PayPal
PayPal is an e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. A PayPal account can be funded with electronic debits from a bank account, from a MoneyPak card or by receiving a money transfer from another PayPal member. Funds in a PayPal account can be withdrawn to a bank account or by sending a money transfer to another PayPal member.
Fees
The fee for transferring money to another PayPal member can vary based on options. The typical transaction charge for PayPal is $0.30 per transaction plus 2.9% of the amount transferred. The transaction charge is deducted from the payment amount. A "personal, payments owed" transaction to another PayPal account where the recipient's account is not a business account will incur no transfer fee. International payments will incur an additional currency exchange fee of at least 1%, in many instances.
PayPal operates in 190 markets worldwide.
Privacy
U.S. Accounts
When a payment is funded from a linked bank account, an ACH transaction is made. There appears to be differences in the type of ACH transaction depending on where the PayPal payment was sent.
Domestic
For payment from a U.S. PayPal account to another U.S. PayPal account, the ACH transaction code used is WEB.
International
For payment from a U.S. PayPal account to a PayPal account that is outside the U.S., the ACH transaction code used is IAT. Accompanying the IAT transaction is the payment recipient's name.
In other words, more information is transmitted to the bank when the PayPal transaction is for a payment that crosses borders than might be sent for a payment that stays within the U.S.
Criticism
It is not recommended to use PayPal for bitcoin transfers. In many cases the buyer issued a charge-back-fraud. The case is automatically closed by PayPal if he states that his account was compromised. It is not uncommon for PayPal to ban your account and keep your funds if they find out that you are transferring bitcoin.