Why PayPal is asking customers to pay by card if they have a balance?

[JohnLocke]

Hello,

Yesterday a forum member asked why he had to pay with card while he has a balance on his PayPal account to cover the charges.

The last day I have seen the same, there were sufficient of funds on the account when I wanted to pay someone but still PayPal required me to pay by card.

Has someone any idea what this is about?

 

[CoffeeCherryTea]

Only Paypal support can give you the definitive answer, but sometimes when they judge a service/seller "problematic" they require paying by card regardless of active balance.

 

[OTR365]

Was this payment perhaps an air fare? If yes, they might consider this particular airline's future uncertain.

 

[botero]

I'm not sure if it's related but Paypal in Mexico recently disabled the ability to use and keep balances. Now all accounts must be linked to a Mexican (or American) bank and any money transferred to Paypal will be automatically withdrawn to your bank. Existing balances cannot be transferred out and can only be withdrawn to a bank.

Translated article here

 

[Madman]

This can happen if the seller is attempting to set up a regular payment or "save your paypal details", (e.g. subscription service) instead of a one-off single payment. Some websites have a tick box that let you disable this at check-out.

 

[KJK]

This can happen if the seller is attempting to set up a regular payment or "save your paypal details", (e.g. subscription service) instead of a one-off single payment. Some websites have a tick box that let you disable this at check-out.

This. Another situation can be when the merchant wants to charge you in their currency (e.g. GBP) and your Paypal balance is in another currency (e.g. EUR).

It happened to me multiple times that instead of offering to convert the amount (with their rip-off rates) the only option was to pay with a card. When the currencies (merchant wanted and I had) matched, I was able to pay with the balance. Honestly I don't know this for sure and I even remember that the option to convert it was there a few years earlier and now it is just missing, either completely or partically.

I totally hate Paypal even though I'm mostly on the buyer side. I'd probably hate it even more on the merchant side.

 

[Ftdev]

be careful when it comes to adding more than one credit card to your paypal account especially if, you already verfied your pp account and there is sufficient balance to cover the cost of any purchased item. In accordiance to their policy. by default they where suppose to cover any outstanding bill's/payment with available balance.

I wrote articles on another forum on why paypal is so obsess when it comes to keeping your fund & requesting multiple proof.

Thanks
Ftdev

 

[AlexAlex]

Hello,

Yesterday a forum member asked why he had to pay with card while he has a balance on his PayPal account to cover the charges.

The last day I have seen the same, there were sufficient of funds on the account when I wanted to pay someone but still PayPal required me to pay by card.

Has someone any idea what this is about?

As far as I know this has to do with the sellers paypal payment settings. The payment method which requires the buyer to have a credit/debit card linked is called "paypal subscription" and is used for automatic recurring payments. So if this setting is activated the seller has the right to deduct the money automatically the next payment period. If the buyer agrees to this payment method, payments can be actually even deducted with just a click (for example through the dashboard of the sellers website).

Are you using a payment processor for your payments? You should somehow be able to turn this payment setting off. Otherwise you can just give your paypal email address to the buyers. Then they will be able to transfer you the money.

 

[ZeroEx]

This. Another situation can be when the merchant wants to charge you in their currency (e.g. GBP) and your Paypal balance is in another currency (e.g. EUR).

Most possibly it could be the reason.

 

[Edge]

I don't think it's a "trust" issue, It's basically what Madman said ..
I'm paying for Skype services and the same happened ..