I’m trying to buy bus tickets in Italy online, but payment with a Russian card won’t go through anywhere. I tried several sites — all of them refuse the payment. Are there any ways or services where this can actually be done with a Russian card?
hmm, using Russian cards in Italy is really difficult right now, not just for tickets. when I arrived I also struggled with online payments at first. on-site at a tobacco shop or at the station you can buy without problems, but online — well, only if you have a foreign bank card.
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Russian cards for online purchases in Europe are basically not an option right now — even UnionPay only works intermittently. If you’re already in Italy, the easiest is to buy at the station from a ticket machine or at a tobacco shop; they take cash without questions. If you want to book in advance, get a card from a bank like Freedom or Redotpay — FlixBus and Trenitalia work fine with those.
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If you’re completely without a card for now — try sicilybycar or similar services; some accept debit cards from non-European banks. But generally the most reliable way is to get a card locally; I was completely helpless without one for the first month)
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Another option — FlixBus through the app sometimes accepts PayPal, and you can link PayPal to the same Freedom or similar cards. But if you’re in Italy right now and need to go tomorrow, it’s honestly easier to just walk to the station and buy a ticket there — don’t bother with the online stuff.
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yeah, on-site it’s totally fine — that’s what I did at first, at the tobacconist or right at the station in the vending machine. but for online stuff, until i got my own Italian card nothing really worked properly; even UnionPay kept glitching every other time.
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