What can I use to get away from PayPal?

[Teagan Tobias]

 

Title says it all, I need to ditch paypal, what other payment method can I use, for everything, Premium - Marketplace - buy Lindens, all of it.

I will never cash out so don’t need that one part.

[MoiraKathleen]

There's Skrill, if that's available in your area (I really don't know any of the specific about Skrill, other than it sounds like a PayPal type service).  Other than that, there's using a credit card.  You can see all the accepted payment types on the Billing Knowledge Base article in the "Accepted Currencies and Payment Methods" section.

 

[Lindal Kidd]

Skrill is your only other option if you want a method that will let you transfer money out of SL and back to a Real Life account.

The other option is s a major credit card.

[Liaa Nova]

Can't you use a debit card instead?

[AzureWaves]

1 hour ago, Teagan Tobias said:

 

Title says it all, I need to ditch paypal, what other payment method can I use, for everything, Premium - Marketplace - buy Lindens, all of it.

I will never cash out so don’t need that one part.

A prepaid credit card works too.

[MoiraKathleen]

6 minutes ago, AzureWaves said:

A prepaid credit card works too.

Not all prepaid or gift cards work.  From the billing knowledge base article:

Issues with prepaid and gift cards

A common cause of payment method failure is the use of unsupported card types. At this time, the majority of prepaid cards are not compatible with our system, even if they bear the VISA/AMEX/MasterCard logo. This may include prepaid cards purchased at retail stores, rechargeable credit cards, and bank-issued check cards.

As a note, some Residents might find that a prepaid debit card will work once for a one-time purchase, such as Linden dollars, but fails to work after that. This is generally related to limitations in how many prepaid cards are authorized for transactions, so a prepaid card might stop working even if there are funds available.

 

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

Some MMORPGs are having issues with PP.   One game my man used to play, called Rappelz published by MetaBora, has wrongly been banning people for refund abuse with PP. My man said some affected been playing that game since it started long ago. Maybe the Lab could take Karma Koin for payments.

[Lindal Kidd]

2 hours ago, Liaa Nova said:

Can't you use a debit card instead?

 

2 hours ago, AzureWaves said:

A prepaid credit card works too.

No, and no. Pay special attention to this LL advice:

2 hours ago, MoiraKathleen said:

...At this time, the majority of prepaid cards are not compatible with our system, even if they bear the VISA/AMEX/MasterCard logo. This may include prepaid cards purchased at retail stores, rechargeable credit cards, and bank-issued check cards...

"bank-issued check cards" = debit cards.

[Liaa Nova]

12 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

 

No, and no. Pay special attention to this LL advice:

"bank-issued check cards" = debit cards.

Been using a debit card 15 years, never a problem, most uk people do x

[Liaa Nova]

Maybe it means cheque guarantee card not debit card as it's saying about pre paid x

[Rowan Amore]

3 minutes ago, Liaa Nova said:

Been using a debit card 15 years, never a problem, most uk people do x

Me too.  Never had a problem.  Debit cards are accepted every single place I go.  I think the knowledge base needs updated.  PayPal needs linked to a bank account just as your debit card does.

[Rolig Loon]

1 hour ago, Rowan Amore said:

1 hour ago, Liaa Nova said:

Been using a debit card 15 years, never a problem, most uk people do x

Me too.  Never had a problem.  Debit cards are accepted every single place I go.  I think the knowledge base needs updated.  PayPal needs linked to a bank account just as your debit card does.

Some people have no trouble at all, and some prepaid cards do work just fine.  As I've tried to explain every time the topic comes up, the issue is whether the card is capable of handling a reversed transaction.  If you are due a refund of some kind, or if there's a screwup in communication and the transaction needs to be voided and your card's balance restored, you will be out of luck unless the card is fairly sophisticated.  Most "dumb" prepaid cards aren't.  Debit cards are more likely to work than garden-variety prepaid cards that you get at Wal-Mart, but it all depends on how your bank handles card transactions. Some debit cards are really only designed to dispense virtual cash, not receive it.   And in the end, all bets are off when the issuing company decides to change its software, so a card that worked fine yesterday fails today.  That's why there's that cautionary note in the Knowledge Base.

[Jaylinbridges]

There are more than one type of "Debit Card".  

Generally the ones that work with SL are issued by major national or regional banks, and they have either the MasterCard or VISA symbol on them. These "debit" cards can also be used to debit with a bank's VISA or MasterCard affiliation for purchases online or a brick store, which can give you extra protection, but cost a merchant more in processing fees.  They are usually issued as part of your Bank's checking account features, or a money market or brokerage account. 

Banks can also issue a debit card for only using funds from your checking/savings accounts, with no credit card symbols.  They are for people with no financial history, generally considered higher risk.  These are more like the cash cards at Seven-11, and usually are not acceptable by LL.  Everything in between these two extremes can be problematic. 

[Finite]

8 hours ago, Jaylinbridges said:

There are more than one type of "Debit Card".  

Generally the ones that work with SL are issued by major national or regional banks, and they have either the MasterCard or VISA symbol on them. These "debit" cards can also be used to debit with a bank's VISA or MasterCard affiliation for purchases online or a brick store, which can give you extra protection, but cost a merchant more in processing fees.  They are usually issued as part of your Bank's checking account features, or a money market or brokerage account. 

Banks can also issue a debit card for only using funds from your checking/savings accounts, with no credit card symbols.  

We typically call those ATM cards and not debit cards. I've never had an issue with a debit card in SL. Maybe in the very early days of debit cards there were issues? Guessing that sticky might be a bit outdated.

[Crim Mip]

On 7/13/2022 at 11:34 AM, Teagan Tobias said:

 

Title says it all, I need to ditch paypal, what other payment method can I use, for everything, Premium - Marketplace - buy Lindens, all of it.

I will never cash out so don’t need that one part.

You should be able to enter a credit or debit card to use to pay for stuff. Unless you do process credits, there's really no need to use PayPal.

[animats]

Tilia, which went to all the trouble of getting licensed as a money transfer service, doesn't connect to ACH or SEPA or Canada EFT or SWIFT. That's kind of strange. ACH and SEPA transfers are very cheap. That's how most pay is deposited through direct deposit. Those covers the US and the EU area. SWIFT is more expensive but covers the rest of the world.

Tilia shouldn't need another intermediate second-tier service such as PayPal or Skrill. They're just paying PayPal to do an ACH transfer.

 

[Lindal Kidd]

I suspect LL only split off Tilia as a separate service to plug some potential legal liabilities in being both the issuer and redeemer of $L.

[animats]

47 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

I suspect LL only split off Tilia as a separate service to plug some potential legal liabilities in being both the issuer and redeemer of $L.

That's what I thought at first. But LL is constantly posting job ads for more staff for Tilia.  Tilia Pay still has only the same three customers it had years ago - Second Life, Sansar, and Upland.

[Jennifer Boyle]

3 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

I suspect LL only split off Tilia as a separate service to plug some potential legal liabilities in being both the issuer and redeemer of $L.

Didn't LL say at some point that they expected Tilia to process payments for other online services?

[Lindal Kidd]

Jennifer is correct, that's what they SAID. But Animats's observation is what they actually do, and I think that is more telling.

[Dragon Mommy]

5 hours ago, Jennifer Boyle said:

Didn't LL say at some point that they expected Tilia to process payments for other online services?

They already could be and we wouldn't know right away as it's rarely obvious. Hard market to break into though.

[Sid Nagy]

14 hours ago, animats said:

Tilia, which went to all the trouble of getting licensed as a money transfer service, doesn't connect to ACH or SEPA or Canada EFT or SWIFT. That's kind of strange. ACH and SEPA transfers are very cheap. That's how most pay is deposited through direct deposit. Those covers the US and the EU area. SWIFT is more expensive but covers the rest of the world.

Tilia shouldn't need another intermediate second-tier service such as PayPal or Skrill. They're just paying PayPal to do an ACH transfer.

 

Wouldn't Tillia need an official bank status first?
Paypal is a bank (at least in Europe it is) so they have access to all these transfer systems.

Edited July 16, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[Dragon Mommy]

5 hours ago, Sid Nagy said:

Wouldn't Tillia need an official bank status first?
Paypal is a bank (at least in Europe it is) so they have access to all these transfer systems.

Maybe. 

Paypal is a payment gateway that also stores money. You can carry a balance on PayPal or even do your banking from it (which I cannot strongly enough urge people NOT to use it for that.). The storage of funds is what makes them have to act as lender and bank.

From what I can tell Tilia is just a payment processor. They make money go from point a to b. Any stored value someone has is in their second life account. That distinction might matter to the EU but I'm sure that's something for a lawyer to worry about. 

[Alwin Alcott]

39 minutes ago, Dragon Mommy said:

From what I can tell Tilia is just a payment processor. ..Any stored value someone has is in their second life account.

TIllia does hold money, not only process payments. As you perhaps remember, from the discussion when it started, it's also in the TOS i think, storing money there costs a certain amount after some time.
The licenses are all public at their website
Licenses - Tilia