Cannot use credit card??

[Flight]

Hi there.  I recently made an purchase on DHGate and was going to use my credit card to pay for it directly.  After having filled in the info I was then re-directed to PayPal for some odd reason (this is pathetic, choosing to pay by credit card should have nothing to do with PayPal).   I was then given an option to pay through my PayPal balance or as a PayPal guest using a credit card. 

My first attempt was to just pay through PayPal (because the card is registered to my account) and pay using the credit card that way.  The problem is when I filled in the shipping address on this card I had to enter my previous address in the US; where I used to live (I live in Indonesia now).  PayPal does not give me the option to update my shipping address (country) on that card.  Why is that?  I would sure love an explanation for that...  So if I were to purchase something online it would be shipped back to my previous address in the US; so that rules out using this option, at all.

So not being able to pay for my order through my PayPal account I try to use the second option; pay through a credit card as a PayPal guest.  Seemed great at first, I filled in the info, had the correct shipping address, but when I hit 'Pay Order' I get an error saying : 

"The card you entered cannot be used for this payment. Please enter a different credit or debit card number."

Why is that?  I have enough money on my credit card to pay for the purchase, but PayPal says it cannot be used?  Again, I would really love an explanation for this.

If I had the ability to transfer the remaining money from my credit card to my PayPal account I would absolutely do that instead, just to avoid all this hassle, but  PayPal doesn't allow this option, which in my eyes, makes no sense whatsoever.

I hope someone can answer my questions and give me advice.

[PayPal_Frank]

Hi Flight,

I'm sorry to hear about these problems. Currently US PayPal accounts can only have US addresses on file.  If you are permanently living in Indonesia now, we would recommend opening a new PayPal account in that country so that you could enter and use your new address.

I would guess that the guest checkout didn't work due to our security system.  If the card you are trying to use still has a US billing address, then it would make sense that our security system would kick in if it detected the card being used for a purchase being shipped to Indonesia.  This is a guess so if you want to confirm the cause, I recommend contacting Customer Support.

I hope this helps. 🙂

- Frank

[Flight]

Thank you for the reply, Frank.  I actually learned just very recently that it's at fault of the Debit Card company themselves.  Without notifing customers (I guess?), they decided to restrict use of their cards to within the US only as of April this year.  So nice of them to let us all know...

This is really bad news for me as I was depending on those cards as a backup reserve incase anything happened to me while I am abroad.  And now because they expire in September, I don't know what I'm gonna do.  But I understand this isn't PayPal's problem, you are not to blame here.

I believe I've asked somewhere before but, there's no way I can transfer what money I have left on this debit card into my PayPal account, correct?

[PayPal_Frank]

Hi Flight,

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@Flight wrote:

Thank you for the reply, Frank.  I actually learned just very recently that it's at fault of the Debit Card company themselves.  Without notifing customers (I guess?), they decided to restrict use of their cards to within the US only as of April this year.  So nice of them to let us all know...

This is really bad news for me as I was depending on those cards as a backup reserve incase anything happened to me while I am abroad.  And now because they expire in September, I don't know what I'm gonna do.  But I understand this isn't PayPal's problem, you are not to blame here.

 ...

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Ouch. 😞 I'm surprised that they are completely blocking it.  I know some card issuers just charge a foreign transaction fee.  Thanks for letting us know what you found out.  Maybe another debit card provider would not have those restrictions?  I hope you can find one by the time the card expires.

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@Flight wrote:
...

I believe I've asked somewhere before but, there's no way I can transfer what money I have left on this debit card into my PayPal account, correct?

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Using the card itself, no. But if the debit card is linked to a bank account, you could add the bank routing number and account number then transfer the funds that way.  I hope that's an available option.

- Frank