The best information on how to set up a PayPal account in Thailand is currently on ThaiVisa, but I thought I’d write out a condensed version here for anyone else who wanted something a little cleaner. You can, of course, set up a Thailand PayPal account with pretty much any Thailand-based credit card or debit card that you can also shop online with, but for expediency’s sake I went with the path of least resistance open to the greatest number of people living here – using a Kasikorn Bank “K-Cyber” account with a “K-Web Shopping Card”.  That’s a lot of branded buzzwords to swallow, but I’ll explain below.

The Kasikorn Bank Part

1) Get your work permit and passport and head on down to your local Kasikorn Bank branch. It’s the big green bank where everyone’s dressed like they just won the PGA Masters tournament.  Word has it that you can sometimes, depending on circumstance, get a bank account without a work permit, but that’s the legal way and that’s what I did, so that’s all I’ll discuss here.  Bangkok’s expat crowd seems to favor the branch on Sukhumvit Soi 33, so that’s where I went.  It’s just West of the Phrom Phong BTS station (take exit 5 and keep walking past Villa and Subway) at the corner of the entrance to Soi 33.   I believe they’re open until 5pm unless it’s a Sunday, a major holiday or unless one of the various political factions adopts green as a color and an impromptu protest breaks out at Phrom Phong.

2) Tell the nice lady at the automated number-spitting-out machine that you’re there to open a new account and direct yourself to the Customer Service section of the lobby.  You’ll probably have to wait a few minutes, but avail yourself of the free water and enjoy the hodgepodge of scrubby foreigners and cleanly dressed Thai people milling around.  When your number’s called, you’ll go to the desk in question and begin the process.

3) Tell the nice lady or gentleman in the leprechaun superhero outfit that you’d like to open a “K-Cyber account” and that you’ll be applying for a “K-Web Shopping Card.” In reality, this seems to be a pretty standard savings account with online banking access enabled.  It’s important to use both names just in case something gets lost in translation – you want to make sure you leave the bank with a online banking access or you won’t be able to do the rest.  If he or she is doing things right, he or she will ask for an email address from you during the process.   If you’re not asked for an email address that’s a tell-tale sign that something has gone awry.

4) After you fill out all the forms and verify that you have the right kind of account, return home and wait for your activation email containing your PIN1 password (that you’ll use to access your account online).  It should take less than 24 hours to arrive (mine took 8 hours).  You’ll receive the emails in Thai, most likely, but if you don’t read the language then it’s pretty easy to figure out what the important details are.  The long number in Roman characters in the middle is your PIN1 password.  Gmail and Google Apps users will get automatic translation, which is helpful, but if your email client doesn’t offer translation on the fly and you want to be sure, you can always use Google Translate.

5) Once you have your PIN1 password you’ll need to go to the Kasikorn eBanking Login Page and enter your account number in the “User ID” field and your fancy new PIN1 in the “Password” field indicated below.  Presumably you’ll need to be wearing a sun hat and sitting in a field with a laptop as seen below as well.  Just to be safe, I went to Chuwit Park and sat around dressed like a woman during the process.

6) Upon your first login, you’ll be required to create a User ID  and select a new PIN1 and select a second level of security in the form of either a PIN2 or mobile authentication.  I highly recommend selecting a PIN2 code, because Kasikorn’s online system asks you for it quite a bit.  Once you’ve gone through the process of getting these details ironed out, look down the left-hand side of the screen to the grey menu area until you see “K-Web Shopping Card.”  Click it and an accordion menu will unfold with several selections.  Click the appropriately titled “Apply Card” and then apply your debit card to the screen.  Okay, don’t do that.  Do click “Apply Card” after which you’ll be asked to enter your new PIN2 secondary authentication code.  Do so, select your daily spending limit and apply.

7) Wait for up to another 24 hours to receive your K-Web Shopping Card approval via email letting you know that your K-Web shopping card is now activated (mine took, again, about 8 hours).  If you haven’t used virtual cards before, the K-Web Shopping Card is basically a virtual credit card – a card number, expiration date, security code and name.  You don’t get an actual card, you just use these details.  To get the details of your card, follow the instructions in your email, log back into your Kasikorn Bank online K-Cyber hypermega cyberbanking account and click the K-Web Shopping Card menu again, but this time click “View Card Detials.”  You’ll be asked for your PIN2 again and once you enter it your new virtual online credit card details will magically pop onto the screen.  Keep these handy, because now we’re going to do the PayPal part.

The PayPal Part

1) Get a Thailand PayPal account. If you have a PayPal account in another country, say the US, you can’t add your Thai bank account there, so don’t bother.  Instead, go to the Thailand PayPal Signup Page and enter your details.  It’s pretty self-explanatory and there’s plenty of documentation on their site if you’re confused.  You’ll probably want to just get a Personal Account (if you need a business or merchant account then you already know what to do).

2) Once you’ve registered your Thai PayPal account and confirmed your email address, it’s time to add your new K-Web Shopping Card as a funding source. When you’re logged in to your PayPal account you’ll see a secondary grey menu bar below the main blue tabs.  Highlight the word “Profile” and then click “Add/Edit Credit Card”.  You’ll be taken to a screen to add the card or to a screen where there’s a button that says “Add a Card.”  So, make sure you’ve got the details of your K-Web Shopping Card handy from the previous steps and then “Add a Card” to PayPal by selecting the proper card type (should be Visa) and entering the details it asks for.  To confirm the account, PayPal will make a temporary $1.95 deduction from the account marked as ####PAYPAL or PAYPAL#### (e.g. 1234PAYPAL or PAYPAL1234).  PayPal will shoot you an email and send you to a confirmation screen letting you know that the card has been added.

3) Now you will receive an email with your transaction details containing the special PayPal code.  Once you’ve received the email, check the details for your PayPal transaction code – something like the above (e.g. 1234PAYPAL).  Note the numbers in this sequence.

4) Go back to your PayPal account (you’ll probably need to log back in by now) to enter the credit card confirmation code (from the transaction above).  So, back on PayPal, click on “Add/Edit Credit Card” under the Profile heading again.  On the next screen you’ll see your K-Web Shopping Card and to the right of it you’ll see several menu options (Edit, Remove and Enter PayPal Code).  Click “Enter PayPal Code” and enter the four digits from the PayPal transaction found in your K-Web Shopping Card transaction logs from the previous steps.  Click the button, your card is verified and now your PayPal account is active and ready to go!  Hizzah!

Enjoy the modern world of competitive commerce!

Obvious Questions

Q) Why Not Just Use Your SCB/TMB/CMI/etc Account?

A) So far as I have been able to learn, Kasikorn is the only bank that offers a web-enabled purchasing solution that’s immediately available (i.e. a debit card/check card of some kind that you can use online).  The others have credit cards available that can be used online, but the processing time to get one can be several weeks to a month.  The processing time to get this done is about 1-2 days.  Obviously if you already have a Thai credit card you would be better served to just use it.

Q) Why Don’t You Just Use Your US PayPal Account?

A) Die.

Q) Can You Use A Bank Account?

A) From what I’m able to tell it’s easy to add a bank account to withdraw funds into, but (presumably due to fraud and transfer system issues) when you add your bank account you can’t use it as a funding source.

Q) Who Will Win The NCAA Football BCS Championship Game This Year?

A) Glad you asked!