are several ways you can withdraw money from your PayPal account in Ghana. Including withdrawing directly to your back account and using your PayPal balance to buy bitcoin on Paxful, then sell the bitcoin for cash into your Mobile Money.
Below are the steps to withdraw funds from PayPal to your bank account:
Step 1: Click Transfer money under “PayPal balance” appears on the left of the page.
Step 2: Then, you need to click Transfer to your bank, and click Next.
Step 3: Now, enter the amount you want to transfer and click Next.
Step 4: Review the details of your transfer, then click Transfer $XX Now.
Step 5: Finally, return to your Wallet page and click Done.
Following the above steps can help you to transfer funds from your PayPal account.
Please note that your bank may charge a fee to receive funds from PayPal. To know the rates, you have to ask your bank about fees for electronic funds transfers. In case the bank fails to process your request due to incomplete or incorrect information in your withdrawal request, the funds will be returned to your PayPal account (a return fee may apply in this case).