Opening A Paypal Account

[naugastyle]

I posted a reply on a thread a couple weeks ago but no response yet, so I thought I'd start a new thread. There were a lot of older posts that had scare stories about using Paypal (mainly in not being able to withdraw your money after it was sent to you) and I just want to know, is this a problem that has been ironed out these days? I want to open a donation account for a not-for-profit business, and am nervous about the org not being able to get their donations!

Also, I saw references in old threads to using Kasikorn or Bangkok Bank. Does this still matter, or are most banks OK with Paypal now? Is the only requirement for using Paypal that you can get online banking access? Also, I don't know if certain banks are better for ex-pats' use, but the account in question would be held by a Thai citizen. So in that case, does the actual bank matter or not?

Thanks for any reassurances you can give!

[CharlieH]

My own personal experience, a Bl**dy nightmare ! easy to open easy to use, but when it came to actiually withdrawing down the money the account was immediatey frozen.

I had to supply Paypal Singapore with a whole boatload of proof of this and that all that was missing was a urine sample, Admittedly once it was all done and they were happy it was fine but be prepared to jump through alot of hoops to get if functioning smoothly.

You also need to be aware that if you are using different currencies, Ie, someone in Europe pays and you withdraw in baht to Thailand Paypal will hit you hard on exchange rate and fees.

For me the rates/fees/hassle etc is wasnt worth it and I closed it soon after.

Others will have different opinions but this was my experience.

[Phil Conners]

I've had a Paypal account for years, linked both to Thai and US bank accounts. I've been lucky so far. As long as there are no problem it is a cheap and convenient way to transfer money over the Internet, but every once in a blue moon something goes wrong and it then becomes very difficult to resolve due to lack of availability of "real humans" in Paypal. You keep getting forwarded to preset replies that usually don't resolve the problem.

I think the biggest problem for someone in Thailand using Paypal is if you receive funds in foreign (non Thai) currencies and need to transfer them to a Thai bank, Paypal force the currency conversion before transfer and you get a really poor exchange rate.

[tpiety2]

I had the same bad experiences and had a very long and hard time getting paypal to unfreeze my account after I made a transfer to myself,

I have one thai and one US acct. and the exchange rates are the worst. It is only good for paying bills (skype) and online purchases or

sending money to family in the states, but it takes days for them to get it.

[MAJIC]

Years ago before PayPal recognised Thai Bank Accounts,it was pretty easy to keep your own CountrIes Bank Account linked to PayPal and transfer money out of PayPal to your own Home Bank Account (free of charge) and then do a normal Cash Transfer to your Thai Account.

Even today it still takes 3 days to transfer money out of Paypal to arrive in your UK Account.

But do a Google, there are many horror stories,concerning Paypal freezing Accounts,the trick is: if you are Trading using Paypal,then don't leave too much in the Account.

Edited April 28, 2011 by MAJIC

[Robbogeordie]

You have to build up trust with Paypal,particularly so when it's a Thai Paypal account.

Kasikorn and Bangkok Bank are good for PP,don't know about the others.

What I'm saying is contrary to what most people say,but it's my logic anyways.

I've always left a balance of 1 - 2 months money in my PP Account - it's a quality signal to PP. If you just empty it out every time a deposit goes in there then of course PP are going to watch your account closely.

Granted PP are supposed to be a bit of a nightmare when things go awry,but if you're serious about taking money online then PP is essential and you have to try to look after your account like you would a bar of gold!

Nurture it along and it'll be good for you long term.

[Phil Conners]

...the trick is: if you are Trading using Paypal,then don't leave too much in the Account.

Amen to that!

[gregb]

My wife tried to open a Paypal account, and now has basically just written the entire process off as impossible. Her credit cards all use the English spelling of her name, while her bank accounts all use her Thai spelling of the name. Guess what? Paypal won't work in that situation. You have to choose one or the other. The useless tirds at Paypal weren't even apologetic about the fact that they don't want business from Thais.

I think Paypal is OK for Americans and other Westerners. It is a horrible company to do business with if you are in Asia however. I would suggest don't even bother unless you are a company and need it to accept payments. If you do have an account, simply use it for credit card transactions. The whole banking side seems highly suspect and fraught with problems.

[Nawtier]

So what is the best alternative for accepting payments on a website then ??

[Spoonman]

I have 2 Paypal accounts, one in Australia with my Aus details attached to my Aus credit cards and a Thailand one with my Thai details attached to my Thai credit cards.

both work fine, that included monies going in or out.

[Moonrakers]

I use paypal all the time, linked top my Bangkok Bank account.

Not had a problem once.

[Nawtier]

For the ones that use PP and pay into a Thai account, either Bkk Bank or Kasikorn......do you get it paid into your account in $US or Baht ??

Anybody dealt with either of these ?? Have heard good things about the Thai one within Thailand......was thinking the Chinese one for China.

http://www.thaiepay.com/?lang=EN

https://www.alipay.com/

My missus wants to set up a website selling stuff, so looking into it for her with best options.

[Spoonman]

For the ones that use PP and pay into a Thai account, either Bkk Bank or Kasikorn......do you get it paid into your account in $US or Baht ??

Funds leave my account in baht and return in baht.

[Suradit]

I've had a Paypal account for years, linked both to Thai and US bank accounts. I've been lucky so far. As long as there are no problem it is a cheap and convenient way to transfer money over the Internet, but every once in a blue moon something goes wrong and it then becomes very difficult to resolve due to lack of availability of "real humans" in Paypal. You keep getting forwarded to preset replies that usually don't resolve the problem.

I think the biggest problem for someone in Thailand using Paypal is if you receive funds in foreign (non Thai) currencies and need to transfer them to a Thai bank, Paypal force the currency conversion before transfer and you get a really poor exchange rate.

I've had a PayPal account linked to my US credit cards and bank account and only had one major issue. Unfortunately, the lack of real humans to resolve the problem locally meant I had to phone them in California at my expense. After the usual delays, being put on hold, etc the problem was sorted out, but the phone bill came to $110.00

I use PayPal mainly in conjunction with Ebay. Ebay insists that I use my Thai address and goes ballistic when I try to use the US address, while PayPal insists I use my US address and won't allow me to use my Thai address for shipping information or otherwise. Initially Ebay insisted I deal in Singapore dollars (which PayPal won't deal with) and gave me a contact address in Hong Kong to resolve the problem. Hong Kong communicated with me in Chinese.

My US based credit cards have occasionally declined payments because of the address issues, which has meant I've had to call them in New York about once a month , but at their expense. Eventually, with the help of someone at Ebay Singapore I got it all sorted out ... I think ... but if you're easily frustrated it can be cardiac-arrest-inducing dealing with it all.

[fancyking]

Pay pal is best and perfect no problem at all I m using since 10 years in Thailand, really best best

[Soboringtochooseaname]

Paypal seems to work well now, the only thing to know is that when they ask you for documents, give them, even when you don't have them, give them fakes, as they don't mind and don't check, they just want to pretend to respect laws that countries ask them to respect...

[naugastyle]

Hmm...somewhat discouraging, but still seems a decent percentage of posters are in support of using Paypal. I'm thinking for now if the exchange rate is the biggest problem, we can take a loss on that--some donation money is better than zero donation money, which is what we get right now when offer no options for people interested in donating. I'm really more worried about not being able to withdraw the money at all! We aren't exactly in a day-to-day financial crisis so we would be OK not instantly withdrawing every time some money comes in, but the thought of letting it "nurture" for 6 months and seeing a decent build-up and THEN not being able to withdraw for whatever reason freaks me out.

Soboringtochooseaname, what documents do they ask for? The actual bank account would be held by either a born-and-raised Thai citizen or a naturalized Thai citizen, or perhaps jointly held by them both. I was thinking I could probably help them open the Paypal account since they aren't familiar with this stuff.

I barely remember opening my personal US Paypal account ages ago in the early days of eBay, but I opened a non-profit one for a foundation I work with about 4 years ago. Not remembering it TOO clearly but I think Paypal's only confirmation was doing tiny deposits into our bank account for us to report back. Is it much more complicated than that when opening a Thai PP account? Basically I'm wondering if it's even possible for me to open the account for them while I'm in the US temporarily--won't be back in Thailand until July but I want to open the account sooner. But if I need to know more than the bank account numbers & names of the holders to open the PP account, it could be more difficult for me to do remotely.

Edited May 3, 2011 by naugastyle

[chops]

What I'd do is use it to buy stuff online, like laptops, hotels, and such. If you need cash, best to send it to another person with a decent bank account and have them send the money to you. Or better simply open up an HSBC account.

[chesternim]

An alternative to PP in Thailand is to have an account established in a Western country - if you wish to have a Merchant account for your website - PP won't give you one if you are in Thailand! <br>Of course you could have people order via email and send you funds via PP. I had no problems doing that between USA & Australia and Thailand<br>

Edited May 4, 2011 by chesternim

[chesternim]

There should be no problem opening the Paypal account but you do need to verify by quoting the 2 tiny deposits into your bank account.

A friend had a dreadful time with Paypal - and I have heard many horror stories from a few years back.<br>I have not had any bad experiences - and in fact found them most helpful when I forgot my email address.<br>The one problem with Paypal in Thailand is you can not open a Merchant account for selling online from a website. But sending and receiving money via Paypal has not been a problem except the week wait for transfer to my Thai bank account.<br>

[Nawtier]

The one problem with Paypal in Thailand is you can not open a Merchant account for selling online from a website.

I dont quite get this...you're saying nobody in Thailand has or can get a merchant facility for an online business ??

I am sure that is not correct.

[chesternim]

The one problem with Paypal in Thailand is you can not open a Merchant account for selling online from a website.

I dont quite get this...you're saying nobody in Thailand has or can get a merchant facility for an online business ??

I am sure that is not correct.

PP will NOT give you a merchant account! but you can still transfer funds via email thru PP

[chesternim]

I had no trouble getting PP Merchant accounts in USA and Australia - in fact opened multiple accounts. EACH NEEDED distinct bank accounts and email addresses.

I opened a number of PP accounts in Thailand with no difficulty transferring funds - but they will not give Thai residents Merchant accounts - unless of course you are someone who can deal with them from a position of power - so probably Thaksin could, if he were able to make it back into the country

[chesternim]

Get a Skype account to cut your phone bill to US.

If you make a lot of US calls then for $30 a year you can have unlimited FREE calls

[Phil Conners]

There should be no problem opening the Paypal account but you do need to verify by quoting the 2 tiny deposits into your bank account.

A friend had a dreadful time with Paypal - and I have heard many horror stories from a few years back.<br>I have not had any bad experiences - and in fact found them most helpful when I forgot my email address.<br>The one problem with Paypal in Thailand is you can not open a Merchant account for selling online from a website. But sending and receiving money via Paypal has not been a problem except the week wait for transfer to my Thai bank account.<br>

Oh but you can, quite easily. Check out thaiepay.com.

[chesternim]

There should be no problem opening the Paypal account but you do need to verify by quoting the 2 tiny deposits into your bank account.

A friend had a dreadful time with Paypal - and I have heard many horror stories from a few years back.<br>I have not had any bad experiences - and in fact found them most helpful when I forgot my email address.<br>The one problem with Paypal in Thailand is you can not open a Merchant account for selling online from a website. But sending and receiving money via Paypal has not been a problem except the week wait for transfer to my Thai bank account.<br>

Oh but you can, quite easily. Check out thaiepay.com.

Have not heard of that before - I put the URL into my browser and it set off alarms with my antivirus - it said it was an attack site and posed a serious threat - Don't know where you got the URL from or if it is a mistype?

[Soboringtochooseaname]

What do you call a "merchant account" ?

I know Thai having online stores and getting paid by customers who order directly on their websites.

They opened the Paypal accounts in Thailand and have never been abroad.

They also don't receive funds by Email, only through checkout process of their shop.

[Nawtier]

Thaiepay I have heard good things...also very easy set up etc.

They are not Paypal though......but I am ignorant to the real differences.

Does thaiepay operate in $US and pay into bank accounts anywhere ?? or only accounts in Los and into Thai baht ??

[Phil Conners]

Actually a traditional "merchant account" is a bank account that allow you to charge credit cards directly. The advantage of them is the charges are a fraction lower. The disadvantage is they are difficult to get (banks outside USA are very hesitant letting anyone without serious money open merchant accounts) and the banks software API are usually atrocious.

These days the majority of internet businesses use payment gateways like thaiepay.com. This is for Thai businesses, and charge in Baht. (They might allow you to charge in other currencies, I havent' checked that). If you're not Thai based there are probably alternatives that would work better for wherever you are based.

I don't know about getting virus warnings. I just went to thaiepay.com and didn't get any warnings. (click on the UK flag to get the English website).

The difference between a payment gateway and Paypal is mostly that they're not Paypal. There are a lot of people who don't like paypal (see paypalsucks.com) and would refuse to do business with you if the only payment options you offer is Paypal.

[Nawtier]

Most shops and businesses in Oz have their own merchant accounts...i had one with my bank for 2 different businesses years ago. But they accept c/c payments electronically in the store or office as such, also had the old manual slider and voucher thingy many moons ago.

The online acceptance is very different though isn't it. You cannot really have your own c/c payment facility on your websites shopping cart unless you are of significant size or as you say, serious money. Some sites do have their own payment facilities, but no idea what is involved in organising and getting this level of online payment where you do not have to use any 3rd party system such as paypal etc.

I am looking to use 3 payment options, paypal if I can get it without hassles and the thai one and another considered good for a separate large local market.