Pre-paid visa card plus paypal balance

[silverstarjh]

Can I pay with a pre-paid visa card linked to my paypal account and have the remainder covered by the paypal balance?

Example: Item costs $20. Pre-paid contains $10. Paypal balance contains $15. So I will pay via paypal and use the card, then remainder $10 not covered by card will be covered by balance. Leaving $0 on card, and $5 in balance.

[sharpiemarker]

When you checkout, choose your preferred payment method.  Choosing the Payment methods you want to use on PayPal can be unpredictable due to some recent changes to the PayPal policy.  Do you only have funds in your PayPal balance and linked prepaid card?  No bank account added?

Personally, I would choose PayPal balance as the preferred payment method during checkout or when making payment and have the rest come out of the prepaid.

[silverstarjh]

Are you saying that if I select the pre-paid card as my preferred payment method, then what ever isn't covered on the card (ex $5) will automatically be billed to the paypal balance?

Yes, only pre-paid card linked and paypal balance. No bank account linked.

My idea was to use up the pre-paid card since it has an expiry date...

[sharpiemarker · Accepted solution]

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@silverstarjh wrote:

Are you saying that if I select the pre-paid card as my preferred payment method, then what ever isn't covered on the card (ex $5) will automatically be billed to the paypal balance?

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I am saying choose the prepaid card at time of transaction to use it, but rest I'm afraid is on the unpredictable side.  

Here's why...the recent policy change:

"As of October 31, 2016, you will be able to select a preferred funding method for payments made through the regular checkout process as well as Goods and Services via Send Money. You will also have the option to select a different preferred method for online purchases vs. in-store purchases."

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According to the policy change, choose the prepaid card as your preferred funding method during checkout.  However, every FAQ I read even remotely related to how your payment is funded says that PayPal will use your balance first.  And in the user agreement, it says if you do not select a preferred payment method in the Wallet and you do not specify one at the time of the transaction, it will use PayPal balance as funding source first, then bank/instant transfer, before it uses debit or credit card.  They don't mention prepaid card but that can be classified under debit or credit cards I guess.  

User agreement also says, "There may be times when your preferred payment method cannot be used, for example, if you select a credit card that has expired. Also, the availability of certain payment methods may be limited based on that particular seller or the third party website you are using to complete the transaction."  There are also some recent reports from other users about the payment method used was different from what they chose.  Further stuff you have to keep in mind.

Currently, the system doesn't let you select PayPal Balance in the Wallet, which is where you select your preferred method for online purchases in general, so select the Prepaid Card there (you can change this to something else later). Then during checkout you can make sure that you are paying with prepaid card.  

Since your balance is your only other funding method, they can either grab the rest from the balance, grab from your balance first and then your prepaid card, or it will give some error message like it can't complete your payment/choose another payment method, or there is some consequence from your prepaid card if the amount there is not enough to cover the purchase so you also got to read the terms of the prepaid card before attempting this.

[silverstarjh]

Thank you for your very thorough explaination! I suppose I can just take my chances now... lol

[temp20161216a]

dont use paypal run while you still can