davispeets

Yay! I successfully purchased 3 sets of tickets for October from the main Renfe website using Paypal.

Reading about past payment difficulties with a USA-based credit card (most of which is before the relatively new Paypal option), I have been so dreading this task, I kept putting it off.

So, I wanted to share my success!

First, I added the credit card I wanted to use, one with no foreign exchange fees, to my Paypal account. I rarely use Paypal, but had an account and it was very easy to add the new credit card.

Secondly, I created a Renfe account as suggested by various tutorials and input my information/passport. Then, I added my husband as a frequent travel companion and added his information/passport. Each time I signed in to the Renfe homepage my info was there and when I selected the option to buy 2 tickets, I could select his name as the second ticket holder by scrolling down. His info was there and it auto-filled so I didn't have to re-enter any info.

In addition to printing the tickets (the last step), I selected the option to send an email to "passbook." Check the special box on the page where you print the tickets, provide e-mail address and then send the email, once you get the email you open it and click on "Descargar Passbook" and add it to passbook. I've never used this iPhone feature before - iPhone PassBook - so I have a backup in addition to the paper tickets. The conductor could scan the ticket off my iphone -- assuming I don't lose my phone and the battery isn't dead. (There was also Pass Wallet for android phones.) I'm sure many people use this regularly, it was just new to me.

On one set of tickets, I forgot to check the box where I could pick seats (it was a Fully Flexible ticket), so it picked the seats for me. Other than that, it wasn't as painful as I had anticipated.

Good luck to anyone else.

Christina

Paypal levies a foreign transaction charge, unfortunately. I have a credit card on my Paypal acct without one, also, and when buying from renfe, Paypal added one. When I questioned them, they said it was in the fine print on their website -- which it is, but it's hard to find. I think it's about 2%.

here are the terms, a little confusing
https://www.paypal.com/selfhelp/article/FAQ1976/4

So they said they "converted" the euro charge to USD before sending them to my CC which has no conversion fee, I said what right do you have to do that, and they said it's in our terms.

so if they don't do that to you, I'd be interested, I wouldn't think it would depend on the card as they said they were converting it before sending it to the card. They didn't say it was because my card is a Discover (which has no foreign transaction fee but it can't be used in Europe, although can in some places in Caribean/Mexico).

They don't show it as a fee, you have to figure it out yourself by what is charged on your CC. I could tell it was about 2-3 pct higher than the bank rate so I called to ask what's up, and that's what they told me.

davispeets

Oh interesting. In this case, as long as I can book the tickets without error messages, I'm ok with the extra fees.

But, I'm about to book bus tickets via Alsa for a couple of the other travel segments and noted a paypal option, so thanks for the paypal info. I will try and use my credit card directly first.

davispeets

Update: Alsa bus tickets purchase success via Paypal on the Alsa website. Tried the credit card first, but it failed.

Cordoba > Granada (Supra Economy Bus)
Granada > Seville (Supra Economy Bus)

As noted by others, and in the ALSA FAQs, you must have a Spanish-issued credit card for a credit card purchase to work. I did note some info from Paypal about the exchange rate on the purchase page.

Because of the current ongoing train works towards Granada, I choose the non-stop bus option. Lucky those of you going in the future when the faster train line towards Granada will be done.

Boring details - but these forums are always so helpful to me with trip planning - I wanted to share my success getting the transportation details worked out. One less thing to worry about on the ground.

Christina

yeah, I didn't like it that Paypal did that, but at least I could book the tickets and couldn't trying to book directly, so what are you gonna do. I think the Paypal levy is 2.5%.

tobyo

good for you! I don't recall having issues purchasing tickets on renfe's site. my one issue was that my credit card company wouldn't let the transactions through even though I had advised them I would be doing that. ah....anyway, after that little hitch everything went fine. I also wanted to thank you for that iphone tip. I have never used the passbook feature either. now maybe I will! thanks!