Paypal for dummies
I noticed there's quite some confusion about this new form of payment, about how to sign up, why, how, why to click here or there.
I will take the total dummy approach, that is create a Paypal account from zero and only then fire up Horizons and pay with everything Paypal already set up.
While it's not the quickest route (the "experts knowing how to pay on the fly" of course don't need this long way and can skip the whole thread) it should work for you. Moreover, doing how I say, you learn about the Paypal screens that you can use later, to customize whatever or to "validate" your account.
Basically imagine Paypal as a place where your credit card number is stored and protected with it's own log in, independent of Horizons log in.
Every merchant willing to use this service, sets up a link between his site and Paypal. So you select the product on the merchant (Horizons / Vi) site, are sent to Paypal, where you'll log in to your credit card and press a "pay" button. That's all.
Before you start, make sure you did not have created some broken account with who knows what options. *If* you had no account and tried and got some weird stuff up, follow the link "Close account" and totally remove everything (beware, this deletes your history etc, so only those who played with the account should close it, the old Paypal customers must not do this step).
Now, the complete procedure. It's long but it should cover it well enough to make it a "dumb procedure". It is made to be closely executed, I know it can be done in simpler / quicker ways, but this thread is for the total Paypal newbies.
Close every and all the browser windows.
Open a browser window, possibly Internet Explorer, then enter:
https://www.paypal.com/
Press Sign up now! in the center of the screen.
Then press "For Online Shoppers"
Among the other things it says:
"You can also accept bank account or PayPal balance-funded payments for free and a limited number of credit or debit card payments per year for low fees."
That is, you _can_ add your bank account, but you are not _required_ to do so. In fact I did not.
Then a form will appear, you have just to stuff in your name, town etc.
Submit the form, a success screen will tell you that they sent you an activation email (like new user forums registrations do).
Open the email, which will be from [email protected]
(do NOT EVER open *other* mails that are forged to look like coming from them and most of all NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER give them password or CC number or you will lose ALL your money). Expecially mails about "account disabled / account issues" asking for you to press some fake Paypal button. They will bring you to a not secure site in some odd country (i.e. paypal.scam.cn) and you insert your password and they record it to intrude in your real account.
Press "Click here to activate your account"
A page asking for your password will show.
Quadruple check that it has an URL starting with:
https://www.paypal.com/blah/blah
and enter your password.
An "Email Confirmed" screen will appear. You may skip the "verification" stuff for now, press "Skip".
Skip the possible "added value service" ads, ie mobile account etc, pressing "Go to my account".
A pretty complicate page will show up, all you have to do is to ignore it (!) and press "Add credit card" to the left. It works like Horizons, where you can add and remove subs, just applied to credit cards.
Another form will show up, just fill in with your CC information and press "Add card" when done.
Now you should be basically set up to pay with Paypal for Horizons or whatever other service you want that supports this payment system (a lot do).
Close the browser or log out (link at the top of the screen).
Later on, with more experience (or if you need to pay a big subscription), you can become "verified".
The verification process, when I did it some years ago, consisted of a "test" involving Paypal withdrawing 1 USD (and putting it back iirc) just to see that your credit card works.
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Now that you are done with Paypal, go to:
https://accounts.istaria.com/
and log in there (or create a new account).
Then choose your wanted subscription off the pull down box to the right, i.e.
"Grandfathered Subscription 1 Month".
Then press the nearby "Order" button.
At this point... TA DA! You are staring at Paypal.
It should say something like:
"Enter Payment Information
PayPal securely processes payments for your merchant, Virtrium LLC. To continue, please enter the required information below. Learn more about PayPal."
Insert the email address you previously registered the Paypal account with and the password, then press "Log in".
Ignore the "Don't have paypal account" link, since you indeed have the Paypal account".
Now, a final confirmation screen will appear, a resume of what and how much you are paying and to whom.
Press "Pay", and a thank you screen should appear. You are basically done, follow the instructions if any (depending on seller, you might be done or can return to their site in automatic, just read what it says).
If something fails or you cancel the payment, you'll be brought back to the Horizons site and asked to try again.
Hope all of this mess of mine helps.
Yours hoard by Paypal truly,
Vahrokh Vain
Re: Paypal for dummies
Originally Posted by Jazmyn
Pay fast with PayPal. It's free and private. 
so I can't ask my questions there). I don't like the idea of using paypal myself. 