[ssavage]

Hiya. Well I'm 15 and my mom's gonna get me a debit card. I was just wondering if I could use it for paypal to buy things online (eg from amazon) but I've got mixed answers in google searches

 

[rawrster]

Yes a debit card works.

 

[jjinh]

I'll confirm debit cards do work. And before debit cards existed I had my everyday transaction account linked to paypal so that's also an option (but in this circumstance I recall paypal did not offer istant transfer of funds).

 

[appophylite]

Debit Card will work with a paypal, but be careful. I had my debit card number compromised a couple of years back (both my debit card and credit card are with Wells Fargo). I was talking to my personal banker about it when I came in to deal with the issue face to face and get everything squared away and, at least with Wells Fargo, if it had been my credit card that was compromised, all they would have had to do was had me verify which charges were mine and which weren't and they could cancel the charges that weren't mine. With the debit card, I actually had to file the charges I was arguing and send them back to corporate for a second review before corporate could reimburse that money that had been debited out of my account back in. It only took them about 5 days to do that but 5 days vs, immediately can make a big difference with the right circumstances. Personally I prefer linking my paypal to a low-limit credit card. But Yes, the debit card will certainly work.

 

[El_Doug]

I've never once heard of a card number being taken from paypal - whether you agree with their general practices or not, they are very very secure with regard to your card numbers. 
 
Though your extra safe practices are admirable, you really shouldn't be suggesting that putting cards on paypal is inherently unsafe.  This is simply not true! 

 

[Spiritboxer]

Been using debit cards on paypal for years with no problems.

 

[appophylite]

Quote:

I've never once heard of a card number being taken from paypal - whether you agree with their general practices or not, they are very very secure with regard to your card numbers. 
 
Though your extra safe practices are admirable, you really shouldn't be suggesting that putting cards on paypal is inherently unsafe.  This is simply not true! 

Please don't get me wrong! I'm in no way suggesting that having a card linked to paypal is a bad thing. I have my card linked to paypal as we speak and have no problems with paypal's safeguards. The instance I discussed above happened to me two years ago, and I'm not sure how the number was compromised, but it was (I'm pretty sure Paypal had nothing to do with it). I'm merely stating that if the OP wants to link up a card to his Paypal service, it might be easier to get a credit card and use that then a debit card because if the possibility of compromise ever occurred, it has been my experience that it is easier for a bank to reverse charges on a Credit Card than on a Debit Card. I had my debit card linked to Paypal because I preferred the simplicity, but after that number was compromised, instead of updating Paypal with my new debit card, I swapped it, and Amazon over to my credit card instead for personal ease of mind.

 

[El_Doug]

That is indeed very good advice, especially for sites that do not accept paypal