Paypal your way to Apple Store Happiness

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.

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/.

I too am interested if this works on itunes, because the country i'm currently living in doesn't have a store.

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.

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

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.