Bill,
I have used paypal since its inception. Here is an excerpt from their site -
There's no charge to open a PayPal account and to transfer money from your bank account to your PayPal account. There is also no charge to purchase items using your PayPal account.
There are fees in other cases, such as:
Receiving payments for goods and services.
Receiving payments from friends and family made using a debit or credit card.
Receiving payments from people in other countries.
For more information about fees, see the PayPal User Agreement or fee matrix.
These fees are generally small and in my opinion well worth the services.
DW