Zimbabwean business paypal account not processing payments or accepting transfers

[Zimtorque]

I have set up a Woocommerce store and when a customer tries to  make a payment they get this error "We aren't able to process your payment using your PayPal account at this time. Please go back to merchant and try using a different payment method." 

Logs seem to indicate the Api's/connections are working fine so i asked someone to simply send a dollar to my paypal to test and sure enough Paypal said there was an issue sending to my account. I can't see anything in my account that i may need to verify and i don't know how/where to ask Paypal to help out. I don't know if this is Zimbabwe specific problem or a system problem

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@Zimtorque 

The option to receive paypal payments is sadly not available in Zimbabwe.
You can only send payments for purchases funded by your (confirmed) credit card.

Paypal varies a lot country to country and can only offer the services that the banks / governments of that country allow it to offer.
There are quite a few countries unable to receive paypal payments.

https://www.paypal.com/ga/webapps/mpp/ua/residence-full

[Zimtorque]

@kernowlass thanks for the link....it's very confusing because a local tech website got feedback from Paypal just a month ago saying that merchant accounts in Zimbabwe could send AND receive. Are business accounts not the same as merchant accounts or is this just semantics. I've inlcluded the link below for anyone else who may stumble upon this thread.

https://www.techzim.co.zw/2021/05/paypal-confirms-merchant-wallets-for-zim-but-withdrawals-are-still...

[kernowlass]

@Zimtorque 

Well i checked your countries user agreement and all updated policy changes and can't see anywhere where it says you can now receive paypal payments.

You best bet is to check with customers services to see if there have been recent changes to your countries paypal accounts. 

[Zimtorque]

@kernowlass thanks again, i think some people got a bit ahead of themselves....I've had a deeper look too and it seems we can open merchant/business accounts but like you said nothing to suggest we can accept payments.