PayPal insists on opening an account before someone can pay with credit card

[ccbfed]

I rely heavily on PayPal to receive our association's membership renewals.

Lately, our members who have tried to pay using their credit card were told that they must first open up a PayPal account.  They don't want to open up a PayPal account .. so they aren't renewing their membership.

Is this a recent change in PayPal policy??

[DPCreations]

Is your PayPal account specifically set up to accept credit card payments?

[lancelotme]

Buyers Can Checkout Without a PayPal Account

PayPal has optimized the checkout experience with an exciting improvement to our payment flow.*

For new buyers, signing up for a PayPal account is now optional. This means your customers can complete their payments first, and then decide whether to save their information in a PayPal account for future purchases. The checkout is more convenient, resulting in more completed sales and satisfied customers.

Best of all, this upgrade requires no action on your part. The checkout automatically applies to Website Payment tools like Buy Now Buttons, Donations, and PayPal Shopping Cart, as well as our Request Money and PayPal Invoicing features.

Here’s how this easier checkout works:

Customers enter their name and shipping address. They’re prompted for their credit card, email address, and phone number. (Optional) After reviewing their information, they may choose to save their information by creating a PayPal account to make future transactions faster.

Please note that PayPal’s fraud prevention measures remain in effect for buyers who use this checkout. PayPal applies the same techniques for this checkout as it does for other transactions.

To turn the feature off, simply go to the Profile subtab, click on Website Payment Preferences under the Selling Preferences column, and check the yes/no box under PayPal Account Optional.

*This feature is available to Premier and Business account holders only.