Filed under: Retail, Tips and tricks, Apple
Paypal your way to Apple Store Happiness
Got your eye on some free-shipping merchandise at the Apple store but need to pay with Paypal? If you call the customer support number, they'll tell you that Apple won't accept Paypal. You can sigh and walk away, or you can point your browser to the PayPal Plug-in Page and set yourself up a Secure Card virtual credit card number, valid wherever Mastercard is accepted--including the Apple online store.
Tap on the phrase "Mac user?", tap, Continue, and then tap on Secure Cards. Use the Paypal tools to generate your (unique) MasterCard Secure Card number, which you can use at the Apple Store. You'll need the card number, the expiration date and the CVC2 number for checkout.
Thanks, drudge.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brian said 3:17PM on 11-26-2007
One more thing that most of you PPer's should know. You can get a free debt card attached to your PP account that is also Master Card.
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Dave said 3:28PM on 11-26-2007
Nice. I wonder if they'll ship to Canadian addresses with this? Anyone tried?
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Frank Furter said 3:37PM on 11-26-2007
Someone enlighten me - how is PayPal (which I use regularly to receive Ebay auction payments) a more desirable method than something like a debit card? I mean, what's the difference?
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devnull42 said 3:43PM on 11-26-2007
Worth noting - the "20% Cash Back" promotion PayPal is running does NOT cover Virtual Debit Card purchases.
@3: If you recently sold a lot of stuff on eBay, you could have quite a balance of money in your PayPal account. This offers a very flexible way to make use of that.
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Alfonso said 4:06PM on 11-26-2007
And I wonder... would we be able to buy more iphones? I mean, after the 2 iphones per customer limit... Do you think it is possible?
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ele©tro said 4:32PM on 11-26-2007
I stay the hell away from PayPal. I've used it twice in the past, and BOTH times I ended up with mystery charges on my debit card, forcing me to close those cards and start new ones. Major pain in the ass. I don't trust the people who work for PayPal.
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Marcos said 4:35PM on 11-26-2007
PayPal is owned by eBay, and it's been around forever (so you can trust them IMO). I've used it several times.
Since I don't own a Master Card this will be very useful for those times when you need to buy something from someone that will only take Master Cards (like tickets to the last FIFA World Cup).
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Matt R. said 4:43PM on 11-26-2007
Looks like the secure card option only works in the US. When prompted to confirm your address (via CC number) it only allows you your choice of state and zip code.
Seems like a nice idea! I guess I'm excluded, even though I can see the US from my living room window.
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Christina Warren said 5:04PM on 11-26-2007
It's also convenient if you want to pay for iTunes and not have it attached to a specific credit card (that's what I do).
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noza said 5:31PM on 11-26-2007
PayPal was great when I was in High School / College and didn't have a credit card, but now that I'm past all of that, it's just such a hassle. Use a real credit card, for crissakes!
Unless you're the tin-foil-hat type that doesn't trust traditional banking, activating your iPhone w/o a credit check, etc. etc.
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Milan said 5:53PM on 11-26-2007
7. Excluded Transactions. The following transactions are excluded from this offer: PayPal Mobile transactions, payments using the PayPal Plug-In (formerly named: Virtual Debit Card) service, Payments funded in whole or in part with a gift certificate, PayPal ATM/Debit Card payments, payments made when you are not logged into your PayPal account, and PayPal Plus Credit Card/ eBay MasterCard payments not made through your PayPal account. If the payment is refunded or cancelled at any time, you are not eligible for the promotion. If the payment is refunded after you receive the cash back, PayPal will deduct the cash back amount from your account.
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Macskeeball said 8:11PM on 11-26-2007
A reason to use PayPal is to reduce the number of people who know your credit card or debit card number.
Also, a virtual card means that you effectively have a one-time use card, and if the number for the virtual card were to wind up in the wrong hands, they would only have access to the money you set aside for a specific purchase.
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MILE said 8:38PM on 11-26-2007
Actually this sound rather interesting, especially since over here in Germany still some people (for what ever reason) don't have or use a credit card...! But, of course, unfortunately PayPal doesn't seem to offer that kind of service over here...
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supersalo said 9:44PM on 11-26-2007
@3
Because when you sell stuff on eBay, you can use the proceeds to buy new stuff right from your PayPal account :-)
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Kramer said 11:18PM on 11-26-2007
Except for this advice does not work.
You click on "mac user", get the message "not available for mac, user secure cards instead", click Continue, and get on the previous page again! No way to get to "secure crds" page, whatever it is.
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Mike said 12:35AM on 11-27-2007
The thing is: If you don't have a credit card already, you can't use the secure card generator since you won't be able to pass step 2 in activation. (address)
I thought this would be the workaround for people without CC so they can shop online everywhere using PayPal. Dead end for me.. again. :(
ill call the support tommorow to see how i can get my address verified w/o a CC
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larry said 3:36AM on 11-27-2007
Can I use it to buy itunes gift certificates or itunes songs/videos? I have an european cc and no itunes store for my country.
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Raven88 said 5:48AM on 11-27-2007
I too am interested if this works on itunes, because the country i'm currently living in doesn't have a store.
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gazerbeam said 1:03PM on 11-27-2007
PayPal is really, really awful and their business model is entirely profit-driven. I've had nothing but bad luck with them... screwed up transactions, ridiculous website problems, awful customer service. like any service business, they deserve to take a cut of every dollar they move around, but anyone interested in using them should take a look at their wiki entry and decide for themselves: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paypal.
for another view (admittedly biased!), you can also check out http://www.paypalsucks.com/.
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singularity said 8:12PM on 12-01-2007
Hi Erica-- Thanks for posting this information about PayPal's virtual credit cards. For some of us, especially those of us who share a credit card with our significant other, this is a great option for keeping a major Christmas gift secret. Major gift, as in iPhone. I tried to buy an iPhone from Apple two weeks ago, so I could make use of my iPhone $100 Promo Code. I asked if I could pay with a money order. "Yes," the rep said, taking my order. Then her phone went dead and so did my order. A few days later I tried again. "Can I buy an iPhone with a money order?" "Yep," said the second rep in the Apple iPhone center in Austin, giving me Apple's Austin's pay-by-mail address. So off went my money order, and then I waitied a week for confirmation of my iPhone being shipped. Last night late an e-mail finally arrived from Apple! They'd CANCELLED my order. Reason? "You've exceeded our iPhone purchase maximum for online sales." Mind you, I've NEVER bought an iPhone from Apple before (my one and only other iPhone came as a direct sale at a AT&T store). So I call customer service this morning, pointing out the error of their bookkeeping. I wait, and the rep comes back saying, AND I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP, "The Austin center couldn't read the payee line of your money order. It didn't seem to say 'Apple Computer Inc.'" WHOA. The same printing USPS could read could not be figured out by Apple?! Things must be worse in Texas than I'd imagined. I asked to speak to the rep's supervisor. More waiting, repeat of my story, more waiting. Supervisor returns, saying "You ordered a 4GB iPhone and we don't sell those anymore." WHOA twice. I refer the supervisor to the e-mail confirmation of having placed an order for an 8GB iPhone. Silence, and then at least an honest "Don't know what happened." Eventually I get through to the payment center in Austin. LOTS of waiting, LOTS of checking, 30 minutes worth. Then FINALLY the real reason my order had been cancelled. APPLE ACCEPTS ONLY CREDIT (AND DEBIT?) CARDS FOR iPHONE ORDERS!! The supervisor's supervisor was very sympathetic, but said his center's reps not knowing Apple's no-cash, no-money-order for iPhones policy wasn't Apple's problem, it was mine, but he would be glad to take ANOTHER order from me if I gave him my credit card number. THAT response required a cool-down period, during which I remembered your article Erica. I follow the instructions, set up my PayPal virtual MasterCard (it's so easy), go to Apple's site, and POOF!, I've finally SUCCESSFULLY ordered an iPhone using my iPhone $100 promo and my non-existent credit card! Couldn't be happier. Well, yeah, I could, the moment when Apple returns the $300 money order they never should have asked for in the first place.
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