PayPal enables any business or consumer with an email address to securely, conveniently, and cost-effectively send and receive payments online. Our network builds on the existing financial infrastructure of bank accounts and credit cards to create a global, real-time payment solution. We deliver a product ideally suited for small businesses, online merchants, individuals and others currently underserved by traditional payment mechanisms.

We seek to become the global standard for online payments, offering our service to users in 37 countries including the United States. We have over 10.5 million registered users, including more than 2.2 million business accounts. Our account base is growing by an average of 18,000 accounts per day, with virtually no traditional sales or marketing.

The size of our network and widening acceptance of our product has helped us become the leading payment network for online auction websites, including eBay. PayPal is also being increasingly used at other e-commerce sites, for the sale of goods such as electronics and household items, the sale of services such as web design and travel, and the sale of digital content. Offline businesses, including lawyers, contractors and physicians, have increasingly begun to receive payments online through PayPal. PayPal's service, which lets users send payments for free, can be used from PCs or Web-enabled mobile phones.

PayPal is a privately held company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. PayPal was a Webby Award nominee in both 2000 and 2001, and was named a Forbes Favorite Website in the magazine’s May 2001 "Best of the Web" issue.