Can't make purchases from Itunes App Store - Chile and the US

July 7, 2013 5:00 PM

I am from the US and have a bank account with Bank of America. I live in Chile and the billing address attached to my account is in Chile. My iPad was linked to an itunes account with the US app store. But, when I tried to make a purchase (free apps download fine,) I am told that I can't have a billing address outside the states. So I made another itunes account for the Chile app store but when I try to buy something there, I'm told my card is "not supported in the Chilean store."

So, is there something I'm not thinking of? I guess I could change my billing address to my brother's place in the states but that seems like a bit much and maybe a bad idea. Am I just going to have to accept that I can't buy anything from the app store?

posted by saul wright to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

It's probably a security thing, more that it is seeing a transaction from Chile trying to bill a US account. You might have to email support and see what they say.
posted by gjc at 5:16 PM on July 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Can your brother buy you pre-purchased iTunes cards from the States and send them to you? If you are using cards, you don't actually need to include a credit card.

It might be the simplest solution.
posted by scrute at 5:28 PM on July 7, 2013

Same thing happened to me when I moved from Canada to Australia. Basically the billing address has to be in the same country as the issuing bank, and that card can only be used in that country's store. I used my Canadian card and my MIL's address for awhile, that worked fine.
posted by third word on a random page at 5:55 PM on July 7, 2013

I wouldn't be surprised if there's no way around this. You may have to arrange for the issuing bank and your billing address to be in the same country, and then use that country's iTunes store. That means using your brother's address or getting a credit card or whatever from a bank in Chile.

Based on my experience, Scrute's suggestion will not work. I'm pretty sure iTunes gift cards can only be used in the country in which they were purchased. Similarly, you can't gift apps or music to someone in another country.
posted by alms at 8:25 PM on July 7, 2013