Q: How do I establish an account without a payment account address for the country I want to establish the account in? I want to set up a U.K. account but it just prompted me that I must have an address for the country I am choosing. Does Paypal count?
– TM
A: To create an iTunes Store account in a given country, you must have a payment method appropriate for that particular country. In general, this means a VISA, MasterCard, or American Express card or an iTunes Store Gift Card purchased in that particular country. PayPal and ClickandBuy are also available, but only in specific countries. PayPal is not available in the U.K.
iTunes Store, so this would not be an option for setting up a U.K.-based iTunes Store account anyway, regardless of billing address.
When using a credit card, iTunes checks the billing address to ensure that it matches the specific address you’ve entered and the country in which you’re trying to setup an iTunes Store account. Your credit card will not be accepted for an iTunes Store account unless these both match. Keep in mind that most online vendors will verify a user’s entered billing address against their credit card when making purchases online, so iTunes is by no means unique in this regard.
Note that while many credit card companies will allow you to list one or more alternate shipping addresses for ordering physical goods online, it is the billing address that is used by iTunes.
If you do not have a credit card with a U.K.
billing address, you will not be able to use that for an iTunes Store account in the U.K. The alternative option is to purchase iTunes Gift Cards from a store in the U.K.; gift cards sold in a given country are country-specific, so if you have a gift card that is sold in the U.K. it will work with—and only with—the U.K. iTunes Store. You will still need to supply a U.K.-based address to actually create an account, but the iTunes Store does not validate the address in this case as it has no means of doing so without a credit card to check it against.
Just keep in mind that using the iTunes Store from another country is technically a violation of the iTunes Store Terms and Conditions; the Terms and Conditions for the U.K.
