That's how mine works, too. You can't do it through PayPal b/c the charge still looks like it's foreign (PayPal just routes the whole process to your bank). You have to get funds to PayPal from the card/account, then buy with PayPal. The whole process takes 3-5 days and, viola! the deals are gone.

Buy a prepaid card or use a different bank card. Those are your options.

And/or argue the $50 fee. Tell them you'll close your account if they won't allow the transaction. That usually works.

I have the odd problem with ShopTo's network of stores so I just put through stuff using Paypal (though I usually avoid them cause of this). Weirdly, my bank never even flagged up when my account got drained by a fraudster and doesn't bat an eyelid with most purchases, but refuse my personal details for phone banking so I have to do everything in-branch.

Friggin' nitwits - soon as I can I'll just swap to a building society...

Do they actually have something like Credit Unions (essentially non-profit banks) in Mexico? I've done all my banking with such for some time now. Screw the greedy private banks. Not to mention I tend to get better service with CUs. All CUs here are a part of a national network so you can use any other CU's ATM without ever getting charged a fee, and a lot of them are also part of what is called 'shared branches', which will allow you to make a direct deposit and withdrawal at a completely different bank to/from your actual bank account free of charge.

Oh, I'm talking about American banks here. I live in Mexico but do all my banking in the US.

Even if I opened a bank account down here I have to wait at least a month before they let me use anything resembling a debit card due to all the fraud that goes on. There's also fake banks set up by big retail stores.

And no, there's nothing like credit unions down here. There's one in my US hometown but it's on the other side of the city and it takes ages to get there by bus.

I can't understand this, too. Why do they assume a shady business model from a Polish game publisher's Cypriot subsidiary, which sells games DRM-free on the internet? That's really odd.

USA here, I've banked with a few locations but US Bank has never given me trouble with GOG orders either directly via check card or via PayPal. As an added bonus they're also the first bank I've held an account with who hasn't seemed to actively try and find ways to divest me of my meager funds for nonsensical "reasons". (aka after several years with them they still haven't tried to use "fees" to rip me off unlike all my prior banks in several states).

If you have a branch near you I'd say check them out, also local credit unions are generally solid. If you're going the pre-paid card route make sure you read all the fine print for the specific card before you buy. Many of them have hidden fees and clauses which can result in a $7 purchase racking up an $18 fee, some of them will even act like a pre-paid line of credit thus allowing you to spend more than the printed value on the card at which point they start running interest fees and often you won't be informed until they've sent you to collections.

Hope this gets sorted out for you,
Cheers

Paypal allows just a Credit Card to link to it, you can do it that way.... your ATM card will work.. or you can get a Credit Card linked to your account at your back JUST for online or paypal...

My ATM card does not work through PayPal because my bank will not allow me to use it. I called them again today and told them I would probably close my account since it is essentially useless to me. They didn't sound too worried about it, so I guess it is going to get closed down.

I was hoping that I could use a friend's card or something, but everyone I know uses this bank. Your choices are limited around here.

That's still your bank's doing, not PayPal's.

I tend to use Paypal mostly, even though I have never had a problem with crdit cards, I just think that Paypal is a tad more secure. Hopefully they would solve your problem.

I honestly have never heard of a bank saying that they wouldnt process a payment to any of the countries you mention, I think they are just bs'ing you.

Oh, I'm aware it's the bank's problem, Hypersomniac, just stating that PayPal is not an option for me right now.

I talked to a different person from the bank. Again, they told me I could use the card for a $50 fee. I asked what the fee was for and told them that no other bank that I've ever used has required this fee in order to use the card internationally. The person told me that the bank's service provider charges this fee and they are passing it down.

Blegh. I think my only option at this point is to purchase a prepaid card, hope it works internationally, and then find a new bank.

Tax avoidance . . . .?

No, gog doesn't avoid taxes.
Cyprus is in the European Union, same as Poland.
So they don't avoid anything, they probably still just have to pay less. Maybe because the rules concerning taxes of digital wares are better, or at least easier to understand which makes the tax computation easier.
If they would "avoid" paying taxes in Cyprus Interpol and probably most of the Cypriot tax fraud investigation would be after them.

-- You're kidding me right?
Germany is restricted? Because of what???
Fraud?
I'm sorry, but they are just bullshitting you.
This is one of the most ridiculous reasons why Germany is restricted.
Maybe they haven't figured it out yet but the Second World War is over.
Or maybe it's because Bush mentioned that Germany is on the new Axis of Evil due to our lack of engagement in the Iraq-War?

I don't value my country to that degree and I am by no means a nationalist but this list of restricted countries is just utterly ridiculous.

Like I said, the other two banks I didn't have this problem. All of these banks are fairly small (5-6 branches at most).

Bank 1 never gave me any grief. Never even knew this was a problem with them.

Bank 2 processed the payments fine, but kept adding on ATM fees for some reason. I finally got these rescinded, but I had to politely complain a number of times.

This current bank is the first one I've ever had deny me access. I agree that their country list is ridiculous. I told them that I could *maybe* see Russia on there, but that I couldn't believe Germany and Spain were on that list. That's when they told me that they were on the list because of fraud.

I told them that I was just as at risk getting my information stolen by using their online banking (which I do not use).

Blank stare.

And it's obviously not a concern with fraud, because why would they say okay if I paid them $50?

Really, this isn't a big deal, and I should just pay the extra $5 for a prepaid card, but I am still going to try talking to the bank one last time tomorrow because I have not received a very satisfactory answer as to why this type of activity is restricted.

This, they can put in an exception via phone call (walking into a branch is a waste of time), make a failed transaction, note the time, then call them to make it easy. My bank doesn't restrict GOG but they do make it a pain in the ass to buy anything in pounds or euros, so I have them put in 90 day exceptions for stuff like Indie Royale (which is actually Australian) and a couple of others. It's a bit of a pain and I do resent it, but it costs me nothing but time, no extra fees.
Okay, fuck my bank, switching.