I've made dozens of payments with PayPal, and have had money sent to my PayPal account. It's always been hassle-free, but I'm in the US. My account is "verified", and it pays money market rates on unused money 9better than my bank). I always make sure that I've transferred enough into it a couple days before going shopping. Much of my Christmas shopping was done on eBay. Payment was fast, even with foreign currency conversions, although I had to wait for a couple of slow shippers. Online purchases have been quite fast from the brokerages (which are 24-hour automated) and from folks like PhilC (who keeps an eye on his email). Receipts are usually delivered within minutes. Other small businesses, you'll have to check their time zones... and how often they check their mail. Carolly