board77

Sooo, I was just trying to book a shuttle coach from Pisa to Florence via Terravison.eu. Their site uses paypal to handle payment methods....either with a credit card or with your paypal account. I don't have a paypal account, so I was trying to use credit card. Now, I don't have a credit card in the normal sense...I always use my Visa check cards from my two banks that I use for everything. They've worked in oodles of online bookings and purchases before. I tried one, got an error message about not being able to use that card for payment. Tried my other one, same message. (which at least comforted me that I knew it wasn't something bad going on with the first card like it being blocked overseas or such...I've been using the second one here just fine for ATM withdrawls and the like, and the first to book my flight to Pisa/Florence less than two weeks ago)

So, I guess my main question is...is that a common thing? Incompatibility of visa bank cards with paypal provided payment methods? Or is it just being screwy and a pain and annoying and etc? Guess I'll be buying tickets at the airport kiosk now at 23:00 in Pisa.

I use my debit/check card as my main card for my paypal account (this is actually the second such one) and I've never had a problem...

That's sad though.

Runily, can't you add money to your PayPal account directly from your bank account? Since you have check cards I assume you have a checking account. Is there not a way for you to enter your account information into PayPal and then transfer money from your checking account? But maybe this was what you were trying to do all along, in which case please ignore.

ETA: Um, didn't read clearly enough. Looks like you said you don't have a PayPal account. In which case, I would say the best thing is to get one! They're really easy to set up and it would help for you to be able to purchase your train tix in advance. It's possible that some overseas companies do distinguish between credit and debit cards and this is why you're getting the error message.

I've had a Paypal account for years and never had any problems. So I would second encouraging you to think about getting an account.

I love PayPal. I even have a PayPal debit card so I can access my funds there immediately, since that's what I use to get paid for my jewelry when it sells on Etsy. Hope you figured out the problem by now but I just wanted to share my love for PayPal.

I've also had a Paypal acc't for years with no problem.