Suspicious about a payment request

[Gordon57]

I have used a games site for some time now, most games are free to play but you can buy extra tokens if you get low.  I used to buy lottery tickets, now I use the odd couple of pounds to buy tokens for these games. I pay for entertainment value.

I have bought tokens a few times, the cost is low, actually it is under £2 each time. At first the payment was made straight away, as happens with my eBay purchases.

Then I was told that PayPal would wait until I had made several transactions and would collect payment all at once. That was not a problem, apart from having to remember that I now had debt which I had not asked for ! Most times the payment would be taken within 2 weeks. I do not buy a lot of things at present as I am out of work.

This time when i go to buy tokens I am asked to top up my PayPal account by £5 ? No explanation why, I have not been contacted by PayPal to advise of any change of method of payment and can find no information about this anywhere.

As I said, I am out of work. I only have a small pension. I do not mind paying for things if I buy them, but do not see why I should be asked to put £5 onto my account.  I may not have £5 to spare until my next pension payment arrives. The remaining money would just sit in my account ?

So, I came to the main PayPal site instead. If I must add funds I will do it here, not when logged into a third party website.  Except now I cannot add funds. I am told to add my bank account and a transfer will be made within 5-7 days - that is no good when I wish to make a purchase now. I always pay using my UK bank issued Visa Debit card. I have had my account for many years...

If I use eBay I can buy and a PayPal transfer is made straight away. I have never been asked to fund my account like this before. 

Why ?

[kernowlass]

When you pay for an item it is not instant, as long as you have a back up debit or c.c. on file with paypal then paypal will pay the seller or company for you then wait for your payment to clear before paying themselves back as it were.

However when you want to add funds to your own paypal balance paypal are not going to do it for you so you have to wait the time it takes to upload funds from your bank to your paypal account.

[Gordon57]

No, you have not understood. I was happy for PayPal to make payments then I pay them when they take the money from my card.

When I went to make my purchase, the third party site showed me a PayPal page that said I must add £5 to top up my account. I am suspicious of this, I have not seen it before.  

I will not make such unexpected payments on a third-party site so I came to PayPal to find out what the problem was. I found no information at all, and the only way to top up my account is to pay from a bank account. I have read all about that  and understand it would take time if I did that.

My issue is that I was TOLD to top up my account, and do not understand why. 

I have paid on the same card for a long time and can find no reason why I now need to top up my account, rather than just pay for a purchase - why do I need to add £5 ? What has changed ?

[kernowlass]

I agree very strange.

Why not contact the web site and ask why they expect you to do this?

[Gordon57]

The site do not answer for weeks, I've had problems with them before.  It was what appeared to be a PayPal window that opened and asked for the top up to be made.

I have just tried again, with a different result. When I initiate the request I have to wait for paypal112.2o7.net to respond. A Paypal login window opens with the URL

https://www.paypal.com/webapps/checkout/webflow/sparta/expresscheckoutvalidatedataflow?execution=e1s...

which is verified as genuine by my browser, Google Chrome.  

I log in and I go to make a payment and I am at the URL 

https://ic.paypal.com/webapps/checkout/webflow/sparta/expresscheckoutvalidatedataflow?execution=e1s4

Now I get a message: 

We're sorry
At this time, we are unable to process your request.

Very strange... Perhaps I should stop using that site and find something else to do !

[kernowlass]

Well i am an oldie at 56 and when not at work my entertainment is posting to paypal board and reading books....LOL

Online games, no way, I have trouble with me DS lite......   

[Gordon57]

I'm almost 55, lost my job last September and finding it difficult to gain new employment. 

I play a few games of online bingo, that's what it's about. You play with 'chips' and are given some each day when you connect to the game, but I lose them too easily. You can buy more - and that's where this story started.

I got a DS Lite, but my wife has never put it down since I brought it home... 😉

[kernowlass]

I know how she feels, if i don't get 30 on the memory test i am not nice to know.