That was pretty painless, withdrawing from my PayPal account to my BPI savings account, that is. And quite fast too! I initiated the withdrawal in PayPal last June 5, Sunday, and the amount was already credited to my BPI account by June 7. This is a far cry from the 5–7 days that PayPal indicated in their website.

The process is not completely painless: there were some fees levied on the transaction. First, PayPal deducted 50 pesos since I withdrew less than 7,000 pesos (I was testing the withdrawal system after all), and second, BPI deducted a further 150 pesos, for a grand total of 200 pesos in fees.

Despite the fees, I think the withdrawal option offered by PayPal is still a much, much better choice than the usual alternative: check sent by snail mail. I’ve received such checks and the 3-week waiting time for the check to arrive (and the fear that it will be intercepted by unscrupulous post office personnel) added to the further clearing time when the check is deposited is just not worth the 150–200 pesos that I would’ve saved.

So yeah, I’m a convert to the world of PayPal. Yes, I’m familiar with the PayPal Sucks stories, but so far it’s been pretty good and I’m hoping that I won’t have nightmarish problems like that.