[chimeracoder]

> Do you have any source to this claim?

Paypal, for one, makes no attempt to hide this: https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/About-My-Account/using-p...

While Paypal will accept it if you provide a Visa-verified billing address, not all will, and that would defeat the point of anonymity anyway.

Visa and AmEx also forbid international payments on prepaid cards, and most merchants nowadays require a verified billing address. (This wasn't the case as recently as 2009).

Remember that a prepaid card is not a credit card - there's no risk of you not paying, because they [Visa] already have your money and yet merchants refuse to take it. It's completely ridiculous.

[wmf]

This sounds more like a problem with the issuing banks. Is there any way for a merchant to know that a card is prepaid? If not, how would they know not to check the billing address?

(Semi-related: Do prepaid cards count as debit for purposes of the regulation on swipe fees?)

[chimeracoder]

> This sounds more like a problem with the issuing banks.

It's a problem with both parties, since both are known to refuse to process them.

> Is there any way for a merchant to know that a card is prepaid?

Yes

> Is there any way for a merchant to know that a card is prepaid?

No

[chimeracoder]

Copy and pasted wrong - just noticed. The 'no' is supposed to be in response to the debit card fees question.