I shop regularly on the internet and nearly always use PayPal but

Three times this year my Irish bank has blocked my card.

I ring them up and they confirm my last few purchases,which are always small money and they unblock the card.

The phone call costs 1000 baht on my wife's cell phone.

Is there any way I can stop them doing this or a cheaper way to phone them.

So this time when my purchase was refused I tried to put money in my PayPal account so I wouldn't need the card.I went to my online banking and transferred 100 euros to the PayPal account that was already set up.

I was a bit wound up and didn't think so as soon as it was transferred I realized that I now have two PayPal accounts.

Any way the money wasn't transferred into either of my Pay Pal accounts and I emailed PayPal on Saturday but no reply.

So the next question is how do I get my money back.

Lastly would anybody be able to explain how I can transfer money online from my

bank account so I can get back to shopping.

All help wellcome

Can't help you with PayPal, but when your bank blocks the card and you have to ring them, ask them to deposit Btnnnn for the cost of the call (find out how much you're paying, obviously).

They don't tell you this - I found out when I was on the phone to my bank's customer service, and this lady told me to request it - but if the call is down to them blocking the card without good reason, they will pay for the call.

My bank used to do this all the time. Then I found this out. Three times in a row I requested payment for the call.

And the last 50+ transactions on my card have all worked without getting blocked, even when I'm holidaying in Thailand.

Funny that, eh?

Added: My other bank used to phone me from a call centre in India to verify transactions. Now they just send an SMS, and it says "If this was you, please reply with the number 1".

Pretty fkin simple really.

Some banks are a little more clued up than others.

You asked three questions...

1. Use Skype, or if using a cell phone, put a calling code before you dial out. Search the forum for codes etc.
2. Transfer paypal between accounts using the paypal email address and choosing "gift" payment.
3. Withdraw to bank account. In the UK takes 5 mins via FPS. Perhaps it's via "SEPA" for you ?

I have tried to transfer money but it says that I have to use a thai account.

If anyone could tell me how I can phone Ireland cheaply it would be great.

My wife's cell phone is DETAK.

I could get her to call them I suppose.

I have found some information on how to use a computer to call them.

There is some new service from Google,I don't know if that's better than Skype.

Do computers actually save time or do you spend as much time learning how to use them than they actualy save

Dial 006 before the number, other one is 009, they both are lower rates, but you might also want to check with Dtac direct, via one of there local shops.

OK,

And as far as the free computer to phone services which is easier/better Skype or Google voice.

I should open a new thread for this really.

Will I need to get a set of earphones with a microphone on them for both services

Did you ask your bank why it was blocking the card?

For awhile I was having a problem with one US based credit card raising some security alert. I was always able to call them collect, so paying for the call was never a problem, but it seemed they had set some security feature fairly high for my account and it seemed to automatically raise a red flag for every little thing. They reduced the security level and since then there has been no problem.

In PayPal you can upgrade the connection between your bank account and PayPal account. I think if you open your PayPal account and go to your profile you'll find a reference to it. They'll want some proof that you are you either using a phone call or sending them an image of some photo ID.

I've tried to link my bank account to PayPal but in the country spaces it only gives two choices Thailand or America.

You must have had a very long discussion with your bank if your call cost 1000 baht. I call Australia regularly from Thailand and it costs only 30 or 40 baht. Perhaps your wife has made a mistake as to the cost.

I would recommend that you open a savings account with Kasikorn and get internet banking. From there you can set up virtual Visa cards which you can use for online purchases and link to your Paypal account. The virtual cards work perfectly. The merchant can't tell that it isn't a real card and they support "Verified by Visa" so quite secure. You will also receive an instant SMS any time a transaction is made.

Link: http://www.kasikornbank.com/EN/Personal/Debit/Pages/KWebShopping.aspx

You can set and alter your card limit any time up to THB100k. That is useful if buying something from a merchant that you don't entirely trust. Immediately after the transaction is made you can then set the card limit to almost zero. Since you can have multiple virtual cards you can then continue shopping using another card. It is also useful if using it to book a hotel and then cancel. They can't charge your card.

buy a phone card from CAT for 300 bt you can call the UK for well over an hr