[YMMV] PayPal: Download App, Send $10 To Friend & Get $5

The Offer

Direct link to offer

  • PayPal is offering users $5 when they download the PayPal app and send $10 to a friend. Some people have the same offer but they get $10 back.

The Fine Print

  • Offer Period: Starts at 12:00:00 a.m. Eastern Time (“ET”) on November 19, 2020 and ends at 11:59:59 p.m. ET on December 4, 2020 (“Offer Period”)
  • Eligible Participant: Open only to residents of any one (1) of the fifty (50) United States or the District of Columbia who: (1) have a U.S. personal (including PayPal, PayPal Cash and PayPal Cash Plus), premier or business PayPal account (“Valid Account”); (2) are eighteen (18) years of age or older; and (3) receive an authorized invitation to participate in the offer from PayPal (“Invitation”) (eligibility for and those who receive the Invitation will be determined by PayPal, in its sole discretion) (“Eligible Participant”).
  • Reward: Once the steps described below are completed and verified, Eligible Participants will earn the $5 USD cash (“Reward”). Reward will be added to the Eligible Participant’s Valid Account within approximately 72 hours after verification of Eligible Transaction (defined below). Rewards are only available to the first 12,000 Eligible Participants that successfully claim the Reward and will no longer be awarded once the limit is reached, as determined by PayPal in its sole discretion. There is a limit of one (1) Reward per Valid Account. You need to have a PayPal Cash, PayPal Cash Plus, or business PayPal account to have a balance. If you do not have or open one of those accounts, you can only transfer your Reward to your bank account or debit card linked to PayPal.
  • How to Qualify: To earn the Reward, Eligible Participants must complete the following steps: (1) activate the offer as described in the invitation to participate, (2) download the PayPal app, and (3) make one (1) “Send” money person to person transaction of $10 USD or more using the PayPal app (“Eligible Transaction”). No other transactions made using PayPal or any other service qualify. If an Eligible Transaction is returned, refunded, or otherwise does not complete during the Offer Period, that Eligible Transaction will not qualify toward earning the Reward.

Our Verdict

Should be a relatively easy $5 for most people if you’re targeted.

Hat tip to reader Amy

View Comments (9)

  • Thanks for the HT, it’s so cool to get one!

    I saw this in a message PayPal sent to my personal account’s email address about an hour after they sent it, so I clicked through to save/activate the offer and then downloaded the app. (Never had the app prior to this.)

    I considered sending the $10 to a friend and having him reimburse me at a later date, but after reading the terms I didn’t see anything explicitly prohibiting sending it to yourself via another account; I thus sent $10 to my premier account via my checking account—so no fee—and waited a few days. (They said it’d be about 72 hours.) That was on Nov. 24.

    Because it’s limited to the first 12,000 who claim the offer, I figured if it didn’t work I could still send $10 to my friend by the Dec. 4 deadline, but that won’t be necessary: a $5 credit from PayPal is sitting in my personal account as of Nov. 28.

  • Was sent to me. Signed in. Had not previously used anything like this. Was denied. Liars.

  • "This offer is not valid for this email address. Please enter the email address that originally received the offer email."

    Instead I get nagged every time I log in to download the app