I have the same problem. I simply inactivated the automatic payment account that I now want to use, rather than cancelling it. But now I cannot see any option for re-activating it. I had a long list of active automatic payment accounts, that I didn't even realize existed. I went through and inactivated almost all of them. Then today, I tried to use PayPal on one of those inactivated merchants' website, and it would not allow me to do it. The website said to go to PayPal and reactivate that payment account if I wanted to use PayPal. Well, I can't reactivate it, or can't see how to. The merchant is still on the list of inactive automatic payment accounts. There should be a way to re-activate. One or two of my accounts on that list say "Cancelled." But this one says "inactive".
I obviously don't understand these "automatic payments" because I had a bunch of unintended ones that I never realized had been set up, and then I assumed that if I inactivated them, it was only the "automatic" part I was inactivating. I didn't realize I was blocking my own ability to use PayPal with that merchant. I assumed that this meant that now I could go back to that merchant and use PayPal, but it would not set up the "automatic payment" option. What I wanted was to be able to use PayPal when I wish at that merchant, but that they wouldn't be able to charge me on Paypal without my specific authorization for each transaction. This isn't a merchant that I pay monthly or anything...it is a site where I shop from time to time. In other words, this isn't a recurring payment in the sense of a monthly or quarterly bill. It is just a place I shop every few months. To me, an "automatic payment" means I have set up a payment schedule for a regularly recurring bill to be paid automatically without my having to do it individually each time.
