Hi Barbara, I have used mine to recieve money as well as pay. You can either just give the buyer your e-mail address associated with paypal and when they send you the payment Paypal lets you know and you can elect to receive a check, but Paypal will collect a % of it, I don't remember how much. If you elect to link a bank account, they will do two small deposits into your account and when you know that amounts you go into their page and verify those two amounts. Once the account is verified, you can transfer money from one account to another. I am sure they also charge you a percentage of the sale, but is a lot faster.
Maria