Preferred method of payment isn't working right?

[tjistribi]

So I have money set put aside in my PayPal balance because I am planning on buying something from a foreign merchant and want to avoid a fee from my bank. I have set my preferred payment to otherwise be my bank account and/or debit card and every transaction I make automatically charges it to my PayPal balance. I can't keep putting money into my balance. Please help??

[PW67]

I have this issue.  Judging by old posts on here, paypal always pays out from the available balance.  The preferred payment setting doesn't seem to make any difference.

One reason could be: paypal isn't a bank, it's a payment system.

Nonetheless, it would be nice if they had the decency to spell it out.  I'm trying to get a clear answer from them right now!

[PW67]

Had a reply from paypal, stating the obvious really.  Basically if there's credit they use it.  Only then do they go to other means of payment.  Until they spell this out on the payment preference screen people will continue to be caught out.  Just too small a detail for them to fix I guess.

[aghiles2903]

Hello and thank you for the question and effort of answering,

I am facing same issue where i have credit in my Paypal account but when I bought a service from internet, it was paid directly with my Visa card without a prompt.

Well if they start with visa and pay since it has credit, I wanted to change this default method but i get only an error :

Spoiler

This can’t be used as your preferred way to pay online. Choose a different payment method.

Does anyone know the reason please ?

Here the description on this setting on Paypal :

Preferred when paying online

Setting a preferred way to pay online can help you check out even faster. Of course, you'll always be able to choose a different way to pay at checkout.

We’ll use it when you:

• Shop online
• Send payments to pay for goods and services

Your preferred way to pay online is your choiceIt’s quick and easy to set your payment preference. If you don’t set a preference, we’ll show all of your eligible payment methods when it’s time to pay.

More about payment preferencesYou can change your preferred way to pay online anytime. Simply go to your Profile to set a different preference.

For more info, please read our User Agreement.