PayPal option no longer available on Steam

[CothrenF]

I've been having a terrible time this morning trying to make a Steam purchase.  After lengthy discussions with VISA and PayPal, it seems the problem is with Steam.  The option to use PayPal is no longer available on my account so the transactions are not being put through to Pay Pal.  

I'm posting here in the hopes that someone from PayPal can help because Steam is impossble to deal with.  I have no idea WHY I no longer have the option to use PayPal on Steam; my account with VISA and with PayPal are in good standing.   But I thought PayPal should know that their platform is being disallowed for at least this one consumer.  I've seen long posts from years past about this same issue so I'm not alone in having this problem; this is not an isolated incident.  But the utility of Pay Pal is only as good as the ability to use it, and if I can't use it for purchases, what's it for?

[g220773]

I have the option to use Paypal as a payment method, but when I do, Steam keeps telling me I'm using a billing address outside of my current region and they won't accept my Paypal. My region, my address on Steam, and my address on Paypal are all the same (Spain in mycase). Even my address on my email-accounts are set correctly. Steam support keeps claiming it's not their fault though. In my opinion Steam is just too proud to admit their program is faulty, but hey... no problem : if they don't want to sell, then I'll buy my products elsewhere and they can kiss my***. 

[Denis_R]

I have the same situation. My PayPal account is linked to Steam account, but I can't use it (PayPal is also not present in "available payment methods").

I contacted Steam support and they replied that "this was not a Valve's decision." and sent me to the PayPal Help Center. Is this really PayPal's decision?

PS: Have you recently used Steam while you had IP address from other country/region? E.g. during travel or over VPN? I have some suspicions in regards to this.

[g220773]

I moved to Spain 2 years ago. Ever since then Steam, Paypal, bank, credit card and even email-account all officially confirmed my new address in Spain. I don't have any problems using Paypal on any other website.

[shagbark]

What do you mean, "Steam support"?  How can you contact Steam support?  (Clicking on "Support" won't do it; it's just a menu system for a FAQ.)

[Denis_R]

Yes, it's mostly a  menu, but you can reach out to their human support through this menu. I did it this way: Steam Support -> Purchases -> I can't complete my purchase on the Steam Store -> Steam Wallet Funds. Then you will have a textbox to describe your issue, which should be reviewed and replied by human support operator.

Some time ago, I opened Steam a few times while I was on VPN connection and had UK IP address. So, I thought that there was a possibility that this was their new way to confirm my residency in particular region with CC details. AFAIK it’s impossible to get information (like the country of CC issue) of card linked to PayPal account. If people with the same issue didn't use IP addresses outside their regions, then this theory is busted. Valve probably just removed PayPal for certain regions.

[ShoryuKen]

Personally for me before Vietnam the country where I'm currently living was added for its own currency (changing from USD to VND pricing through steam) the Paypal option were always presented. However right now there are several other sites exclusively used and controlled by Vietnam's government and businesses. In my opinion I think the Steam specific per country teams are the one making the decisions to remove Paypal from their option and including other country specific options either so the government can easily control the flow of things or for other reasons unknown.

One thing I do need to mention is that the price for games bought in VND is always 30% cheaper than in USD without any indication of "sale" related. Not complaining though but it is very strange