There is a lot of interest among Pakistanis about Paypal. So I decided to write this unofficial set of questions and answers.
What is paypal?
Paypal is an Internet payment system for sending and receiving money between individuals and businesses. It is the most widely used online payment system.
Is paypal available in Pakistan?
Paypal does not support Pakistani users.
Why make this FAQ then?
I made this FAQ because paypal is very important on the Internet. It is the largest payment processor for online business but its real forte is in person to person transactions. Paypal is widely used by rich buyers of goods and services in the US and Europe. Not being able to accept paypal in exchange for goods and services is a deal breaker. That is why a lot of Pakistanis who want to do business online want to know about paypal.
What if I try to create a paypal account with false information?
It is trivial for paypal to ascertain your true geographical location. Read about how it may be doing that.
Once paypal knows your true location it may limit or freeze your account. Usually this happens right after you receive your first payment into your paypal account. So BEWARE! You might loose money!
Remember just because you were able to sign up for paypal with false info
doesn’t mean that you have succeeded in getting a paypal account.
How could paypal know my true location?
Paypal could be using your IP address to ascertain your true geographical location or whether your using an anonymizing proxy. Internet Protocol (IP) address is a unique number given to each computer that is connected to the Internet. There are whole companies dedicated to maintaining accurate databases of IP address to geographical location mappings as well as lists of IP addresses of proxy servers. Companies like maxmind for example.
Paypal has a business interest in ensuring compliance to its Terms Of Service (TOS) so it probably makes use of the services of such companies to identify the true location of users.
What if I use an anonymizing proxy?
Paypal Terms Of Service does not allow users using anonymizing proxies to make or use paypal accounts. You will be able to create and access your paypal account but the use of a proxy may be detected and your account may be limited or frozen.
What is account limiting?
This is when paypal freezes the money in your account. You won’t be allowed to send or withdraw the money in your account.
What countries does paypal support?
Check out the full list of paypal approved countries.
Paypal fully supports just 45 countries. For a lot of countries paypal has some absurd support levels. For example people in some countries can send and receive money but not withdraw it!
Can you help me get a paypal account?
No. I don’t have a paypal account myself. I can’t get you one. However you may be able to accept paypal via third party payment processors.
Why does paypal not support pakistan?
Paypal does not specify a reason.
Is it because <insert rumour here>?
No. Unless you work for paypal you don’t know why it doesn’t support Pakistan. Don’t speculate. Don’t fall for those who do speculate or try to spin tall tales for their own agenda.
Is there any other way I can accept paypal ?
Yes, you can accept paypal with the help of third party payment processors. However there are various costs associated with this and its only practical for someone who is thinking long term.
What alternatives exist to paypal?
Truthfully there is no real alternative to paypal for person to person transactions simply because paypal is widely used by buyers in rich countries. However if you can convince the buyer to pay you via alternative methods then you have a lot of options.
Moneybookers for instance is a payment method a lot like paypal except it supports Pakistan.
Traditional payment methods like western union or bank to bank wire transfer are also options for transactions of larger amounts.
If you have any additional questions that you would like to see answered please comment below.
i am from Pakistan can i receive money thorugh Paypal in Pakistan bank
no hussian you cannot as he described above that unfortunately paypal does not support Pakistan.
Great FAQ. I had this theory. I have a cousin in Canada and I can ask him to open a paypal account for me. He’ll manage it as well so the IP pool won’t be “tainted” with our Pak address. But if I order something off a website with that paypal account but my cousin handles the confirmation e-mails and everything, will the paypal people still know or care enough to block that account?
When you order something online you will have to login to your brother’s paypal account to make payment. So at that point in time your Pakistani IP will be detected. Don’t know whether they will block the account or not. That’s entirely their choice.
so i cannot use paypal from pakistan?
i am from pakistan, i just need to know that if some one of my reletive in usa creat a paypal account for me with his info and he himself will handle all trasections will i able to just sign in and check that how much money in the account is? in this case will they block the account or not?
Yes they will block the account.
i want to purchse an item from ebay.can i creat papal acount for jst paying?
no, they will not block, but also you have to submit bank information for ur USA relatives..
i have a paypal setup in uk and regulary make payments in pakistan – though the delivery address is in uk i have no problems buying on ebay
Hi,
I wanted to know what is currently the best way to receive payments for selling merchandise (e.g apparels) online within Pakistan only.
For example: I run an online business to sell stuff only within Pakistan and want to give the easiest payment options to my customers, what are the possible options?
Thanks for your comments.
There is no widely used online payment system in Pakistan for ecommerce. So cash deposit in your local bank account is the best option. Preferably an account that does not have “online deposit” charges and with a bank that offers internet banking so that you can check your account statement anytime you like.
Thanks for the reply,
I have been looking into a solution for this and came across one implemented on [url=http://http://www.libertybooks.com/]Liberty Books[/url]. They have partnered with Citi Bank and are able to accept credit cards without involving any payment gateway. How do you see this solution? Are Pakistani users likely to use it regularly or they feel more comfortable with cash deposit.
There is also another solution via Telenor’s EasyPaisa. It’s implemented on Kitabain.com but that ends up costing much more to the customer than the original price of the article.
Your comments?
Only a small percentage of the population have access to credit cards. So its better to offer offline alternatives like bank deposit, check or bank draft.
MoneyBooker is fine for pakistani users and if u have friend/relative in abroad thn u can use their paypal, because am also using my friend paypal, I can make payment of about 100USD and less, if I will use more money thn paypal freeze account temp, its not big issue, am enjoying paypal account of my friend.lol.,
i live in dubai i use pay pal i had paid more than 1000 doller 1 time n less amount sevral times i withdrawl money also . N whn i come pak i also paid it from pk many time nothin happn to my account the reason is my uae bank account is on my name bt i just puted false nationality uae national hahaha however i dnt think if u have a foriegn bnk a/c on ur name pay pal block ur account. They only block when u use third party or mostly u do an unpleasnt buis activity.
I use Alertpay, which is the best alternate to paypal. But it is not as popular as paypal. 🙁
sohail kiya ap ,muje bta sakte ho ke alertpay se dollars bnk ke thru kis trah niklwaen
Well is it possible that if i have verified my paypal account from usa and then shop from ebay and ship the shipment to pakistani address will my account will get blocked. Like i wont be opening the paypal account that is opening its control pannel from pakistan due to ip issue but would only purchase items from ebay and ship to pakistani address so will it still block my account because i have known certain people who are using this way and still they are enjoying this service but again the issue is that they are quite old users of paypal so i was wondering and to be on the safe side as i would be a new user would my account would get blocked
A verified account can be used from anywhere provided you inform paypal beforehand. So email paypal and tell them you will be accessing your account from Pakistan. They will then ensure that your account does not get blocked for accessing from Pakistan. Once they have confirmed this you can use the account from Pakistan as much as you like.
Ok well suppose i make a paypal Verified account today via my frd in USA and yes i want to use it now so should i give the paypal account a week or so and tell my frd to do transactions on my behalf from USA for a week or so and then on the 2nd week my frd emails them and tells them that he going to Pakistan and would be using the paypal account for few days so dont block his account.
Hello Abdussamad,
I have found your FAQ to be quite informative including queries from other individuals similar to my ‘payment problem’ regarding Paypal and potential customers abroad.
I run a local advertising company, and one of our ‘sub-brands’ are t-shirts. Recently we have received orders from USA and Canada, but for reasons beyond my understanding, Paypal does not operate from Pakistan, which is immediately cutting off options to offer our international customers. This is quite an obstacle for our ‘click to buy’ generation. The worlds most ‘secure’ method of payment sections itself away from one of the largest quality textile manufacturers in the world next to China. How are others such as Nike, Levis, and other big brands making payments to them.. via Bank transfer?
My question is: “What is the best, legal solution to accept payments in the form of PAYPAL for transactions abroad, while sitting here in Pakistan?”
I have no bank accounts or credit cards abroad I could ask someone to sign up for and set up on my behalf. However, I DO have a sibling in the US who can set up an account for me, with her name and details, and I wont be logging into this from Pakistan (unless, as mentioned above in other queries, Paypal is informed of the individual travelling to Pakistan in advance).
Any concurrent payments can be transferred to me via Western Union from the US when need be. Is this the best possible solution for someone in my situation?
I wish to offer a quick, safe and secure service where the customer abroad browses our webpage (on Facebook for marketing purposes and social networking for our brand, not an individual webpage), selects a product, initiates a request via our company email and sends payment to a Paypal account registered in the US under our company name ( I have discovered Premier accounts and Merchant accounts, both of which Merchant accounts probably have quarterly, annual charges with or without business transactions.. – should I look into a Premier account instead?).
The way I see it, my sibling can ‘act’ on behalf of our company for payments and we can sort that out later when a collective amount is generated. via Western Union.
What do you recommend for a quick, safe and secure method of transaction for our customers abroad, using Paypal and a point of contact abroad in the US?
Thank you for your time.
Kind regards,
Meekal.
First get a website of your own. You can use social networking sites to promote your site but a website of your own is absolutely essential. It’s not even that expensive.
Then you should apply for a 2co account for your established business website. This way you can accept credit and debit cards as well as paypal without having to break any rules.
Salaam AbduSammad bhai..
i want to know that can i have a paypal account just to buy things from web?
i dont wish to transfer any money to my account.
i just want to pay through paypal while in Pak and buy things online….
plz help.
how many dollars u have earn after deduction on 100 dollars by third party
What do you mean?
People often sell Paypal accounts with paypal credits, What is that?
I normally only need 2 to 5$ at max for my subscriptions of a service, My cousin from England did it before bu now it’s not an option (due to some reasons)
Are these accounts safe + does Amazon accepts Pakistani credit card?
Is there any type of special international credit card via which I can buy stuff from US account on Microsoft official store.
I know I’m asking a lot but you are my only hope brother, please do reply
People often sell Paypal accounts with paypal credits, What is that?
I normally only need 2 to 5$ at max for my subscriptions of a service, My cousin from England did it before bu now it’s not an option (due to some reasons)
Are these accounts safe + does Amazon accepts Pakistani credit card?
Is there any type of special international credit card via which I can buy stuff from US account on Microsoft official store.
I know I’m asking a lot but you are my only hope brother, please do reply
Good Bye, TC
I don’t know much about people selling paypal accounts. Paypal accounts are free to open in the country that paypal offers its services. Paypal does not offer its services in Pakistan and your liable to face account freezing if you use a paypal account intended for another country.
I don’t know the answers to your other questions either. I can tell you that local bookshops like paramount can import any book that isn’t available locally for you if you contact them.
And why can’t I delete or edit my post bro
Because you are not an administrator :p
Yaar the main reason is that paypal is running by israely company, they wont work with us i am sure!
Paypal is owned by Ebay which is an American company. As mentioned above you should not spread baseless rumours.
Is it because ?
No. Unless you work for paypal you don’t know why it doesn’t support Pakistan. Don’t speculate. Don’t fall for those who do speculate or try to spin tall tales for their own agenda.
I have contacted Paypal via email in this regard a year ago, and there reply was that they are unable to provide services in pakistan because of the banking laws in pakistan. However they also stated in their reply that they are working on it with the pakistani officials to make it possible in the future.