I believe that to pay through Paypal you still have to have an account, that's how I ended up with one.

The thing where they send small amounts to the bank account is just for Paypal confirmed payers, not a necessity simply to pay by credit card, unless the buyer states they have to be a confirmed member.

Whatever you do, don't take payment any other way than through paypal no matter what their story is. There's way too much fraud going on these days and with identity theft and a good sob story people are getting ripped off.