I Built a DeepSeek API Gateway with PayPal — No Chinese Phone Number Required

A few weeks ago, I tried to access DeepSeek's API. Like many of you, I hit the same walls:

• ❌ Need a +86 Chinese phone number for SMS verification
• ❌ Alipay or WeChat Pay only — no PayPal, no international cards
• ❌ Documentation mostly in Chinese

I spent a whole weekend fighting payment gateways, hunting down burner phone services, and waking up a friend halfway across the world just to borrow their phone for a 6-digit code.

Then I snapped and built a bridge.

What I Built

A lightweight API gateway that gives you OpenAI-compatible access to DeepSeek models. Just change your base_url and api_key — everything else works exactly the same as OpenAI's SDK.

• ✅ PayPal supported — no Chinese payment required
• ✅ No Chinese phone number, no KYC
• ✅ OpenAI SDK compatible — drop-in replacement
• ✅ Pay-as-you-go, no monthly commitment

Quick Start

Gateway Base URL: https://ai-relay-chen-zhong.vercel.app/v1

Python Example:

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://ai-relay-chen-zhong.vercel.app/v1",
    api_key="your-api-key"  # provided after purchase
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="deepseek-chat",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello, how are you?"}]
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)
cURL Example:

bash
curl -X POST https://ai-relay-chen-zhong.vercel.app/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your-api-key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "deepseek-chat",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]
  }'

Pricing
Plan Price Credits
Starter $2.00 5M tokens
Standard $5.00 15M tokens
Pro $10.00 35M tokens
Pay via PayPal — no Chinese payment method required.

How to Get Started
Pay via PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/QAZAVE789Z338

Receive API Key: You'll get your key via email within 24 hours.

Start Building: Replace base_url and api_key in your code.

Why I Built This
I built this as a side project to validate an idea — that enough developers would pay a small amount to skip platform friction. If you're a developer outside China who wants to use DeepSeek but keeps hitting payment and registration walls, this is for you.