I have searched though the threads, and unless I missed something could not find what I needed and all of the threads are a couple of years old.
I am attempting to link my Taiwan paypal account to a bank in Taiwan so that I can withdraw my funds from paypal to the bank. However, their requirement is an ID number with one letter and 9 digits… My ARC is two letters and eight digits, so… it doesn’t work. I have emailed paypal about the issue, as expected it was a waste of time as they can’t/won’t do anything about it…
How can I get around this problem?
From what I have read you cannot put a different ID number in that space otherwise you will end up losing money or have other problems…
I am also seeking alternatives to paypal that are safe and without issues…
I have searched though the threads, and unless I missed something could not find what I needed and all of the threads are a couple of years old.
I am attempting to link my Taiwan paypal account to a bank in Taiwan so that I can withdraw my funds from paypal to the bank. However, their requirement is an ID number with one letter and 9 digits… My ARC is two letters and eight digits, so… it doesn’t work. I have emailed paypal about the issue, as expected it was a waste of time as they can’t/won’t do anything about it…
How can I get around this problem?
From what I have read you cannot put a different ID number in that space otherwise you will end up losing money or have other problems…
I am also seeking alternatives to paypal that are safe and without issues…
Thanks[/quote]Can’t help you on the specific issue. But if you need a workaround, I seem to remember reading that you can get a Paypal card that enables you to withdraw money from your Paypal account wherever you are.
Some of the alternatives to Paypal are more like serious “merchant banking” solutions and have higher startup fees, minimum required monthly transactions, etc. If that’s the kind of thing you’re looking for then you might try Worldpay, which is a division of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Thanks Joe, it seems our posts crossed. I have already resolved the issue, I was blind, there is a space in the list for foreign passport holders that I overlooked. Once I choose that you can type in two letters and eight digits.
I have checked worldpay, they seem qutie a bit more expensive than paypal. Also looked at the Internet Secure, but not sure it is going to fair much better. We’ll see…
JeffG there’s no practical alternative. There are a few which will let you process credit cards but you will need to be a registered business in Taiwan or at least provide those details and an account. I looked into it a few years back and in the end while I was in Taiwan the best setup was just to use paypal.
Can anyone tell me how to link my Chinatrust bank account to my Paypal? I don’t have a credit card and it seems they (Paypal) want that as verification.
I’ve recommended company before, surprised you didn’t find it somewhere in one of the Paypal discussions. 2checkout.com
I started using them about 4 years ago. There’s only a one-time signup fee of 49.95, expect to pay somewhere around 5.5% per transaction but IMO that’s not much for the convenience of accepting all major credit cards and ease of use. You’re also able to bill customers (ex: deposit on a custom order or an offline sale) and you can receive funds by check or wire transfer. There was a time when I also had an ATM card that I could use to withdraw funds (US bank, saved on wire transfer fees) but I think they switched banks and I don’t know if they still offer that. They also advertise that you can be up and running in as little as three minutes–it’s true.
Worldpay is something like USD400 right? I looked into that but I think I remember an application and you weren’t guaranteed acceptance. For a “kitchen table microbusiness” like mine, 2CO was a quick and very affordable way to take cards. And if my business failed (which it didn’t, btw) I was only out 49.95 with 2CO. Hope that helps.
[quote=“JeffG”]Thanks Joe, it seems our posts crossed. I have already resolved the issue, I was blind, there is a space in the list for foreign passport holders that I overlooked. Once I choose that you can type in two letters and eight digits.
I have checked worldpay, they seem qutie a bit more expensive than paypal. Also looked at the Internet Secure, but not sure it is going to fair much better. We’ll see…[/quote]
WorldPay is a full-on pro merchant account and really completely different from the likes of PayPal. I personally think it’s overkill for 90% of small businesses and the only reason I would use them would be for high-value transactions (paypalsucks.com/ has the scoop on why ). PayPal now has some pretty good integration features with various shopping and terminal packages so if you can forget about the risk of arbitrary account closures etc. then they’re fine.
We used 2checkout for a while too. Mostly I was impressed - stable, good docs, good API. A serious issue at the time was that they couldn’t take payment in NTD. Did that change?
Um, why not just apply for a credit card with Chinatrust? If you really don’t want the temptation of a card in your wallet, just chop the card up after providing the number to Paypal.
We use PayPal and 2Checkout currently. As a new site, I think it is actually a plus that we use 3rd party credit card processors. This way, we don’t hold or even see the customers’ credit card numbers. It is more secure for the customers. When there are more business, then we can afford to use a real merchant account.
Paypal will freeze your account for any minor reason as they did with me. Then they want you to jump through hoops to prove who you are and want more or less your entire personal information. Verification is difficult in Taiwan as some stuff, like your street address is in chinese and paypal only accepts English input. You’ll also need to proove your addresss. Your lease (if you have one) is in chinese too. Then you gotta fax all that to the US… Faxing 10 pages at the 7-11 costs alot!!
[quote=“hakkaboy”]Paypal will freeze your account for any minor reason as they did with me. Then they want you to jump through hoops to prove who you are and want more or less your entire personal information. Verification is difficult in Taiwan as some stuff, like your street address is in Chinese and paypal only accepts English input. You’ll also need to proove your addresss. Your lease (if you have one) is in Chinese too. Then you gotta fax all that to the US… Faxing 10 pages at the 7-11 costs alot!!
Well, thats my rant on Paypal
just checkout paypalsucks.com and you’ll understand.[/quote]
Yup it is a pain in the US too. I recently moved my address and phone number to my parents house before I come to Taiwan. I ordered something on ebay and it shipped to the wrong address. Can’t change it online. Can’t have them call me because the number and they can’t mail something because the address changed. I said f’ it. I only use paypal for ebay and I can still receive money and I don’t have to worry about ordering stuff anymore.
There’s Free Pay which offers a bit more services too. Another one I recently came across is Money Bookers. Excellent from a user point of view.
The vendor was Bangledeshi who used it. What happens is that when you submit payment, it verifies through a SMS code from your (vendor) Money Booker’s account. The buyer, who receives the SMS code, must then type the code in Money Bookers to confirm the purchase. If you don’t within 60 seconds, then the transaction is probably voided. I was skeptical but the SMS code was nearly immediate. Could be a viable alternative to WorldPay and Paypal.
Does anyone know if it’s possible to link a Taiwan post office savings account to, well, anything? I’m talking about enough money to make it worthwhile even if there are some fees, if they’re not totally exorbitant.
Um, why not just apply for a credit card with Chinatrust? If you really don’t want the temptation of a card in your wallet, just chop the card up after providing the number to Paypal.[/quote]
I’m a bit late replying, but I only just saw this.
I’ve tried, numerous times, to get a Chinatrust CC but they keep giving me one reason or another why they can’t. The funniest one was when they told me I don’t earn enough money, even though my salary is automatically paid into my Chinatrust bank account and it’s way above the minimum salary needed for a cc.
[quote=“cfimages”]I’m a bit late replying, but I only just saw this.
I’ve tried, numerous times, to get a Chinatrust CC but they keep giving me one reason or another why they can’t. The funniest one was when they told me I don’t earn enough money, even though my salary is automatically paid into my Chinatrust bank account and it’s way above the minimum salary needed for a cc.[/quote]
Don’t bother with Chinatrust - they refuse to tell you the exact requirements for acceptance as a foreigner. Speaking to people who have successfully (or otherwise) applied for Chinatrust cards, the minimum seems to be at least NT$180k deposited for a few months, minimum salary (which pretty much any foreigner in Taiwan will meet) and it helps if you have a car and/or house in your name.
Try Citibank - I have a card with them and even though it was a bit of a hassle at least they were very clear and open with me about what they wanted. I did have to make a largeish short term deposit to prove I had access to funds and a reasonable one-year fixed deposit but I didn’t see that as particularly unfair.
Ok~ Bringing up an old thread here. Is there any improvement in this field? I NEED paypal. Can’t go for other systems, and I’ve spent the last month using my class-free afternoons going to the bank for ~nothing~. I got a shiny new debit card. Opened up transfers for it. But still can’t use it to confirm my ID on paypal.
So I’m seeing four options::
Get a credit card. Will be applying tomorrow. I’m with ‘He Zuo’ (Taiwan Coop).
Chances are pretty slim that I’ll be accepted. I can get someone to dump a whole lot into my account if I need to though. No issue there. But unless things have changed, well… we all know it’s hard.
Find a bank that suits it better. Some banks have paypal cards, right? Any in Taiwan?
Quite open to changing banks if it makes things easier.
Use wifey’s paypal account.
Kinda a … hmmm … thing I don’t wanna do. I’m pulling money OUT of paypal into the bank, and doing that will put her in control of the money. Not something I really want.
Suck it up and stick with the 16,000NT limit per month.
Yeah. I should be receiving more than that. So, hmmm… that’s kinda a drag.
This thread is really old. I use withdraw to “Debit Cards (also called check cards, ATM cards, or banking cards) are accepted if they have a Visa logo. Enter your card number without spaces or dashes.” Chinathrust works. I tried the verification thing after adding the card but no luck there. It seems in Taiwan banks delay credit card or maybe just debit card transactions by up to a week (the card always have different available and usable balance). They block it but don’t show it. Not that the statement on debit actually would show the amount in USD that would be needed for paypal verification.
However withdrawal to a non verified credit card or debit card works fine. There is an extra US$ 5.00 transaction fee and daily limit is US$ 500.00.
). PayPal now has some pretty good integration features with various shopping and terminal packages so if you can forget about the risk of arbitrary account closures etc. then they’re fine.