Compare Skrill and PayPal | Which online payment method is the safest and which is the cheapest?
The world is filled with online payment methods. New ones launch all the time, old ones reinvent themselves. As a consumer, it can be hard to keep track of it all. You just want to pay safely online and keep the costs of service fees as low as possible. So, which payment method should you choose?
Two of the best-known and most used online payment methods are PayPal and Skrill. Both work in a similar way. They’re both e-wallets. You can send and receive money with them as well as pay on a variety of places online. What’s great about them both is that they limit how much information you share about your payment details with the online vendor. That means you’re limiting how often you share your personal, bank, or credit card details online. Great for when you want to pay safely online, without having to worry your bank or credit card details might leak.
But which is better, Skrill or PayPal? You could of course use both. But that would mean tracking yet another set of login details. And besides, if you’re trying to limit how often you share your personal details, you won’t want to share your banking information with both. You’ll have to choose which one to use.
Is there a difference between PayPal and Skrill? Yes. The service fees are slightly different, to begin with, but it also depends on what you want to use your e-wallet for. Let’s compare PayPal and Skrill and see where the differences between the two are. So that you can make an informed decision about which online payment method to use.
What is PayPal?
PayPal is perhaps one of the best-known online payment methods after credit cards. At its core, it’s an e-wallet. Once you’ve connected your credit card or bank account you can send and receive money and pay online at a lot of places.
- PayPal basics
Using PayPal is easy once you’ve registered your bank account or credit card. From then on you can send money to anyone with a PayPal account. All you need is their email address. You can receive money as well of course.
PayPal is most frequently used to pay online. It’s accepted almost everywhere online and it’s simple. If you’ve registered your bank account or credit card all you need to do is select PayPal as a payment method. Login to your account and pay. PayPal will then automatically charge your bank account or credit card.
- Using the PayPal Wallet
Don’t want PayPal to automatically charge your bank account or credit card? Instead of directly using them, you can add money to the PayPal wallet first and pay with that. This can be a great way to practice budget control.
To add money to your PayPal wallet login into your account or open the app. Click or tap Transfer Money and then Add Money to your Balance. Select how you want to add money and pay. The funds will be added to your wallet immediately.
Depending on where you live, there are different options. In some countries you can add money to your PayPal account with a local payment method, without needing to connect your bank account or credit card. In others however, the only options you have are your credit card or bank account. Check on your local PayPal website which payment options are available where you live. If you can’t or don’t want to use a bank account or credit card on PayPal, then it likely won’t be the payment solution for you. There are other ways to pay online without a bank account though.
- PayPal Dispute Resolution
One of the most popular functions of PayPal is its dispute resolution center. If you’ve paid with PayPal online and are unhappy with the service you’ve received you can open a dispute in the resolution center with the vendor. PayPal will help you find a resolution and if the vendor can’t deliver you’ll get your money back. That way you can feel safer when you’re paying online with PayPal.
What is Skrill?
As stated above Skrill works in a similar way as PayPal. It functions as an e-wallet too. With it, you can send and receive money, trade cryptocurrency and pay online.
- Skrill basics
Once you’ve set up your Skrill account you can register your bank account or credit card. Like PayPal, you can send and receive money from and to any other Skrill account. All you need is an email address. Also, like PayPal, you can use your Skrill account to pay online with just your Skrill account. So you don’t share any details with the vendor. You can use your Skrill wallet to pay online as well.
- Using the Skrill Wallet
Skrill offers a lot more ways to add funds to your wallet than PayPal does. Besides your credit card or bank account, you can add money to your Skrill account using paysafecard. You can do this anywhere in the world. That way you don’t need to link, or even have a bank account to use Skrill to pay online. It’s easy to get your paysafecard online right here on Recharge.com.
- Trading Cryptocurrencies with Skrill
Skrill offers one thing that PayPal doesn’t and that’s trading crypto. You can buy and sell cryptocurrency with the funds in your Skrill wallet. You can learn more about how it works on the Skrill website.
- Skrill physical credit card
Skrill also offers a physical credit card that you can use. It works with your Skrill wallet, so as long as you’ve got funds you can use the Skrill prepaid credit card as if it is a regular credit card.
Now that we know what they are and how they work we can compare Skrill vs PayPal. Which is better for you?
Skrill Vs PayPal: Where can you use them?
PayPal is accepted at a lot more places online than Skrill. When it comes to paying online for clothes, games, or services, PayPal usually is the more useful payment method of the two. If you want a payment method that you can use nearly everywhere online, PayPal is the way to go.
So does that mean this first round of Skrill vs PayPal is for PayPal? Not necessarily. There is one big category of online vendors that accepts Skrill as a payment method and not PayPal: online gambling. So if you want a payment method that you can use to gamble online, Skrill is the way to go.
Skrill Vs PayPal: Which is safer?
Is skrill safer than PayPal, or is it the other way around? In the end, PayPal is safer for the consumer for two reasons. First, PayPal shares less of your data with the vendor, and Skrill shares more. If you specifically want a payment method that keeps your personal information away from the online vendor you are shopping at, PayPal is the way to go.
The second reason PayPal is safer is the range of consumer protection services they offer. The biggest of those is the dispute resolution mentioned above. This means you can pay online, even if you don’t fully trust the vendor. If they don’t deliver you can be sure PayPal has your back, and if things really go wrong you can get your money back. That means that this round of Skrill vs PayPal is for PayPal. If you are specifically looking for a safe online payment method, PayPal is a slightly better option than Skrill.
Skrill Vs PayPal: Which is cheaper?
When you’re paying online you often have to pay service costs. Necessary to make these services viable, they are nevertheless annoying since they make paying online more expensive. So in skrill vs PayPal, which of the two has the lowest service fees?
- Skrill fees vs PayPal
The answer is quite simple: Skrill is cheaper than PayPal. When you’re paying online, PayPal asks a 4.50% service fee, while Skrill has a 2.99% service fee.
If you want to add money to your Skrill or PayPal wallet the service fee depends on the payment method you’re using. When you’re using a registered bank account the fee is 0% in both cases. Here you can find the full list and explanation of Skrill fees and PayPal fees.
So in this round of Skrill vs PayPal, Skrill wins. If you’re looking for the cheapest payment method of the two, Skrill is the way to go.
Skrill Vs PayPal: Which is best for you?
There is no single answer to the question which is better. It depends on what you want to use it for and what is most important to you: cost or safety.
Skrill Vs PayPal – the key takeaways
Some points to keep in mind when choosing:
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Both are easy to use.
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Skrill offers more ways to add funds to your wallet.
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Skrill offers a physical credit card. PayPal only has one for US customers.
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PayPal offers consumer protection in the form of dispute resolution
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PayPal shares less personal data with vendors than Skrill
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Skrill has lower fees than PayPal
