I want to send money to a few friends in other countries. I don't like the idea of linking either my bank card or my bank account directly to Paypal - for my own piece of mind regarding my money - so I got myself a virtual Visa card to link to it instead.
Before trying to send any money with my virtual card, I topped it up enough to make sure I had sufficient funds. I've also verified the card with my Paypal account and was informed that as it's now verified, there are no transaction limits imposed on it by Paypal. Great. 🙂
Then I tried to use the virtual card to send money to my friends, and...nothing. Paypal informs me that they are "unable to complete my transaction right now. If this continues, please contact customer service". I tried on several different days, got the same message every time, and eventually did contact customer service. Who basically told me that trying to use a virtual card is flagging my transaction up on the system as "being potentially high risk".
Not for me it isn't. I feel that linking my real bank card would be much higher risk FOR ME.
They also suggested that to reduce the "risk" and the likelihood of my transactions being stopped in future, I should link another card (a real card) or my bank account directly to Paypal. Neither is something I want to do at all, for reasons already stated. I said this in a reply to them and have received nothing back in the 3 days since.
Does this mean basically that Paypal are giving people using virtual cards the electronic equivalent of the middle finger? In which case, I'll just move to some other system that does allow me to send money to my friends through a virtual card.
ON ANOTHER (slightly related) SUBJECT...
Am I correct in saying that it used to be possible to sending money to friends/family and merchants without having to have a Paypal account to send from, as a guest transaction using the "send money" (as a guest) link on the Paypal homepage?
