Lies all lies.

I quote "Linden Lab accepts payments through PayPal that are funded from a bank account, Switch or Solo card, or a PayPal balance."
Wrong no they dont take payment from a switch card or a bank account, I have both in my paypal in my account, and it wont take payment from either one.

Every month I have to go through the tedious task of sending money to paypal from my bank account to paypal balance. This is the only way I can pay my fees as a british user. Paypal dont allow the payment of pre-payment agreements through those 2 methods.

Due to a misunderstanding (on my part, I made a mistake I accept that). Thanks to the ridiculous amount of time it takes to transfer money, im about to loose my premium account and my 2048m plot.
Also I have a friend that inhabits my free 512m plot as she is also restricted by the lack of payment options to users outside the usa, and as a consequence she will loose her "home".

I've posted about this before and asked, but so far its got me nowhere. I just get the usual "email billing support" which is pointless I just get a bunch of automated responses that are no help at all.

So currently im just puzzled and worried about what im going to do next. I have the money in my account waiting to be paid, but thanks yet again to lack of payment options theres nothing I can do about it.

Sure I could just pony up when the money is transfered and re-activate my soon to be frozen account. But why should I have to. Every time I come up against a problem its back to billing issues.

Im sick and tired of it, im not getting a credit card so dont even think of suggesting that, i've stated my reasons why in previous posts.

There is a solution to this, linden simply have to realise that there are people outside the usa that want to play second life and dont have a credit card. This continuing hassle is really making me have Second Thoughts about wether its worth my time and effort.

Its not like its difficult to set up alternative payments, plenty of other MMORPGS and other online games manage it quite adequately, and usually have it as an option from the start.

From my understanding Second Life has been around for 3 years now, surely during that time one of the lindens must have thought "wait a minute what about players outside the USA" do they really want to limit the user base that much and loose out on making money.

So far i've spent nearly £100 getting myself established in this game, and its all about to come to nothing. Its becoming really frustrating, and theres only so many phone calls i can make and emails that I can send before I get well and truely sick of it all.

I think I might go back to playing wow if this goes on much longer.
Sure it doesnt have the same level of freedom and ability to do what you want, but at least I can pay for it with no hassle, and when I have a question I get a straight answer from blizzard.

I agree! I have so much hassle I am in the UK.

Even my sons online basic game can accept a payment from paypal in a few clicks..

I buy Lindens on ebay I'm having nothing but trouble.

Yup, im mostly surprised that linden havent solved this problem already.

I'm in the UK, new to the game. This might just put me off upgrading.

Any Lindens listening now?

You shouldn't lose anything, I believe if you fail to make your payment date your account will be put on hold until you do pay, at which point it will be reactivated just like it was.

Did you even read my post ?

While I understand your frustration (being a half-Brit myself), I think your blame is guided in the wrong direction. No one has quite solved the problem of international payments, and Paypal is well known for, well, sucking. Linden Lab is doing it's best, it's Paypal that makes the process so difficult.

For more, see these sites:

http://openstuff.net/index.py/paypal
http://www.PayPalSucks.com/
http://www.aboutpaypal.org/
http://www.paypalwarning.com/

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Regards,

-Flip

Also, just a quick personal question; seeing as how you're from the UK with the last name CLIFTON, are you form Clifton in Bristol? That's my English hometown!

Nah, im just outside London.
Like I stated in my original post, there are plenty of options that a whole barrage of online games use, and I honestly cant see any reason why Linden Labs aren't making any progress in using them to make our lives easier.
If you like I can name all the other games I play that provide a ton of payment options, some of them are in korea ffs. If the koreans can manage it, why cant LL ?

I have no problem using paypal to pay people in ANY country.. only hassle I have is paying LL..

On Ebay I never have a problem collecting payments from other Countries. Saying it is PayPal's fault is quite odd in that light. If me as a small drop in the bucket of payment potential can do it, why can't LL. Ah, is it because transaction fees are usually on the end of the payee? That is not being sarcastic, it really did just occur to me. Maybe LL does not wish to pay the fees associated with certain transactions.
I see a similar issue with places such as Sam's Club which refuse to accept Visa and the like but only thier own credit card because they dont wish to pay transaction fees. It comes off the bottom line.
I wish you luck but in my experience with the billing dept if it isnt something quick like switching an account over I end up with an email of links and no personal response to follow up questions after the first. I complained about that in another thread somewhere.
Anyway.. good luck. I know how frustrating this must be for you.

I don't live in the USA and I didn't have this problem. I always use paypal and it will either automaticly fund from my bank account or credit card if I don't already have a balance. But yes, bank transfers take time, but PayPal always seems to credit me instantly.
But really, the real problem is you don't want to get a credit card. You don't have to leave your purchases on it and garner intrest, just pay the thing off. There is a reason these things are being used. They provide protection to both you and LL that PayPal can't & won't. I'm guessing LL figures 627 million people is a big enough market. You have the option, if you don't want to take it, don't blame LL.

Why doesn't LL accept peanuts! They used to be currency and I got a big bag right here

He doesnt want a credit card, a lot of people in the u.k. dont now. The national debt over there is 3billion pounds, yes you read that correctly 3BILLION. The whole country lives on a false economy, and I say more power too him not wishing to join the mindless masses making some faceless desk hugger that bit richer for the privalege of spending his own hard earned cash. Just because you cant wait to blow your money and will do so by any means, some people like to retain a little control over thier spending a credit card does nothing to help that.

I used my bank account's debit card and that went through perfectly fine with no trouble, and has done for almost a year now.

I bank with Barclays.

Lewis

ONLY 3 billion pounds? *sob* The US that much further into debt every 3 days or so.

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 25 Aug 2006 at 04:11:05 PM GMT is:


The estimated population of the United States is 299,372,126
so each citizen's share of this debt is $28,416.79.

But more on topic.... As much as agreeing with Lewis feels really bizarre () it sounds like he has the right approach to this problem.

I have a switch debit card with the NATWEST so what makes your debit card so different to mine, cos it wont take payment from mine through paypal, never has. And when I phoned paypal to ask them about this they said they dont offer that service never have.

Compare the populations of each country

Just did:

According to the CIA factbook, United Kingdom — Population: 60,441,457

According to Google: 3 000 000 000 British pounds = 5.6745 billion U.S. dollars
(Note: I think billion may have a different meaning in the UK. In the US, it is equivalent to a thousand million. I've heard in other places that a billion is a million million. Orders of magnitude different. My assumption is as above. Multiply out, if necessary)

According to Google: (5.6745 billion U.S. dollars) / 60 441 457 = 93.8842358 U.S. dollars. Wow! I'd love to have that.

Now, if we're counting billions as million millions, then that becomes 93,884 US $ per person. Ouch, especially versus the US' 28.5k/person.

(Google is my friend)

Add on edit:

And so is the CIA factbook on public debt:

United Kingdom: debt is 43.1% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
United States: debt is 64.7% of GDP

Yeah, UK still looks better. I've never liked deficit spending, long term.

While I have every reason to believe these horror stories are true, these sites you have listed place the entire issue in doubt because they end their tirade against PP with a sales pitch to buy into their "Real Merchant Services." IMO: that fact has me seriously questioning the credibility of their statements....

=B-)

Some bank debit cards (Visa CHeck Cards etc) can be used directly like a visa with LL. Bypasses paypal altogether. I suspect this is what Lewis is doing.

Ok, for those anti-creditcard people who lack self control to not rack the thing up, just get a Visa gift card. Load it up with money, and use it to pay of LL. No worry of getting intrest.

Deadeye Steadham, don't leave your purchases on it, and you don't have to worry.

Assuming that it's specific to the bank is not helpful. Take a closer look at the icons on your card... What payment networks does it support? If it does not support one of the major international networks (Visa, Mastercard, Plus, Star, Cirrus, Maestro, etc) it's not going to work with a vast majority of merchants outside the UK.

All Debt (nd even Credit cards) ARE NOT created equal.

=B-)

Heres how i do it. Every month i add 200 USD to paypal to use for my online gaming. That money comes from my bank account. Which takes 3-5 days to process. I make sure theres enough there to cover my MMO expences.

3-5 days ? wow takes me 7-9 how come ?
And to metaforest my switchcard is a maestro card.
I cant for the life of me work out why it wont take payment.

As for pre-pay credit cards, hmm thats not a bad idea never thought of that, thanks for the tip, ill look into it straight away

And to seraph, man were you bored lol

Ok I just found out you pay charges on pre-pay credit cards, so I still end up paying to spend my own money. I hate to admit it but the finacial f**kers and linden labs have me cornered.

Im at my wits end here

Im gonna look into the debit card issue though and find out why payment cant be taken from it, something does seem very wrong.