Payment method

Hi,

Sorry to hear you are having issues with managing payments on your Apple ID.

I’m happy to help!

In your situation, the best resolution will be to submit a country/region change request to the current country/region you have a valid payment method and billing address tied to (China).

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201389

It is a requirement of country/region change to have a valid payment method associated to the country/region you wish to change to. In your case, switching your storefront would resolve your billing issues.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201266

Hope this helps!

Unlikely; you would have to meet these criteria:.

From: Payment methods that you can use with your Apple ID; click here --> https://support.apple.com/HT202631

"Make sure that the billing address for your payment method matches the billing address for your Apple ID. In some cases, you might need to call your bank or financial institution to authorize international or online purchases. You might also need to confirm that the mobile number associated with your payment method is correct."

From that I would interpret you can indeed use a card issued in a different country but it has to be billed to you at an address that is in the country to which your iTunes and App Stores are set. This requirement makes it unusual to be able use a card from a different country since card companies may be reluctant to issue a card unless the customer's address is in the card company's country.

Note, however, that an official Apple team member contradicts the "international" use of cards outlined in Apple's document by recommending a post saying, "You need a valid credit card issued by a bank in the country the store is in..." over a post quoting the above section from Apple's own payment methods document which implies you do not. - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253211481

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback, again!

I’d be more than happy to clear up any confusion you may have on the proper resolution to this issue.

You cannot use another card from a different country/region with your Apple ID.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201389

Aside from this article that states you must have a new card for the new country/region, mentioned at least four different times; there are other more obvious reasons you cannot use a card associated to another country/region with your Apple ID:

• currencies, pricing, and/or taxes tied to purchases vary by country/region
• availability of content varies by country/region
• local laws & refund request eligibility for different content types varies by country/region
• monthly AC+ availability and purchasing varies by country/region
• Apple ID balance and adding funds varies by country/region

You cannot have a card issued in one country/region and an Apple ID account tied to another country/region.

This would cause issues with purchasing content and feature availability for the user.

Below I have listed additional resources to help guide you in the right direction.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203905

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204411

https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/us/terms.html

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202704

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208687

I appreciate the feedback, and hope this helps!

The statement below was removed from the November 10, 2021 version of the payment method document. It currently does not say if you can OR cannot use a card from another country. Therefore declarations that you cannot use a card from another country are not supported by Apple documentation that I can find. Apple's official documentation simply does not say.

From: Payment methods that you can use with your Apple ID; click here --> https://support.apple.com/HT202631

"Make sure that the billing address for your payment method matches the billing address for your Apple ID. In some cases, you might need to call your bank or financial institution to authorize international or online purchases. You might also need to confirm that the mobile number associated with your payment method is correct."

You need to be careful about interpreting what Apple does and does not say. In the article you provided all it says is, "Make sure that you have a payment method for your new country or region. See what payment methods you can use." That refers to the document I referenced earlier which used to talk about enabling "international" use of a card but has very recently changed. Now it does not specify either way. It still does not say you must have a card from the same country. Maybe you do -- and for many people the easiest solution is making sure they do have one -- but it does not specifically say that. Several of the statements you make in your most recent reply imply Apple says something, but nowhere does it actually state those things outright. If anything, at best Apple has made its policy regarding international use of cards more vague in its most recent version of that document.

As for that list of documents, they most just refer to document about payment methods you can use. All it says is make sure it's a "valid" method and then lists a bunch of things such as "most" credit cards. It does not stipulate what makes a credit valid or not.

After 15+ years of contributing on ASC I find it helpful if instead of trying to interpret Apple policies, to instead quote actual sections from the documentation. If you feel they are unclear then let the original poster interpret what they think they mean or let them contact Apple if something is unclear.

Since you now live in China, I'll add on to my previous post and suggest you read this tdocument which will allow you to use your Chinese payment methods --> Change your Apple ID country or region - Apple Support

As you can see there is inconsistency in what Apple's official support documentation says and what a sole Apple team member recommends as a correct statement. In most cases people will not meet the criteria as defined by Apple which will effect in most cases you having to use a card fr.o the country to which your strore is set. However, that is not what Apple actually says. This results in a tendency for posts to frequently over-simplify the situation but which does not represent actual Apple policy as stated in their documentation.