Thai Paypal Account

ChiangMaiThai · December 19, 2005

One needs a Thai issued credit card to apply for a Thai PayPal account correct? So for a foreigner without the ability to get such a card, what do you do?

I have had a US paypal account for 3 years and now one day out of the blue, they tell me to get a Thai paypal account since I am obvioulsy here more than I am there. But they totally ignore all my questions as to what is needed to sign up from here.

Upcountry · December 19, 2005

... one day out of the blue, they tell me to get a Thai paypal account since I am obvioulsy here more than I am there.

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Hi ChiangMaiThai,

More IP filtering, eh? I'm blocked from slashdot due to my ISP's IP.

Just to be clear, you have been making regular use of your Paypal account for three years. Suddenly, Paypal invalidates you because they determine that you are "based" in Thailand and therefor your "credit" is no good anymore?

Are you using a US or Thai address for your banking, etc.?

I've been maintaining my account addresses in the US to help avoid this sort of problem. For instance, my paypal account is keyed to a US bank account.

Same for you, or is there any way other than your IP address for them to know that you are not sitting at a computer in the US?

ChiangMaiThai · December 19, 2005

... one day out of the blue, they tell me to get a Thai paypal account since I am obvioulsy here more than I am there.

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Hi ChiangMaiThai,

More IP filtering, eh? I'm blocked from slashdot due to my ISP's IP.

Just to be clear, you have been making regular use of your Paypal account for three years. Suddenly, Paypal invalidates you because they determine that you are "based" in Thailand and therefor your "credit" is no good anymore?

Are you using a US or Thai address for your banking, etc.?

I've been maintaining my account addresses in the US to help avoid this sort of problem. For instance, my paypal account is keyed to a US bank account.

Same for you, or is there any way other than your IP address for them to know that you are not sitting at a computer in the US?

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I could have easily masked my IP address and made it look like I was in the US. But I assumed they accepted the fact that I used the account from here and were okay with it. Seems a reasonable assumption after over two years of use. They would have known from the IP of course and then from me withdrawing at Thai ATMs with the debit card. I had a US address attached to the account, but no US bank. Also, the credit card regsitered with them just expired. So no bank, no cc and Thai IP. It got flagged and they told me to open a Thai paypal account and I can use my Thai one here and my US one when I am in the US. (They'll open the US account when I go back there, fax them a utility bill with my name on it and add a credit card and then let them call me.)

So I think you are okay as long as you keep the US bank and credit card attached. But I think it migth be worth logging in from a US IP address for certain lengths of time. They told me that they understand that people travel, but I was 'obviously not travelling'. I told them I was. But when paypal makes up their mind, it is made.

Getting back to the question, how do I get a Thai paypal account without a Thai credit card? (I assume no one is going to give me a Thai credit card).

Prudent_rabbit · December 19, 2005

Well I opened one last week with an Aussie card (Virgin Mastercard) and I live here and the Thai Address is a billing address and no problems!

poorfarang · December 19, 2005

I also just opened another paypal account. I used my usa adress/bank account and my thai girlfriends mastercard.

Bobcat · December 19, 2005

Paypal are from hel_l.

Edited December 19, 2005 by Bobcat

poorfarang · December 19, 2005

I agree. i used to use paypal for big business. I have paid well over $100,000 in fees from their service. i got involved in a dispute that cost me $5,000 and they caved in and gave the cash to the buyer without looking into the matter much. There service is sick at best and their customer service is shit. If it wasnt for the fact that 60 million people use them then i would use anything else in a heartbeat. bastards

ChiangMaiThai · December 20, 2005

I agree. i used to use paypal for big business. I have paid well over $100,000 in fees from their service. i got involved in a dispute that cost me $5,000 and they caved in and gave the cash to the buyer without looking into the matter much. There service is sick at best and their customer service is shit. If it wasnt for the fact that 60 million people use them then i would use anything else in a heartbeat. bastards

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I agree totally. They have you by the balls because they know you need them. I hope google or someone else who cares can one day get involved and destroy paypal. As a buyer though, you can't do better. You can buy an expensive item, play with it for 44 days, then file a complaint and say it was 'nto as described' and presto, money back. They have my $400 for now, until I prove I am a US resident. That's nice of them. THey also limited my business partner's account who is 100% American and runs a business there. I used to log in a lot from here as we used the account for business (we won't anymore). They asked for credit check address, ss #, utility bill, photo ID, business description and then they asked to prove shipment on a $39 item we sold. We shipped by airmail as tracking would have been too much. So we can't prove shipping unless they would pick up the phone and call the customer. Its been two weeks since they had all the info they asked for and still nothing. If we email, we get a stupid form email that tells us to prove shipping. F U C K YOU PAYPAL.

sabaijai · December 20, 2005

I have a PayPal account based on a US cc with a US billing address, no problems even though I do all eBaying from Thailand.

Not that I'm exactly in love with PayPal. They froze my account a couple of years ago when I logged on from Thailand to collect around US$6000 from my account and it took me two months to get it unfrozen. I've not had any problems since however .... touch wood.

There's another thread here somewhere about creating accounts here, if you search for PayPal you should find it, I remember there was some good info/advice.

ChiangMaiThai · December 21, 2005

I have a PayPal account based on a US cc with a US billing address, no problems even though I do all eBaying from Thailand.
Not that I'm exactly in love with PayPal. They froze my account a couple of years ago when I logged on from Thailand to collect around US$6000 from my account and it took me two months to get it unfrozen. I've not had any problems since however .... touch wood.

There's another thread here somewhere about creating accounts here, if you search for PayPal you should find it, I remember there was some good info/advice.

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I would be very careful. You sound like me just a few weeks ago. US Paypal account. Always used it from Thailand for 2-3 years. Then they decided I am clearly not living in the US and I may NOT use a US paypal account while here. They permit travelling, but at some point, you will be flagged for continuous log ons from Thailand and your account will be limited til you prove US residence and explain yourself to a lot of people who are barely listening and hardly care.

Gumballl · December 21, 2005

I wonder if the PayPal problems described thus far in this thread have something to do with legalities of transferring large sums of money overseas without due notification to the US gov't.

If I am not mistaken, the US gov't requires that a person and/or the banking institution make a declaration when transferring more than $10,000 overseas. Banks normally know how to handle this reporting, but PayPal? Maybe PayPal doesn't want to perform this service.

Anyhow, just a wild theory. The US gov't is so paranoid these days of monies being sent overseas to fund less-than-desirable characters.

h90 · December 21, 2005

I had some troubles with them as well.

I guess there are no people there, just autoresponder.

I agree. i used to use paypal for big business. I have paid well over $100,000 in fees from their service. i got involved in a dispute that cost me $5,000 and they caved in and gave the cash to the buyer without looking into the matter much. There service is sick at best and their customer service is shit. If it wasnt for the fact that 60 million people use them then i would use anything else in a heartbeat. bastards

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ChiangMaiThai · December 22, 2005

I had some troubles with them as well.
I guess there are no people there, just autoresponder.

I agree. i used to use paypal for big business. I have paid well over $100,000 in fees from their service. i got involved in a dispute that cost me $5,000 and they caved in and gave the cash to the buyer without looking into the matter much. There service is sick at best and their customer service is shit. If it wasnt for the fact that 60 million people use them then i would use anything else in a heartbeat. bastards

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Their 'customer service' consists of a dozen robots trained to type nonsensical emails. Then there are a few really friendly people who are the first to answer your phone call. They have no clue about anything and no power to do anything. Then you have the supervisors. If you are really patient and hold for 20-30 minutes, you might get to speak with one. The supervisors hate their jobs. They hate their lives and they hate you. The last thing they care about is helping or trying to understand your situation. You are one of 86 million. You don't matter. F U C K YOU PAYPAL.

on-on · December 25, 2005

Wanted to echo the criticisms. They have a completely opaque dispute resolution process and are well known for seizing accounts with no warning and often even without a dispute. If you're going to use PayPal here and you're American, get a proxy service in the US that masks your IP and set your browser to tunnel through that connection. That should take care of the problems unless they discover some other way to figure out what you're doing (which seems nigh impossible unless you had a lot of overseas transactions). On a side note, a lot of financially related firms are super sketchy on Thailand - not just PayPal. Neteller, who handles the majority of online casino traffic, will automatically suspend your account if you log in from a Thai IP. Others do as well. Best for Americans to just pretend you're in the US which, frankly, isn't all that hard these days with a proxy and a Vonage account, heh. Can't speak for other countries as policies/services vary by country and I have no experience with either outside of Thailand and the US.

Edited December 25, 2005 by on-on

ChiangMaiThai · December 27, 2005

Just to follow up. After about a month and countless emails and phone calls, they finally reopened my account. I don't know why suddenly its okay that I am in Thailand, but I will not log in from a Thai IP address again. They told me that it is illegal to use paypal to simply transfer money. You must always be paying for goods or services that can be documented. If you can't prove the goods or services were deluvered, you are at their mercy. They told me this is my warning and next time I will lose my account. What a nighmare of a company to deal with.

roamer · December 27, 2005

On this thread, remember that Paypal will require you to verify your account from the phone number you registered with once you pas £5K or its $ equivalent.

ChiangMaiThai · December 28, 2005

Keep in mind too, they are not stupid. You can't use an IP phone that is not connected to any address in the US according to public records. They will also likely ask for your utility bill.

stevehaigh · December 30, 2005

I could have easily masked my IP address and made it look like I was in the US.

How? it sounds like this is the best way to go when you are unlucky enough to have to deal with the mofos

i use dialup and i would really like it if it didn't look like i was in thailand when i log in

thanks

By the way, i find it strange that they have no time to answer customer support questions but all the time in the world to figure out where you are living!

Edited December 30, 2005 by stevehaigh

ChiangMaiThai · January 3, 2006

I could have easily masked my IP address and made it look like I was in the US.

How? it sounds like this is the best way to go when you are unlucky enough to have to deal with the mofos

i use dialup and i would really like it if it didn't look like i was in thailand when i log in

thanks

By the way, i find it strange that they have no time to answer customer support questions but all the time in the world to figure out where you are living!

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Certain proxy servers will work. Others will be flagged in a second. They ahve 8o some million accounts. So their customer service is just all done by robots. Their software monitors activity automatically and flags anything suspicious. If you are a buyer in the US, there is no doubt they are great. If you are a seller, they are questionable. If you are a seller who travels to Asia, they can be a real pain in the ass.

Heng · January 3, 2006

You might want to consider Ibill, Netbilling, or Paycom. Many would agree that Paypal are a bunch of crooks - I don't, but for anything over $100k a month, you don't want to have that much Paypal exposure because of their instant frozen account liability.

Edited January 3, 2006 by Heng

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