I took a deep breath and plunged into the somewhat scary world of internet commerce. I arranged a low-balance credit card (a VISA) and used it to open a Paypal account, with the idea that I could donate to campaigns and buy CD's from struggling musicians. The first indication that this wasn't going to be as easy as advertised came when I was signing up for PayPal. I called the help line, just to make sure I was doing it right. "You don't have to link a bank account," The Helpful Person said, although the website was pushing hard for me to link an account.
I carefully followed the steps, and was assured that I had signed up and could now buy items safely on the Net. To test the waters, I purchased a CD. It took several tries, and I had to remove and replace my credit card from Paypal, but it finally worked. That was the only time Paypal allowed me to make a purchase.
Several days later, I tried to buy an item on Ebay. Again, I carefully followed the steps- no purchase. After removing and replacing the card several times. I called the Help Line again. I was told the problem was my card issuer. I called VISA. I was told the card was perfectly good. I called Paypal Help again. I spoke to a supervisor, who asked to conference call VISA. We did so. It was determined that Paypal was processing my credit card as a debit card. I was told the problem would be fixed in 24 hours. It wasn't.
I found another website that was selling the item I wanted and bought it- with the credit card that Paypal insisted was not working.
I called Paypal three more times. I was provided with a procedure to have a "debit" card (or a card that Paypal was trying to process as a debit card) processed as a credit card. Paypal did not have the screen available that would allow me to do this. I was told that the problem would be referred to engineering.
I called Paypal again for status. I was told (a)the problem was the fault of VISA and (b) I should use the (non-working procedure) and (c) I should provide another card.
At that point, I recalled the saying of a wise person: Happiness is not getting what you want, but rather wanting what you get. I cancelled the Paypal account.
I later called VISA. I was told that Paypal is regularly trying to process credit cards as if they were debit cards. Maybe processing debit cards is cheaper.
Since other people seem to be having similar problems, I thought this information might be useful.