Adding balance from multiple prepaid visa gift cards to Paypal Balance

[krispy4]

Hi all, I'll like to start off by saying I'm not too familiar with Paypal, I don't think I've made a payment through it before. I'll be making a purchase tonight or as soon as possible, and I have four gift cards that I'll like to use on this one purchase. 

First off, when I'm making a Paypal purchase, will I immediately be forced to pick a payment option, or does it automatically take the charge, then I later decide how to make the payment, similar to a credit card?

Second, I've figured out how to add the Visa gift cards to my Paypal, but I can't yet figure out how to add the balances to my Paypal account, like I can do for a bank account.

Help please!

[sharpiemarker · Accepted solution]

@krispy4 

Not possible to do. Funds can't be extracted from cards to your PayPal balance. It is against the PayPal user agreement. Funds can only be added to PayPal account with linked bank account. Linked cards must be selected as funding source during checkout to use them and have enough funds there to cover entire amount of purchase or it declines.

When you make payment, you must choose the payment method then and there during checkout. One payment method. However if you choose your PayPal balance to pay, the system may ask you to select or add a card as back up.

You don't get to change payment method post transaction from PayPal account. You must contact recipient/seller/merchant to issue a refund and then you can repay with a different payment method selected at checkout. You have to make sure your payment method is correct during checkout because every time you ask for a refund because you made a mistake, the recipient/seller/merchant are responsible for the PayPal fees and doesn't get a refund on that (some may even deduct PayPal fees from your refund and rightfully so in such cases) therefore you must be mindful and alert as much as possible when paying. 

If you pay with a bank account, the system may ask you to add a card if one is not already linked, to make an instant bank payment (aka PayPal fronts the money ahead to the seller and awaits your bank payment to clear), otherwise, it will go as an eCheck which is super slow and it has to clear the bank first and deposited into seller's PayPal account before the seller resumes in fulfilling your order.