How to purchase goods online from Kenya

One question that always storms my comments section is users asking for ways to buy goods from online.One major myth that internet users from Kenya share is that paypal does not work here but this is very wrong.In this post I am going to show you how to sign up for Paypal from Kenya and another usable alternative called Google checkout


PAYPAL
Requirements
VISA debit or credit card
Bank statement
Steps
Go to paypal and sign up for a personal account,input all your information correctly especially contact address and credit/debit card number because this will be used as your shipping information and the card for payment
After sign-up and confirmation is complete you will be asked to verify your account,this is just to prove the account is yours and what happens is they take out around ksh 150 and this transaction will show up on your statement as
                                  XXXXPAYPAL----------------------
Once you ask for verification you will be asked to input a code which is the XXXX on your statement(format might differ with your bank but there will always be a numerical code).You can go to an ATM and get your mini statement or for those with Mbanking you can get it from your phone.Once you input this code into paypal you are ready to go.
Note:You cannot recieve money to your paypal account(yet),the only money paypal can use is the one in your bank account
Shopping
Many online shopping sites accept paypal but you can start with the big dogs Ebay and Ioffer
When shopping online a few tip to getting a good deal is always to check the free shipping box when doing a search because products online are very cheap the only problem is the shipping cost.Once again make sure you input your address correctly as this is the information that will be on the package.On average shipping takes 1-2 weeks.

Google checkout
Google checkout is just like paypal only that you don't need to verify your account and you can start using it straight away,the only problem is fewer sites accept it as a form of payment.The goods thing about google is they have a search engine that searches for products for you,you can check it out here:http://www.google.com/checkout/deals.html

TIPS
I would not recommend doing these activities on a computer at a cyber cafe,just to be safe
Also update your antivirus to protect you from phising viruses