Paypal / Taiwan Bank Account question

[amishrock]

Hi there,

So this is my first time posting on this forum...I hope it goes well as the Forum has been very very good to me so far.

Well I am sitting in Los Angeles right now planning on heading to Taiwan (the homeland of my parents) to teach english this coming semester, and am consequently working out the logistics of this plan. A big issue for me is how I will continue making monthly payments on my US debts (car loan payments, student loans, etc etc) while in Taiwan with the money I will be making teaching english. So far after sifting through many posts here the answer seems to be that I should open up a Taiwanese Bank Account once I get to Taiwan and wire transfer money I make and save from teaching english over to my US (Bank of America) bank account, from where I will then make the assorted payments out of.

Given what I have read here about the wire fees, exchange rates and all that mess my post then is a question about the functionality of Paypal as a different option in transferring money between my Taiwan and US bank account. Basically does anyone know if the following is possible and advisable: Set up a completely new paypal account linked to my Taiwanese bank account from where I would send payments to my already established paypal account that's linked to my US bank account.

I thank everyone in advance for any advice they can give me in response to this question...and I hope I will be able to contribute into future discussions on this board, once I get to Taiwan of course.

[aceman]

You sure can , I am doing exactly that. You just need to set up a taiwanese paypal account. register a taiwan bank account into that paypal account. When u get paid, retrieve money from your taiwan bank account into your taiwan paypal account. Then you can pay whoever you want in the US. Or, you can register your American bank account into your taiwan paypal if you want to move the funds. You don't even need a US paypal acount if I'm not mistaken.

[Ben]

Check out these threads:

http://forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?t=15258

http://forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?t=13720&start=30

[amishrock]

Awesome...man that cleared a lot of nagging concerns in my head I couldn't thank you guys enough

[gazza]

I think you will find a Taiwan paypal account next to useless since you can't transfer money into it from your bank like you can with a US paypal account. You would have to fund the account by a Taiwan credit card to move your teaching funds back to the US.

A potential solution would be:
If you have an Taiwan ID card then get a China Trust Visa debit card and use that to move bank account funds to Taiwan paypal.

[amishrock]

wait...now I'm confused you're telling me it won't work since i cant transfer money out of a taiwanese bank account like i can with a US account, yet aceman is saying that is exactly what he is doin right now? someone mentioned in the post linked above by ben that the taiwan bank account to paypal account to us bank account is theorethically possible...

damn now I don't know what to think...has this definitively worked for anyone so far? aceman have any of these types of transactions worked for you to this point, thats the impression i got from your first post.

[gazza]

wait...now I'm confused you're telling me it won't work since i cant transfer money out of a Taiwanese bank account like I can with a US account, yet aceman is saying that is exactly what he is doin right now? someone mentioned in the post linked above by ben that the taiwan bank account to paypal account to us bank account is theorethically possible...

damn now I don't know what to think...has this definitively worked for anyone so far? aceman have any of these types of transactions worked for you to this point, thats the impression I got from your first post.

With non-US bank accounts paypal is uni-directional - you can withdraw the money to the foreign bank account only. Funding a paypal account by bank account is only possible in the USA.

If your goal is Taiwan salary earned cash --> Paypal Taiwan --> withdraw to US bank account/send money to others - you will find that you need to use a credit card or a Visa Debit to get the Taiwanese funds into the account.

I have a Taiwan Paypal account - advice for non-Taiwanese ID holders - make sure your account is in your English name and if you have a really old account (before the advent of the new ID numbers on ARCs) then
open a new account with the new ARC ID number or else Payrip will screw you too. Lost US$22 on their lousy exchange rates (US$->NT$->US$) when my transfer to bank was rejected (return fee is only supposed to be NT$70nt).

[amishrock]

thanks a lot gazza that was my goal...i guess that just closes one avenue down for me...now i got to learn how to work the credit card/debit card system. I must admit once i thought the paypal route was clear i didn't check out how to move funds through a credit/debit card.

I really wonder what the heck aceman was talking about then if he said that's exactly what he is doing right now. i guess he didnt really understand what I was trying to do.

[braxtonhicks]

Gazza, I'm trying to finish setting this up today using my Taiwan account. I'm a little unclear on what you've just said about not being able to fund your Paypal account with a Taiwan account because I thought this changed this year. Have you added a Taiwan bank account to your Taiwan Paypal account?

[braxtonhicks]

I think I understand now. You can set up a Taiwan Paypal account with your Taiwan address, add a Taiwan bank account and US bank account, withdraw Paypal dollars into either account, and *fund* the account with your US account.

So what I'm thinking is if you have the Taiwan Paypal account, along with NT and US bank accounts added, and are 'verified' with a credit/debit card, then you could fund the Paypal acct with your card (just one 'payment'), then transfer the money to your US (checking) account, then write checks to your creditors. Right?

Also, "payrip" is right. Must be the Ebay connection. I have my own issues with them with my US account.