Right, so I want to purchase stuff over the net, but I don’t have a credit card, nor do I want one right now.
Apparently PayPal allows you to use a bank account and it accepts the fact that you live in Taiwan.
I’ve tried to read through the site, but everything seems to pertain to credit cards. Does anyone know anything about the service, how it’s used and if it’s possible to use it for payments without a credit card or a US bank account?
Yes, you can pay through paypal using a Taiwan bank account.
You will need the 3 digit bank code number, the branch code number and then your account number.
Sign up for paypal, add a bank account making sure you select NT as the currency, at least that is what i remember having to do.
You could also just sign up for a credit card for this purpose; they often give freebies away when you sign up, so you’ll get a good deal. If you can’t control your spending, you could then chop the card up and toss it.
AFAIK it’s extremely difficult for foreigners to get credit cards in Taiwan and I don’t feel like going through all the rigmarole of getting one from a bank back home right now.
As far as PayPal goes, they don’t seem to have any options in my account for NT or bank accounts, only US.
thanks for all the help so far.
You’ll have to sign up for an international account. If you’re using an existing US account that you set up before you moved here, you cannot join the two.
So far, I have never been successful in transfer Paypal balances in my TW Paypal account to my local bank account and I don’t believe you can pay using a TW account either (drawing money from TW account, into Paypal, to be paid to a seller). AFAIK, you can only Get Verified using a TW bank account, and then you can use your Paypal acct as much as you want to send money using your Paypal balance, a credit card, or a US bank account.
Even if you had a friend send money to your Paypal account (and you paid him in cash) so you could send payments from a Paypal Balance, you’d be limited to sending US$100 (as of the last time I checked). Then you’d need to have a credit card or US bank account on file.
I ended up just opening a new US account when I went home a few months ago. PITA.
"AFAIK it’s extremely difficult for foreigners to get credit cards in Taiwan "
I didn’t have any problem; I opened one at Bank of America’s retail branch, linked to an NT $100,000 min. deposit savings account. That branch was acquired by ABN Amro, but I still have the account. You could give them or Citibank a call to see what the deal is.