verifying smart money on paypal - new for may 2011

As of may 2011, the procedure has changed a bit. Read the notes at the end of the post

I'm doing a step by step guide on how to link your smart money card to paypal and how to verify a smart money card on paypal. I assume you already have a paypal account and you have no credit cards linked to paypal yet.

• If you use a prepaid smart cellphone, make sure your smart cellphone has enough load for several messages. PhP 10-20 should be enough
• Make sure your smart money account has at least 100 pesos
• Log into pay pal
• Go to the My Account tab
• Under my account, you should see: Overview, Add Funds, Withdraw, History, Resolution Center and Profile. Go to Profile
• Select add/edit credit card
• Note: I do not know if the name listed should be the same as the one on the credit card
• Select mastercard
• Type the card number. Do not type in any spaces or dashes, just the 16 digit number
• type in the expiration date
• type in the card verification number, the last 3 digits on the back of the card
• check the billing address
• Get your cellphone and go to the simcard menu. Select smart money then internet txns then unlock then choose the name of the smart money card then press OK to answer the question " unlock for internet?"
• enter the w-PIN on the cellphone
• You will get 2 text messages. They both come from Smart money and the first one says " 1/2   is now unlocked for online purchase. For your security, kindly lock ur account after ur purchase. Transaction. ref: ". The second one says " 2/2 Unlocking your account signifies that u agree to the SmartMoney Terms & Conditions for internet purchase. For details please go to www.smart.com.ph/money "
• Once you get both text messages, go back to your web browser and press the Add Card button
• You will get a text message saying " approval of Php 43.xx purchase at PAYPAL Merchant from card . Avail Bal: PhP . Ref:  ". The php 43.xx may change depending on the exchange rate.
• Paypal should display "You have successfully added a credit card. Please note that this credit card is now your primary card. For more information on your primary card, please refer to your Profile."
• The 43.xx peso charge AFAIK will no be refunded

That should be it.

As of may 2011, paypal and/or smart changed something. It used to be there was no 43.xx charge. Adding a card was a free act. After adding a card you would need to verify your credit card in a separate step. Now, the 2 steps of adding and verifying a card are condensed into one step. How do I know? I tested it!!  Before the changes, around march 2011, I replaced my card due to physical damage. Since its a new card with a new number I had to ADD it to paypal and VERIFY it, using the old procedure (see below) and I was able to . However for testing purposes I removed the card and tried to add and verify it again. I was surprised when my card was charged 4x.xx pesos and there was no verify link visible. Thats what led me to write this blog entry.

Also of note, you previously needed to enter a 4 digit code which you would get via text. That step is not present anymore.

There are rumors that the amount you can buy with paypal is limited if you do not verify. However since I have been able to buy stuff online (albeit low value stuff) and I cannot find any link or way to verify my card, I'm assuming that this rumor is not true or was true until the change.





For records purposes, I am repeating the old procedure which of course you cannot do anymore:

After adding your card, you would verify it. This involves  a refundable 100 peso charge. You should see an option to verify the card. After the 100 pesos is charged, paypal will ask you to enter a 4 digit code. For a credit card, it should be in your credit card bill. For smart money, you can find the code in the bill you receive via text message. It should arrive in a few minutes.

The end