Best VPN for PayPal
PayPal is easily one of the most popular ways to pay for goods and services on the web. It revolutionized payment mechanisms, and today you’ll find that most websites have an option to pay for something using PayPal. It’s just so darn convenient, and some people like the fact that it provides a small level of anonymity when making a payment (slightly more anonymous than using a bank), though not as anonymous as BitCoins.
PayPal Anonymity
When you purchase something online by using bank credentials, the merchant will be able to see personal information such as your account details and so on. On the other hand, when you use PayPal, this information is hidden. However, you aren’t really anonymous, because they will be able to see your name and identity. Furthermore, PayPal is forced to comply with the government, and regularly interacts with external organizations such as the FCH.
Most people aren’t concerned with this, though, because the purchase of a VPN service isn’t illegal with exception to a rare few countries around the world. Conversely, if you are worried about your payment methods being tracked in your location, you may want to consider using BitCoin payments.
Before we take a closer look of the VPN services that we recommend, let’s go through a brief description of each of them:
- ExpressVPN: This provider offers a great combination of speed, security and privacy. It enables you to get around geographical restrictions. PayPal is accepted as method of payment.
- NordVPN: NordVPN has a strong focus on security, but it also offers great speeds. NordVPN is an affordable VPN service that doesn’t keep logs.
- CyberGhost: CyberGhost is reasonably priced, easy to use and fast. It allows you to unblock content without issues.
PayPal’s Ability to Stop Payments
Whether you knew it or not, PayPal has the ability to freeze accounts. Their user agreement policy gives them the power to shut down a user’s account if they believe it has been used in any illicit activity. Essentially, they have the power to reject any payments into an account and disallow withdrawals at their own discretion.
But there’s one problem. The law changes from country to country, and what is legal in one area might be illegal in another country. P2P technologies such as Bit Torrent aren’t always black and white, but in some areas, national laws might leave a user’s online purchasing activities victim to the discretion of PayPal’s policies. Loads of people around the world turn to VPNs to facilitate their Bit Torrent downloads, but if you pay for a Bit Torrent service with PayPal, you might get shut down.
Sound farfetched? It isn’t a frequent occurrence, but it does happen. Just three years ago, Torguard’s PayPal account was frozen, which put them in a world of hurt. All of their automatic payments weren’t collected, and most of these payments were cancelled. Though these cases are few and far between, you need to make sure you have the best VPN for PayPal if you want to avoid these incredibly frustrating circumstance.
VPN for PayPal – Top Picks:
ExpressVPN
The speed and high security that ExpressVPN offers, are just two of the endless reasons why this is one of the best VPNs for PayPal. The military grade encryption protects your online traffic, keeping your transactions secure. You can access your PayPal account securely, even if you are using public WiFi. ExpressVPN has servers in over 90 countries so you won’t have issues finding an option that suits your needs. You can simply connect to a server in your location and keep your IP address, but enjoying added security. ExpressVPN doesn’t keep logs of your activities, meaning that your privacy remains safe. .
VyprVPN
VyprVPN is a great choice for users who are concerned about US-based firms and the NSA. They are based in Switzerland, and another attractive feature of their service is the ability to take advantage of their free trial 100% risk free. Though their service packages only offer between 1 and 3 simultaneous connections per account, users will wind many useful features not found with other services. Such extra security enhancements include a NAT firewall for an extra layer of anonymity and security, per-application VPN tunnel routing, a VPN kill-switch, and up to 50GB of online storage. They aren’t too pricey, either, as the pro version of their VPN service can be purchased for only $6.25 per month.
Private Internet Access
PIA – Private Internet Access is another fantastic choice for PayPal users, and they carry the advantage of being one of the lowest cost providers on the market. A 1-year subscription makes the price a mere $3.33 per month, and they even allow each account to connect up to 5 devices at the same time. Right now they have 3,100+ servers on 24 countries, though they seem to be in a state of constant expansion. Notable ancillary features of their service include 24/7 customer support, DNS leak protection, P2P support for Bit Torrent users, and a 7-day money back guarantee.
Surfshark
Here is another highly secure and versatile service that keeps your traffic protected when you are using PayPal, even if you are using public WiFi. Surfshark uses strong encryption to keep your data secure and it also enables you to overcome restrictions. You can connect to over 800 servers in more than 50 countries. There are many servers available and thanks to features like anti-malware protection and kill switch, your information will remain safe. Surfshark has been independently audited and its security has been confirmed. It doesn’t keep logs of your internet traffic.
NordVPN
Last but not least is NordVPN, who has servers in 27 countries. Interestingly enough, they allow more simultaneous connections than every other VPN provider, allowing up to 6 connections per account. One advantage they have over the previous two providers includes their 30-day money back guarantee, but they also have some handy security features. In addition to their no-logging policy, they also have a DNS lead resolver, and automatic kill-switch, and SSL-based 2048-bit encryption. NordVPN is also very favorably priced at just $4.00 per month with a long term subscription.
Using PayPal safely using a VPN
To be able to access PayPal from anywhere, you just need to follow a few steps. Here is what is required.
- There are many VPNs available, but we recommend that you choose one of the services that we have included in the list.
- Download and install the VPN client. Just make sure that you select the right version for the platform you are using.
- Once the VPN app is running on your device, you can access the list of servers available. Select one in the country where you are located.
- Log into your PayPal account. If you come across any issues, try to clear your browsers’ cache and cookies, and then reload the page.
Is it possible to use PayPal safely from abroad using a free VPN?
Free VPNs seem to be a great deal at first. You will see many services that offer security and online freedom without charging a cent. However, the truth is that there are many disadvantages involved. Free VPNs tend to be slower since their infrastructure is weaker and many people use the service at the same time. These providers don’t invest the amount of money, resources and time that paid services invest. As a result, their networks are slower and less reliable. It is unlikely that services like PayPal work with a free VPN. It should be noted that free VPNs are usually the first ones that are blacklisted by platforms that implement geo-blocks.
Setting up and maintaining a VPN network requires a high investment. Even free VPNs need to make money in some way, which is why they usually spam you with ads. While ads can be annoying, they are not the worse way in which a free VPN can sustain itself. In some cases, free VPNs make money by placing tracking cookies on your device that can be used to monitor your activities and create a detailed profile of your consumer habits. The information is then sold to advertisers without your knowledge. The security risks involved are huge so a free VPN ends up costing you much more than you think. The majority of free VPNs include malware and most of them don’t protect you againts IPv6 leaks. When you use a free VPN, your internet traffic is not encrypted. This is why we advise you to avoid free VPN and opt for a paid provider that has a good record in privacy protection.
Why is PayPal not available in some locations?
Although PayPal offers its services in most countries, there are some locations where it is still not available for different reasons. In some cases, it is simply because the market is too small (for instance, Christmas Island) and in others it is due to US sanctions. After all, PayPal is based in the United States so it can’t operate in countries like Cuba and North Korea. PayPal has also opted to avoid certain countries in Africa due to the high percentage of credit card fraud issues, although in recent years it has expanded its service to regions that were previously considered as high risk.
Can you use PayPal securely with the help of a VPN?
While public WiFi networks are a convenient solution, the reality is that they are not very secure. Malicious hackers are likely to target them using techniques like packet sniffing, fake hotspots and Man-in-the-middle attacks. This is why it is advisable to use only secure WiFi networks and avoid public ones when you access your PayPal account. However, if you have no other choice but to do so, we strongly recommend to use a VPN service. When you connect to a VPN, your entire internet traffic is encrypted so others won’t be able to see what you are doing. VPNs let you bypass web-filtering and access sites and services that are blocked in your location. VPNs are effective tools to defeat censorship and geo-restrictions.
Is it possible to create a PayPal account in a country where the service is not available?
Unlike other geo-blocked services, PayPal won’t show you an error message when you try to access the website from a country where it is not available. PayPal lets you access a local version of the site, and this will work as normal but without a payment method linked to a local address, it won’t be possible to sign up. Unless you know someone in the country of your choice who can sign up for you, it won’t be possible to register an account. It is important to consider that signing up from countries where PayPal is not available, is prohibited due to financial international legislation. We advise you to check PayPal’s policies for more information.
For PayPal you need a dedicated IP and Express don’t have a dedicated IP. I’m using Purevpn for its dedicated IP