PayPal is an account-based system that allows people to send online payments to anyone with an email address or mobile number. When an email address is linked to a PayPal account, it identifies that account uniquely and cannot be added to any other PayPal account at the same time.

If you wish to use an email address that is already linked to a different account, you must first remove it from that account.

Here’s how you can remove the email from the web browser:

1. Go to your Settings.
2. In the "Email" section, click Remove to remove the email address.

Here’s how to remove an email address in the PayPal App:

1. Tap your profile icon.
2. Tap Account info.
3. Tap Emails.
4. Tap the email address, then tap Remove.

If you're having trouble logging in to that account, you may need to recover access to your PayPal account.

If you don’t remember ever having used the email with PayPal in the past, then someone may have registered a PayPal account with your email address. They may have mistakenly typed the email address during signup or intentionally used an email address that wasn’t theirs.

A domain provider like Gmail or Hotmail may have also recycled your email address. If you have an email account and don’t use it for a while, the domain provider can reissue it to the public for use by someone else.

You can always Contact us if you continue to have issues.