PayPal to Soon Allow Payments Without an Account

For as long as I have been purchasing products online, I’ve been using PayPal to handle almost all of the payments, as it’s secure, and far easier to deal with than hauling out a credit card each time to read off the numbers. I’m sure I’m not alone in this, either, because like it or not, PayPal is a dominant force in the online payment game. The service isn’t perfect, but I do personally believe that its upsides outweigh the downsides.

But if there is a notable downside of PayPal, it’s that you are required to have an account to use it. For many people, that’s not a problem since it takes no time at all to sign up with a credit card, but for a lot of people, they may feel that a full account isn’t truly needed. I can side with that… I hate it when a site requires me to sign up when all I need is one little thing.

For a lot of people, though, that gripe can soon vanish, as PayPal is going to allow people to make payments via credit card without an actual PayPal account. So for the purchaser, there is no burden; it’s just a regular purchase. For vendors, it means that some people won’t be scared off because of a required PayPal account, which can reap some obvious benefits.

It seems that PayPal is targeting this functionality more towards mobile platforms, but I’m not sure why, as it seems suitable for all uses. I’d imagine that on mobile platforms it would be even more convenient to just suck it up and sign up for an account, since it’s fairly tedious to enter all of your credit card information on your phone. Not to mention the security issues it can raise.

Oh well, at least there’s going to be an option, and that’s the important thing. Kudos to PayPal for finally implementing such straight-forward functionality.

The program, called Guest Payments, will let software developers offer credit card payments for an app in addition to PayPal’s electronic transferring of funds between a buyer and seller. Publishers will be able to add PayPal’s credit card payment options to any app–desktop, mobile phone, and Web. One reason PayPal’s electronic payments service has historically been so appealing is the anonymity it affords the customers and the convenience it lends the merchants. Customers–like you and me–can let PayPal handle secure money transfers without handing over credit card or bank account details to every small-time publisher.