You can buy US gift cards via [0], at least it works for me. Also you can switch to Canada region without any payment method(while switching to US region requires a US credit card).
> You can buy US gift cards via [0], at least it works for me.
Unfortunately it requires a credit card with a US billing address[1].
> Also you can switch to Canada region without any payment method(while switching to US region requires a US credit card).
The US store also does not require a credit card[2][3]. It does require entering a US address, but the address is not validated in any way.
Edit: apparently you can't always chose "none" as a payment method when changing regions[4]. I can't remember what I did, I might have created the account while being in the US, or perhaps I used ssh port forwarding with an US server, but, as you can see it works for me.
I have no problems with my visa card which is issued by a Chinese bank and a US freight forwarder address(apparently not my actual address) for billing. Since I set my credit line to 0, I dont bother with risk of frauds.
Yeah, faking the billing address sometimes works, sometimes it doesn't work, depending on the issuing bank and all kinds of other factors. Believe me, as I am often in the US, I try this all the time.
Some systems don't check anything, most systems only check the numeric characters written in the address, but some systems also check the country and/or zip code.
I can't use my Austrian CC to buy from your Apple link, but I could use it at Lowe's with some US address (I used my Austrian address street but with country US).
Btw, I could not order a Macbook Pro from apple.com (online), even when I was in the US, and the online system allowed entering an Austrian billing address. The payment went through, but the order was cancelled a few days later with no explanation (and no money back either!). I had to plead with Apple support that I am not, in fact, some kind of scammer, and they made me come in person to an Apple store and only after I presented them with two separate types of government ID they returned me the money (and allowed me to place a new order there, in person).
Thanks for sharing your anecdotes, it seems Apple's online store is a lot trickier to deal with that I originally thought. Given the fact that there are almost none posts about having troubles with ordering US gift cards in the Chinese social media, I wonder if they are offering Chinese people some special care(like lowering credit card validation standards? We don't apply for a CC to make domestic payments). Life is strange, without ever been to the US, I have the account you've always wanted for years.
Unfortunately it requires a credit card with a US billing address[1].
> Also you can switch to Canada region without any payment method(while switching to US region requires a US credit card).
The US store also does not require a credit card[2][3]. It does require entering a US address, but the address is not validated in any way.
Edit: apparently you can't always chose "none" as a payment method when changing regions[4]. I can't remember what I did, I might have created the account while being in the US, or perhaps I used ssh port forwarding with an US server, but, as you can see it works for me.
[1] https://i.imgur.com/dvT9M1J.png
[2] https://i.imgur.com/5ZQ0Lih.png
[3] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204034
[4] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203905