Embarrassing question about paypal
 

Thank you for reading. It's unsettling to ask but I trust this site and the contributors.

I just gave a gift to a non profit. I had a choice to give through Paypal or plain ol' vanilla credit card.

When I chose the credit card option, I was advised the following: Submit here: Yes, I want a PayPal account.

I don't have a paypal account. Could someone comment on why this method would be more advantageous to use for subsequent donations, as opposed to my old school way. Is there a benefit to the recipient, is there a benefit for me?

Thank you for helpful comments.

Having a PayPal account can be useful for smaller websites where one doesn't 100% trust the security. However, PayPal tends to take more from the money given to merchants than a regular credit card, so that might not be so good for charities.

They also have had a pretty poor reputation in the past based on their locking sellers out of money in their accounts, but I haven't heard much of that happening lately.

Methinks they just want you to get an account.

The only advantage I can think of to YOU, is that you would not have to fill out all the info next time, since they "already have it." That of course also potential downside in case of a breach. Maybe I'm a bit paranoid, but I tend not to leave my CC # online and will put in my personal info when paying, say, my cable bill, every month. An extra minute or so of text input, but it makes me feel better.

In my opinion the fewer (on line) business's that have my credit card details & other personal/financial information the better.
They want this information for their benefit:- not yours

Paypal just wants you to sign up for an account.

On a related note, if your non-profit is working with Paypal Giving Fund, they will not have to pay any processing fee (and even receive 1% more during the holidays) if you donate through Paypal Giving Fund. The downside is that if your non-profit is not working with Paypal Giving Fund, Paypal can send your donation to a "charity of similar purpose".