Believe it or not… we don't have a top up card system here. I recently used one when I was in Amsterdam and they look like a very good idea to me.
I should explain, before anyone gets the idea that we are totally backward here in Ireland. First of all our banks work on the basis of greed. They will not endorse any system they can not over charge for the use of that service. Secondly, we have only recently come out of a 30 year conflict situation and while the bigger terrorist organisations have agreed to stop and disarm their members, we still have a couple of fringe groups who have not given up. As a result, our government has very strict rules on the transfer of money into and out of the country. All transactions are monitored from €5 to €5,000,000. This is intended to stop funds going to any fringe group of terrorists still operating here in Ireland or Northern Ireland.
I have no idea why PayPal will not allow people in Ireland to open a PayPal account without a credit card. I have friends in other countries who don't have credit cards and they can just use their bank account to transfer money into a PayPal account. It would be so easy for PayPal to let people put money into their PayPal account and monitor the limit of funds available in the account. I have written to them about it and all I get back is a standard reply stating their terms and conditions. I guess that is the problem when to have a monopoly in place. The sooner someone else provides the same kind of service the better.
I guess you guys have to be careful about giving out details that can trace you... but then I guess you had to do that with your PayPal account too. Or maybe there is a way around that. Anyway, at least you know I tried to donate something. But the system just won't allow it. I will contribute in what way I can to support the site anyway. Cheers for the reply.