Where to click for PayPal membership?

I'm sorry if this question is a frequently asked one, but I would like to buy Diamond membership (initially for 1 month) using PayPal. However, the only place I seem to be able to click on the membership page is "Begin 10-day free trial". I actually want a) to start my membership at 9 GBP/month starting from now, and b) to pay using PayPal, but that isn't an option with free trial.

I tried gifting membership to myself but was told "You can't give gifts to yourself. You can buy it directly on our membership page." In fact, I give gifts to myself frequently! Unfortunately, I was unable to "buy it directly on our membership page". 

And yet, and yet... the faq says I can: "Simply proceed from the Memberships page through our check-out. You will see PayPal as one of your options."

Please advise!

Try these links:

http://www.chess.com/membership.html?c=navbar

http://www.chess.com/membership.html?c=icon

Thanks for the suggestion. As far as I can see, both those links bring up a page identical to what I saw before, with the only clickable option being "Begin 10-day free trial". What should I be seeing?

OK, I think that's what you should be seeing. On the help page, it says giving credit card information is necessary for the free trial:

http://support.chess.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/170/0/why-must-i-enter-credit-card-info-to-start-a-free-trial

But after the trial period is over, (or during it, perhaps?) you should be able to make a payment via whatever supported way you want, and paypal is definitely one of them.

http://www.chess.com/legal.html#subscriber

If you don't have a credit card, then you can still upgrade with this:

http://support.chess.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/166/0/i-dont-have-a-credit-card-are-there-other-ways-to-upgrade

By the way, if these don't help, simply contact staff via this:

http://support.chess.com/Tickets/Submit/RenderForm/5

Thank you, philidor_position.

I do have a credit card but am very picky about which companies have this info, especially in relation to repeat payments.

The page relating to not having a credit card mentions "Simply proceed from the Memberships page through our check-out. You will see PayPal as one of your options.", but it is not at all clear to me how I would do that because the only "exits" from that page are the "Begin 10-day free trial" and closing the window.

However, a little tab popped up in the bottom right corner of my browser asking if I needed assistance, so I availed myself of that facility. Keeping fingers crossed...

That page also shows the option to pay by mailing check or money order.

And I have to tell you, chess.com is very reliable with credit card payments and membership renewals. You can be sure you won't get cheated in some way or another.

That's good to know, thanks. However, I would still like to pay by PayPal if at all possible.

Cheques and/or money orders are an extremely expensive way to pay for anything from UK to another country (especially non-EU). A few years ago, my bank was wanting to charge me 40 GBP to send a 25 GBP membership subscription to the Netherlands. Naturally, I told them where they could stuff their money order (back into the drawer from whence it came)!

Lol.

Ok, if you have contacted staff they'll respond soon I guess.

Just to let any staff who may be reading this know... I am eager to part with my money as soon as I find out how I can pay via PayPal! (I messaged via the popup assistance tab but haven't had a reply yet.)

"Isn't it time?" Well, yes, I think it is! Unfortunately, I still haven't had any reply from staff about paying via PayPal, official or unofficial, and am beginning to think this is somehow a taboo subject. 

It would be nice to get some kind of definite reply along the lines of "Actually, we don't take PayPal payments" or "We try to avoid and discourage PayPal payments because...".

Or even "Yes, we take PayPal. Click here!".

I don't know if this support entry was there before or not, but it is now anyway. It says you can order via e-mail payment :

http://support.chess.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/139/11/why-does-paypal-ask-for-credit-card-information

I cringe when I read about the level of pain experienced by so many chess.com users who want to use PayPal. On the other side, I'm very happy that there are so many users who are educated about their digital identity and use PayPal to help protect themselves.

I work at PayPal.