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Paying for Apple iTunes with PayPal

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the and-a-third-party-of-course dept.

MrIcee writes "While cruising eBay today I noted that some clever individual has apparently stepped up to fill the void left by the fact that Apple's iTunes service does not accept PayPal. While insisting that buyers follow Apple's terms of service, is buying and reselling the gift certificate legal or not? If legal, it's an interesting and simple idea that could be applied to many areas." It is pretty neat, even if the $16 markup is a little ludicrous. It's like the old adage: a fool and his PayPal account are soon parted.

22 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. How true. by cliffy2000 · · Score: 4, Informative

    "It's like the old adage: a fool and his PayPal account are soon parted." Indeed.

  2. Haha, how enterprising! by 2nd+Post! · · Score: 3, Insightful

    At least until someone figures out how to sell it for $15 markup.

    Then $14.

    Then $13.

    Then $12.

    etc...

    Until Apple decides to implement their own version...

    So this is one of those ideas with it's own obsolescence!

    --

    GPL Deconstructed
    1. Re:Haha, how enterprising! by appleLaserWriter · · Score: 3, Funny

      Can I buy a put?

  3. Fun by igabe · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Reload the link to eBay and look at the counter near the bottom of the auction listing. See the Slashdot effect in real time. Impressive.

    --
    tilTrue.info contechtext.info prettypowerful.info twitter.com/frets fb.com/prosody
    1. Re:Fun by bluekanoodle · · Score: 5, Interesting

      In my unscientific survey, (reload, count to 20 mississippi, hit reload again) that comes to about 33 hits per second. Not bad for an ebay listing. :)

    2. Re:Fun by tommertron · · Score: 5, Funny
      Slashdot effect in real time.

      Well... maybe not quite the usual slashdotting. Thanks to your post, half the slashdotters are sitting on the page pressing reload over and over... making the count even higher.

      --
      Random rants about technology: http://technorants.blogspot.com
    3. Re:Fun by quantaman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually it's a double /.ing from all the people reloading to watch the counter go up!

      --
      I stole this Sig
  4. From the TOS by tsanth · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Section 11.a:
    Payment for Products. You agree to pay for all Products you purchase through the Service, and that Apple may charge your credit card for any Products purchased, and for any additional amounts (including any taxes and late fees, as applicable) as may be accrued by or in connection with your Account. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TIMELY PAYMENT OF ALL FEES AND FOR PROVIDING APPLE WITH A VALID CREDIT CARD FOR PAYMENT OF ALL FEES. All fees will be billed to the credit card you designate during the registration process. If you want to designate a different credit card or if there is a change in your credit card status, you must change your credit card information online at the Account Info section of the Service. (There may be a temporary disruption of your access to the Service until Apple can verify the validity of the new credit card information.)

    So how would this work when buying initially through a gift certificate bought through a middleman? Would I, as the buyer, pay the middleman to pay my iTunes bill for me?

  5. Or, y'know... by the+unbeliever · · Score: 5, Informative
    You can get a paypal debit card, and use it to buy your merchandise from ITMS.

    I have one of the debit cards, and I used it like a credit card all the time (it's where my personal allowance money from my bank account goes). It'll also use your checking account to pull funds from if you don't keep a balance in your paypal account.

  6. What does that bring musicians cut down to? by chatooya · · Score: 5, Funny

    Great, another middleman between musicians and fans. Are we moving backwards through the internet??

  7. Targeted to? by XorNand · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I have to believe that anyone who's willing to pay for downloadable music are the type of people who have a credit card. Those without credit cards, students mainly, are still getting their music from Kazaa and the ilk.

    --
    Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"
  8. the point is international... by plambert · · Score: 5, Informative

    I believe the point is that the iTunes Music Store requires that any credit card used have an address inside the United States.

    Reselling gift certificates would then allow folks outside the U.S. to access the store as if they were in the U.S.

    Except I think you have to have valid credit card information whether or not you use a gift certificate. I am not certain, though.

    --plambert

  9. One BIG problem still... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    In order to sign up for an iTunes account to REDEEM any such certificate you MUST enter a valid credit card number. I know. I sent my sister a certificate so she could try out iTunes. She didn't want to use a credit card, but ended up being forced to just to redeem the certificate.

    There IS a non-credit-card way get an iTunes account, but that's only as the recipient of an "allowance" which is then tied to someone elses credit card, the one giving the monthly allowance ($10 minimum each month).

    Good luck redeeming the gift certificate if you buy it and don't have a credit card!

  10. Roll Over by CuriousGeorge113 · · Score: 4, Funny

    There's only 5 digits on that counter. I wonder how many times that thing has rolled over since this story's posting :)

    ~~Dan

    --
    No man is an island, But if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie them together, they make a pretty good raft.
  11. Re:No better for artists by Mononoke · · Score: 3, Insightful
    They agree to it because they don't have a choice when 5 companies have a cartel that controls radio and distribution and they only offer musicians a shitty cut.
    Thus the very reason why iTunes is a good thing for musicians: Independent labels have exactly as much exposure as the big labels do on iTunes. Musicians don't have to sign with the "big 5" in order to get distribution.
    --
    NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
  12. Apple Stores? by moosesocks · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It seems to me like apple would make a killing if they sold the certificates in their stores (at face value, of course!). It would make a great gift-item, and would be an impulse-buy for many (read: this is the kind of thing that mall-shoppers would buy)

    Or would that violate the agreement between Apple (Computer) and Apple (Records)?

    --
    -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
  13. Hell I'll sell you one for cheeper then those guys by FSK · · Score: 4, Interesting

    here is my listing

    --
    When punk rock is outlawed, only outlaws will have punk rock.
  14. Re:Posting an ebay auction on slashdot? by DrStrange66 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Umm... you can't bid. It's set price only. You can click buy now...

  15. Virtual Debit Card from Paypal also an option by Mean_Nishka · · Score: 4, Informative
    To avoid the $16 mark up, all one needs to do is use Paypal's virtual debit card to make the purchase of the GC. It assigns you a temporary mastercard number that you can use on just about any website that takes credit cards.

    Go to the 'my account' tab, select withdraw, and click on the 'shop online with a paypal virtual card' link. The number won't be tied to any website in particular, so you should be able to type it in through itunes and have it work.

    --
    www.lonseidman.com

  16. Billy at the gates. by ratfynk · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Open the IPOD bay doors Steve"..... "I am sorry, I cannot do that Bill"

    --
    OH THE SHAME I fell off the wagon and use sigs again!
  17. Re:Geez, I would have expected more from eBay by jerde · · Score: 3, Funny

    By the way, how do you mod posts anyways?

    Check out the FAQ...

    After having been a regular /. reader and poster, the site will randomly grant you 5 moderator points every once in a while. Those points must be used within a few days before they expire.

    My experience is that /. knows when I'm about to go out of town without internet access, and gives me my mod points right before I leave. The sound of the slash code giggling is one of the erriest sounds in the universe.

    - Peter

    --
    INsigNIFICANT
  18. Paypal Debit Card by ewwhite · · Score: 3, Informative

    My solution is to use the Paypal debit card. It's linked to my Paypal account and acts as a Mastercard. I use it for all of my Apple iTunes store purchases. It works quite well....

    --
    Edmund White
    http://flickr.com/ewwhite