How PayPal helped take my tarot reading service to international markets

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When I decided to set up my online Tarot reading services, I didn’t know of anyone else around me who was offering them online. Most people I knew of in India simply listed their services and asked people to get in touch to set up personal, face-to-face appointments. My approach was different. Like most international Tarot readers, I wanted the entire experience to be purely online – right from reading about the services, to payments, and delivery of the Tarot readings.

As I was doing my research for the various ways in which I could deliver this service, one of the main things I needed to figure out was the logistics of it – namely, how to collect payments! As I looked at the various popular options available in India, the thing that struck me was the high monthly fees that most of the payment gateways charged. For someone just starting out, with no idea about how these sessions would be received and what kind of revenues I could expect, a monthly fixed fee made absolutely no sense.

Added to it was the fact that integrating these gateways was really complicated. Since I was bootstrapping my website and doing everything myself, and since I am not a coder or software geek, I thought that my dream would remain just that – a dream.

But as I continued to do my research, I decided to take a look at PayPal. As one of the largest and most trusted payment processors internationally, I figured I couldn’t bury my dream until I at least gave the site a look. I had used PayPal often to make international purchases and found the user experience to be excellent, but I always assumed that their business services would be on the expensive side. But that was not the case! I was delighted to see that they had a service specially for freelancers – PayPal.Me. No monthly fees and a fixed per transaction fees – I almost couldn’t believe my eyes!I set up a PayPal.Me account immediately, and was lucky to get my blog name as my personalized payment link. From there on out, it was super easy to create a payment link for the exact amount that I wanted to charge for a service. Moreover, integrating it on my website was as simple as adding a text link, and I had my services up and running in a jiffy. Since PayPal.Me can be used with a number of different currencies, it was very convenient for me to set it up to receive international payments as well. Not to mention that my clients found it convenient to pay in their own currency!

As I started branching into freelance assignments, I again found PayPal.Me to be very easy to use. It’s already integrated with a number of premium freelancer-focused websites such as Udemy and Fiverr, which makes setting up an account and receiving payments from those sites a much quicker process. Since PayPal charges per transaction fee, I could also build that in to my pricing. Requesting payments was as simple and quick as sending a link, which I could create on the fly, freeing up my time and allowing me to focus on perfecting my deliverables. For instance, if I charge $15 for a service, I simply link to PayPal.Me/businessname/15. There’s no need to log on to the website, raise an invoice, or jump through hoops to get the money that is due to me!

The other thing that I really like about PayPal.Me is that the money I receive is swept in directly to my account. There’s no intervention required from my end, and I’m not worried about the potential loss of funds from a wallet-type service. The real game changer, in my opinion, is PayPal’s Seller Protection Policy for freelancers and service providers. If a client fraudulently claims that I have not delivered the agreed upon services, instead of reversing the charges, PayPal acts as the intermediary. All I need to do is provide compelling evidence of service delivery and PayPal takes care of the rest.

As if this wasn’t enough, PayPal is doing even more to sweeten the deal for freelancers. With its #GO GLOBAL & earn MORE initiative, it’s encouraging freelancers to hustle and earn even more! You can receive up to INR 1500 more depending on the  payments you receive for your freelance work after signing up with PayPal.

PayPal has truly been a game changing payment processor on my journey. If you’re looking to start out your freelance career or even a side hustle, PayPal can help you do more! It can shield your business with more security. Give you more scope of growth with a range of global opportunities. It can streamline your payments through its suite of services for more convenience.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post; however, it is entirely based on my personal experience with using PayPal for both my tarot reading services and my ecourses.