One day while using PayPal, I saw a small sidebar ad, "Got an eBay Shop?" Since I've had an eBay Store for over a year now, I clicked to find out more about the offer. I discovered that if you have an eBay Store (even a basic level subscription, like mine) and use PayPal, you can set up a PayPal Shop at no cost. Your eBay Store can then be listed in a regional, category-based directory along with other sellers who accept PayPal payments.

Setting up a PayPal Shop takes minutes. You need to assign a name, provide the URL and a description, select PayPal Shop categories (limited to 2), and up to 10 key words that describe your store. You can also set up a PayPal Shop if you have a Web site or storefront that accepts PayPal.

In order to be listed in the Shop directory, you must have a PayPal Verified Premier or Business Account; must maintain a registered credit card with your PayPal account; and you must have opened a PayPal Money Market Fund account. To read the entire user agreement, go to http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/policy_shops-outside

Since creating my PayPal Shop, I've been receiving traffic reports providing number of Shop visitors per week, with a cumulative hit total. Data is also provided on the number of PayPal Shops, which now exceeds 45,000.

PayPal Shopkeepers are eligible for "Featured Shop" consideration. These are the PayPal Shops that display when logging off PayPal, from the "PayPal Shops" link on the home page, and the "Shops" link in the footer of all PayPal pages. Per the application, featured Shops are chosen on the basis of their quality, integration of PayPal, and written application. The application requires a short Web site description along with justification for becoming a Featured Shop. There is no charge to become a Featured Shop! This is an opportunity to get your Shop exposed to over 30 million PayPal members worldwide.

The PayPal Shop user agreement includes a disclaimer that fees may be introduced in the future, but a PayPal representative said there are no immediate plans to make PayPal Shops a fee-based service. If you use PayPal, have a Web site or eBay Store and meet the user agreement requirements, PayPal Stores can be great marketing tool for your business. And, you can't beat the price!

http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_shop-ext

Editor's note: Barbara Shaughnessy clarified that you must have a money market fund account in order to open a PayPal Shop; due to changes by the Editor, this was not clear in the original version of this article. My thanks to Barbara for setting me straight. -I.S.