# Amazon and PayPal **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 24, 2019, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-and-paypal/840776 "2019-09-24T21:44:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-and-paypal/840776/1 "2019-09-24T21:44:08Z")
I have some money in PayPal. I could convert it directly into cash, but that would incur non-negligible fees. Or I could avoid the fees by spending it somewhere that accepts PayPal. This mostly means online businesses, and (like most folks) the online business I spend the most with is Amazon. Except that Amazon doesn’t accept PayPal. Poking around online, I’ve found a couple of potential solutions to this. First, one can get a PayPal Mastercard debit card, usable wherever Mastercard is. The problem with this is that it requires either a business account, or at least $500 per year of money flowing in to PayPal, neither of which do I have. The second solution I’ve seen is that there are websites which sell gift cards. Go to such a website, buy an Amazon gift card, and pay with PayPal, then use the card on Amazon. But of the two such sites I found quickly, one has abysmal reviews, and the other has Amazon cards, but doesn’t actually let you buy one. Does anyone have any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-and-paypal/840776/2 "2019-09-24T22:03:51Z")
Buy something somewhere else? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-and-paypal/840776/3 "2019-09-24T22:16:53Z")
Why does converting to cash incur fees for you? I regularly transfer money from my Paypal account to my checking account and it has never cost any fees. How are you doing the transfer? ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-and-paypal/840776/4 "2019-09-25T01:31:45Z")
If it helps the Apple pay store accepts paypal. I have my Pandora subscription and the Apple ransom fee of icloud paid via paypal. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-and-paypal/840776/5 "2019-09-25T01:48:13Z")
That’s weird- I don’t incur fees for transferring to my bank, but I do have a personal PayPal card that doesn’t have those requirements ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-and-paypal/840776/6 "2019-09-25T02:08:36Z")
If it helps the Apple pay store accepts paypal. I have my Pandora subscription and the Apple ransom fee of icloud paid via paypal. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-and-paypal/840776/7 "2019-09-25T02:44:46Z")
You can do an “instant” transfer of cash from Paypal to your bank which incurs a fee. You can do a one-day transfer which incurs no fee – at least for me. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-and-paypal/840776/8 "2019-09-25T03:04:01Z")
Why not eBay? ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-and-paypal/840776/9 "2019-09-25T03:32:39Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Why does converting to cash incur fees for you? I regularly transfer money from my Paypal account to my checking account and it has never cost any fees. How are you doing the transfer? Me too, unless I opt for an instantaneous transfer which incurs a 1% fee that maxes out at $10.00. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-and-paypal/840776/10 "2019-09-25T06:14:52Z")
Another voice to the chorus: transfers from my PayPal to my bank account cost nothing. They take a day or so, that’s all. OP do you have a checking account with any major banks? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-and-paypal/840776/11 "2019-09-25T13:07:45Z")
> [@](#): > > You can do an “instant” transfer of cash from Paypal to your bank which incurs a fee. You can do a one-day transfer which incurs no fee – at least for me. Ah, OK, I’ll look around more for this. They seem to bury that option under the one that makes them more money. As for spending it elsewhere, I don’t want to be spending just for the sake of spending. If it’s for something I would be buying anyway, then sure, I can just use the money I would have used for that on other things (like my Amazon purchases, say). If, say, I could use PayPal at the grocery store, that’d be fine. But I don’t think any grocery store takes PayPal. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-and-paypal/840776/12 "2019-09-25T14:00:33Z")
ebay, as mentioned, accepts paypal. But can you transfer it to a bank account? I’ve never had any charges for doing that. In fact, for a while, I was using paypal to transfer money between two bank accounts since it’s free and fast(ish). ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-and-paypal/840776/13 "2019-09-25T14:51:44Z")
Like others said you can transfer for free… Wal Mart accepts PayPal. I just made a purchase there last night. Shipping isn’t free unless you spend over a certain amount. I can’t find the info at the moment. But you can ship to your local wal mart for free. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-and-paypal/840776/14 "2019-09-25T16:34:22Z")
I thought this was going to be easy. Just go to PayPal’s own gift card [page](https://www.paypal.com/us/gifts/) and buy an Amazon gift card. I’ve done this several times. But apparently not recently. No longer offers them. ☹ It seems haphazard. Has ITunes, Google Play, Lowes, Home Depot and Staples. But no Walmart or Target. Oh, well. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-and-paypal/840776/15 "2019-09-25T16:50:56Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Why not eBay? Yeah, I just find the same thing I want on ebay. I don’t even know what my Paypal balance is, I just know I got one. :rolleyes: