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Comment by dazzla | Hacker News Reader

I'm pretty sure you can go to pay while not logged in to PayPal. Then enter your credit card directly. They will tell you it's linked to an account and do you want to login. But there is still an option to go ahead and just use the card.

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I've tried that, and when it complained that the card was linked to an account, it wouldn't let me proceed until I logged in.

At the time, my account was locked down because I had the audacity to go to a conference in a town 80 miles away and try to use my Paypal account for something. They wouldn't let me unlock my account until I gave them a new landline phone number (which I didn't have) or fax them my ID (which I wasn't willing to do). It was as if they didn't want me to reactivate my account.

And I still couldn't buy anything until I got a new card.

I have an account with a linked credit card, and have used the same card without logging in on a few occasions without any trouble. Maybe the policy is different for each country?

I can use my credit card without logging in as long as my PayPal account status is normal. But when my account was restricted, I couldn't pay using my linked credit card. I also tried to close my PayPal account - they don't let you do that either while the account is restricted.

I tried to use that option, but every time it tells me that the card was rejected. Even though I can use the card fine if I enter the details directly... it's just weird.

Nope. I used to be able to pay using only a credit card before (like 2 years ago), but now it just asks that I login or register a new account. I suppose with over 200 million users you can get away with this crap...

I'm fairly sure I've done this in the last 6 months.

It's a setting that the merchant has to enable, by default you have to have a paypal account.

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