If I were to order avast using paypal would I receive an e-mail with a product/license key or would they mail the Avast! antivirus to my house?
Hi Fugly113,
What you should do is download the trial version of Avast! and use it for the 30 day trial period just to make sure its what you want before you pay. Once you do pay you will be notified of a license number or activavtion code to enter in the maintenance/subscription section in the control panel
That’s what I am doing anyway,
+1
Try it for a while first if you haven’t already. This way you’ll know that everything works great on your system.
You also get a better deal this way if you upgrade to the security suite. 
I would say that totally depends on where you are ordering avast from. I’m not aware if paypal is an option for purchase through the avast.com on-line payment processing, though I could be wrong on that.
If ordering through the avast.com on-line payment processing and paypal is a payment option then I would say that the email confirmation of payment, etc. would either have the license file attached or a link where the license file can be downloaded (license.avastlic).