How to Use a Visa Gift Card With PayPal

You must have a PayPal account to use a Visa card with PayPal. Opening an account is simple. Go to the PayPal website and follow the prompts to enter the necessary information. Just be aware that there might be problems with gift cards. PayPal users link accounts to PayPal, such as checking accounts, debit cards and credit cards. The catch with prepaid gift cards is that you may not be able to link them to your PayPal account if the cards are not registered in your name.

To use any kind of credit or debit card with PayPal, you must link it to your PayPal account. Link the card by adding the card account number and billing address to your PayPal account profile. Then use the card by adding money to your PayPal account from the linked card. The problem with gift cards comes in when they aren't registered in your name. When you try to link a gift card that isn't registered, the PayPal system checks for a name and billing address and doesn't find it, so it rejects the card. Contact the issuer of the gift card. Some issuers allow you to register gift cards. Make sure the name and address exactly match your PayPal information. PayPal doesn't guarantee this will work, but typically you can link a gift card this way. If the gift card issuer won't let you register the card, you can't use it with PayPal.