PayPal M-Pesa; How to link Safaricom M-Pesa to PayPal Account

Safaricom , PayPal and TransferTo have recently announced a collaboration on a new service that allows movement of funds between PayPal M-PESA accounts.

This is something many of us have been waiting for. Personally, it has enabled me to  conveniently pay for goods  from China, Dubai or the USA for my small business.

Below is a Step by step procedure on how to link your Paypal M-pesa account.

How to link your M-Pesa to Paypal

Step 1. 

So first things first, first you need a Paypal account, which  you will need to Create incase you don’t have one. You can do this  for free  by simply  visiting  www.paypal.com .

The second thing you need  is of course your M-pesa account.

Step 2. 

• Go to PayPal’s Mobile Money portal on https://www.paypal-mobilemoney.com/m-pesa

• Click Get Started.
• Log in to your PayPal account with your Primary Email address.
• Allow the service by TransferTo that links your M-Pesa to PayPal.  At this point you will be prompted to give access to Paypal to among other things, display your balance and charge your account for future purchases.
• Enter your mobile number. This is the mobile number you are going to use to move your money between Paypal and M-pesa.
• Receive the 4 digit verification code that sent to your number and enter it to complete linking.
• You are ready to transact!

Something to take note

Something to note is that it is not possible to top up your Paypal account using a different mobile number other than the one you linked your account with.  I tried this several times and it never worked.

Read Also: 4 Ways Mobile Money is Transforming Lives in Kenya.

Safaricom and Paypal on their part have a very valid reason  for why that is not possible.  It’s because many people confuse the Paypal top up Pay-bill number  with Kenya Power Pay-bill number. This could be problematic in situations where many users make such errors with issues to do with refunds and so on.

Below is a complete step by step video on how to  link your accounts and move your money between M-Pesa and Paypal.