Paypal

[anondl]

I made a donation on my Visa card. Paypal won't accept this card again. They want my bank acct. no. Whats up? I've called the card issuer and they don't have any flags or holds on this card.

Anondl

[AutieAB]

PayPal are arses. IIRC, they only let you use a US debit or credit card n times (and it's not many) before you must add a bank account. The reason being, they prefer to do instant bank transfers (presumably it's cheaper for them) and to have the credit card as a backup source in case the bank transfer is declined even though they ultimately probably debit from the same place (in the case of a debit card, at least).

I ran into this problem because I have a joint checking account with my wife, and she's had her paypal account much longer than me. When I came to add the bank account to my paypal account, it refused it because it was already associated with a different paypal account (it's a joint account, duh!). My paypal account was effectively locked out until I added our savings account to it instead as a last resort. Now every time I pay for something, I have to override the default bank transfer option to get it to process the transaction via card rather than take from our savings

[Darkfinn]

PayPal are arses. IIRC, they only let you use a US debit or credit card n times (and it's not many) before you must add a bank account. The reason being, they prefer to do instant bank transfers (presumably it's cheaper for them) and to have the credit card as a backup source in case the bank transfer is declined even though they ultimately probably debit from the same place (in the case of a debit card, at least).

I ran into this problem because I have a joint checking account with my wife, and she's had her paypal account much longer than me. When I came to add the bank account to my paypal account, it refused it because it was already associated with a different paypal account (it's a joint account, duh!). My paypal account was effectively locked out until I added our savings account to it instead as a last resort. Now every time I pay for something, I have to override the default bank transfer option to get it to process the transaction via card rather than take from our savings

Yes, they want you to add a bank account b/c banks don't charge nearly as much for a direct transfer. Every time a company runs something on a credit card they have to pay the credit card company a fee. Thus why stores want you to run your card as debit instead of credit... it saves them money.

If you have a joint banking account, why not get a joint paypal account? My fiancee and I share one and have a paypal debit card. Man is that nice... sell things online and not have to wait a week for the money to be transferred into your regular bank account.

[AutieAB]

If you have a joint banking account, why not get a joint paypal account?

I'm pretty sure there's no such thing? At least, not officially. I mean we could just use one account and I do use hers quite often but sometimes it's preferable to have your own. For example, she found out what she was getting for Christmas once because she was reading through her Paypal account history. Likewise, I'm sure she would probably prefer not to have all my diaper purchases in her account history and I'd rather not have all her hobby stuff in mine. Having a Paypal account pointing to a savings account is a pain but not that big a deal in the long run. You just have to remember to either change the payment source each time or transfer the funds in online banking to rebalance it... Takes 10 seconds...

[Guest munchkitten]

I've had a paypal account for 4 years now.. I've never added a bank account.

[DailyDi]

I thought all paypal accounts required a bank account?

[Bettypooh]

I thought all paypal accounts required a bank account?

Nope, but you then have a spending limit My prepaid CC is all I have- I have no bank accounts of any kind- and my Paypal limit is nearing It was $2K at first, but I complained and they extended it Hope that works again You also can't sell on Ebay without a bank account The reason they want a bank account is so that they can grab your money in the event of a disputed payment. CC companies won't release funds so without an account link you are in control of your money- not them- and they don't like that

Bettypooh

A no-account Paypaler

[AutieAB]

I thought all paypal accounts required a bank account?

No (as Bettypooh described) but they can (and do) make things really awkward for you if you don't.

Honestly, a financial regulator somewhere in the world (preferably the US or the EU) needs to grow some cajones and tell PayPal that if it wants to act like a bank, it should be a bank... Being a bank involves a whole crapload of regulatory obligations and consumer protection measures which Paypal carefully sidesteps by designating itself a 'payment processor' and nothing more, despite that they hold funds owned by their customers, which they can move, debit and credit just like a bank account...

[DailyDi]

They tried being a bank (x.com) and lost their shirts giving credit cards to anyone with an email address. This was before eBay bought them I think.

[BabyLock]

I made a donation on my Visa card. Paypal won't accept this card again. They want my bank acct. no. Whats up? I've called the card issuer and they don't have any flags or holds on this card.

Anondl

If you made the donation in the form of CASH $$$$ Paypal may not like that or the VISA people since it would be

a form of a cash advance and perhaps your account is not set up for that function.

Paypal may be like a Money Order business and would like a percentage/cut of the action aka service fee.

OR

VISA would apply an interest charge to the cash advance transfer (donation).

In any event nothing is really FREE and your good intentions are going to be TAXED/FEE-ED/SERVICE CHARGED - Whatever!!!!!

Babylock

[Jackiewope]

I have no idea how to use PayPal without an account attached. That's how I've always done it and it's worked marvelously for me.

Bank accounts aren't hard to get these days. *shrugs*

[DailyDi]

fairly soon I'll be able to take CC's directly. Just need to get a secure form set-up. I can take them on my iphone if I run into you on the street

[anondl]

fairly soon I'll be able to take CC's directly.

Good, cause there's no way in hell I'm giving paypal my checking acct number!

I still think it would be worth your time to have a PObox. We could send money orders anonymously.

Anondl

[sarah_ab]

fairly soon I'll be able to take CC's directly. Just need to get a secure form set-up. I can take them on my iphone if I run into you on the street

hahah i read this to mean if you run into someone you are just going to steal their credit card... although i read the 'on my iphone' part for some reason it didn't process !!!