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As reported by Doctor of Credit, it appears that PayPal will be replacing reload cards (MyCash cards and MoneyPaks) with a new “load at register” approach. Before this change it is/was possible to buy PayPal reload cards (either in the form of PayPal My Cash cards or Greendot MoneyPaks) at a store and then reload your PayPal account online using those cards. Sometimes it has been possible to earn credit card rewards by buying those cards with a credit or debit card.
Now, it looks like PayPal is following on the heels of GreenDot and Incomm in replacing reload cards with reloads at the register (see “Vanilla Reload cards gone by April 1. Here’s the good part…”). In PayPal’s case, there is no prepaid card to hand to the cashier so, instead, the idea is to log into your PayPal account to generate a barcode that can be scanned at the register.
My guess is that stores which currently allow credit card or debit card purchases of My Cash cards will allow credit card or debit card payments at the register as well. At this point, that’s only a guess.
Overall, I don’t see this as a big deal since I’ve stopped recommending the purchase of PayPal cards as a method for earning points and miles. PayPal has simply been too aggressive in shutting down accounts (see “How to cash in your PayPal My Cash cards when PayPal freezes your account”). On the other hand, I believe that the movement away from physical reload cards is a good thing. Many rewards opportunities have been lost in the past when stores have stopped accepting credit cards for reload cards in order to combat fraud. The new load at the register processes should be more secure and may mean fewer lost opportunities as we go forward.
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Just tried to load my paypal at CVS. Lady there said they were told that the new policy is “we don’t scan coupons or things like that off people’s phones”. PayPal should update this….
Do you if it is possible to reload my paypal my cash card with a credit card instead of cash at the register?
Thanks
It may be possible. Depends on which store you go to.
I’ve never used anything else but credit cards to load my PayPal my cash at CVS. I’ve loaded $3,000 over the past 3 weeks with (6) $503.95 transactions without any issues. I did however tried reloading at RiteAid and Cumberland Farms and both times I tried, for some reason the register put the transaction in a loop where it keeps asking for a payment at RiteAid and at Cumberland farms, the register accepted the transaction but didn’t load the money to my PayPal cash card. Also, when I checked my credit card account, I noticed my card was charged (pending) at Cumberland Farms so now I’m in the process of getting it removed.
[…] A faster way to add money to your PayPal account – A look at Paypal’s move away from reload cards to a “load at the register” system. […]
“PayPal MyCash, powered by Green Dot @ The Register” – yeah, no way they’ll take credit… unless you know of a retailer that allows Green Dot register reloads with credit (I could be missing something)
I completely disagree that this move is a good thing at all. Two reasons why I absolutely hate this move.
1. Right now PPMCs are being accepted with CC. Adding any new product in especially a swipe reload adds variables which give the retailer a choice to change the system to be cash only. We can only speculate that this change will keep the status quo which to be honest I am not so optimistic about. Do we really expect the 3 letter store to botch up the PPMC cards again which is suppose to be cash only but isn’t? I don’t think so.
2. With a swipe reload, you are only allowed to load $500/day max. This means if you intend to load the max of $4K/mo you will have to go to the stores 8 times during the month showing 8 transactions on your CC which may not include any other purchases you have to make. I much prefer being able to buy $2K at a time at the 3 letter stores and minimize the number of same value transactions at the stores. Not to mention that PPMCs you can load at the convenience of your home and schedule.
This is my 2 cents on the matter.
I don’t see this as a good thing at all. I have been in the PPMC game awhile now and, with no grocery options where I am located, it’s going to cut my “spending” to the tune of 16K/month…
Yeah, its more the general trend away from reloadable cards that I think is a good thing rather than this specific implementation. Overall I think it will mean less fraud and therefore fewer deal killing changes.
Does anybody know when this change is going into effect?
I think pp is still a good ms option as long as you don’t get greedy. I have been doing 2 or 3 $500 loads per month. I only put $200 of each load to Serve and spend the rest with my pp debit card.
The problem is that it is unclear how much is too much before PayPal goes after you
“I’ve stopped recommending the purchase of PayPal cards as a method for earning points and miles.”
Moneypaks as well?
MoneyPaks are soon to be history so it hardly matters. In the meantime if you can buy them with credit or debit I’d recommend loading to a card like AccountNow rather than PayPal