Any will do - after setting up you can then nominate a credit card to use instead of the money coming directly out of your bank. This way ensures you don't lose out if there is any shady dealing, as the credit card will pay up if you don't receive the goods.
No you're not being overcautious! Remember that to receive money through paypal you will need to pay them a small fee, so perhaps add a little on to your postage costs to cover that.
Their fees are very high if dealing in small amounts. I run a quiz site and used to accept payements of about 50p a go. Paypal immediately took 20p of this away from me!
The credit card company is NOT legally bound to cover dodgy dealings when goods are bought using PayPal under s.75 of the Consumer Credit Act.
For that to be enforceable there has to be a direct link between the buyer, the seller and the card company. PayPal breaks the link.
Some credit card companies, but not many, volunteer to cover such losses.
http://www.moneysavin...-purchases#exceptions
I have a separate account for my PayPal dealings, count, I just remember to keep enough in it to pay my monthly eBay fees. I've had no problems at all in sending or receiving money via PayPal - it's a great way of dealing with complete strangers who then have no reason to know your bank account details. If you wait until you have £50 in your PayPal account then you can withdraw it into your bank account withour paying any withdrawal fees.
My barclaycard(originally Goldfish) has covered losses when I didn't receive the goods - in those days you only got a partial refund through paypal, think it's changed now.
ive used paypal in conjunction with ebay for years now and have never had a problem with it. i didn't set up a seperate bank account for it. it comes out of my current account