Credit turned down even though purchase was approved .

[MMcQ]

Was the OP's card actually charged? I'd be alarmed anytime my CC/Debit info was put out there and then the deal disappears into the ether.. Who now has the info? What else could they do with it? Watching your bank account on a daily basis has become more important than ever in this day and age.

 

[Ryedan]

Is this common ? Yeah , my credit isn't great but i bought an item for $23.00 and was refused .

Here is their message to me

Herb, your credit card company did approve the transaction.

It is my credit card authorizer that has decided for what ever reason you are a credit risk.

The group I have hired guarantees me my sale dollars as long as they approve the transaction.

My fraud has done down by 90% since I have hired them.

I will have to go with their advice on this issue.

I had an experience somewhat similar to yours this week herb. The CC was from a relatively new company and I made a purchase online for around $50. Got an email saying there was an issue with my CC and the order was cancelled. They said I could call for more information.

I called and asked what went wrong and specifically asked if my CC company had refused the transaction. They didn't explain but after talking to me approved the purchase. This is me in Canada doing business with a Canadian company. It's the first time I have experienced this anywhere.

After reading this thread I think I now understand the process involved and won't be so surprised the next time this happens.

 

[fitzinthewindow]

I owned a retail music business with an online presence for over 30 years. In the musical instrument market, between 25-30% of all online credit card transactions are either fraudulent or returned. That is HUGE, and winds up costing vendors millions. Think about it--what do you do with a returned item? It is no longer new, and no one is going to pay the same price for an open box item, but as a vendor you are at the mercy of the credit card companies. Regardless of approvals received, if a credit card holder decides to protest a charge, for whatever reason (bogus or not), the vendor is at the mercy of the card company. You are charged back the amount and required to provide proof of the transaction. These decisions invariably go to the cardholder. (International sales are even worse in terms of percentage of loss.)

This all caused me to turn off all of the automatic credit card acceptance on my website after getting stung for thousands of dollars despite getting approvals. I just required a purchaser to call me on the phone so I could discuss the transaction one on one, do the research, explain my return policies, and make my own decision about accepting a sale. I still sell on Ebay and I've been an Ebay vendor since 1998 with a lot of success. Paypal is much safer, but you are still at the mercy of the cardholder's whims, and are required to issue a refund for any reason that a cardholder desires. Through Paypal fraud is at a minimum, but refunds are still an issue, but not nearly the percentage of a problem that they were on my website. I also do no international transactions, finding far too much fraud involved in international sales. So, sorry my international friends, but your "brothers" screwed the pooch for you on that one.

Just think about it the next time you buy something online--that vendor has to make up for all of the fraud and losses due to returns somehow, or he's going to go broke quickly. Credit card fraud is a huge factor and costs everyone billions of dollars. So sad.

The bright side is for the purchaser. Never use a debit card onlline. But remember with any credit card purchase you can always protest a charge, protecting you from a fraudulent vendor. It just doesn't work very well in the opposite direction.

 

[fitzinthewindow]

I use gift cards and late last yr. after using them for a couple of yrs. started having trouble with purchases going through. After several hrs. of checking and a couple of phone calls, found that the problem was with Paypal. I didn't have an account with them, but some of the vendors I was purchasing from did and I was considered a "guest".

Apparently I wore out my welcome and Paypal would NOT let my purchase go through until I made an account with them depriving the vendor who did have an account and paid a fee with each transaction of a sale. Looks like Paypal wanted me to pay a fee on the same transaction to them too.

Paypal does not charge the purchaser, only the vendor.

 

[choochoogranny]

Thank you, fitzinthewindow, for straightening me out on that. Can you tell me why must I open account when the vendor already has one to do business?

 

[WharfRat1976]

This is a credit card declined catfish thread.

 

[JMarca]

This doesn't really make any sense, usually your payment method is either approved or declined and it's up to them (the CC company) to do your credit check when issuing a card or other method of payment. I've never heard of a vendor doing a secondary check after your card has already approved it. If that was the case I'd be asking questions it's illegal to do unauthorized credit checks without your consent.

The vendor's credit card processor shouldn't have information about your credit or you at all aside from your first and last name, that should all be handled by your CC company and hopefully encrypted to minimize the chance of CC fraud over the internet.

The ONLY case where I've seen this done is on contract stuff like cellphones and such. Apple for instance would ask for your CC and then make you sign a release to do a secondary check to make sure you won't run off with their product and cancel the card. But for 23 bucks? And for vape gear? Beyond unusual.

 

[R2sojr]

Had this happen with ejuice direct.com. Had $1200 in my acct and they decline a $40 purchase saying it was fraud. I was like wtf!

 

[Jorge22]

Drag.

Well, I refuse to use credit (I refuse every credit card any bank wants to push on me no matter how great the conditions). I only use debit and it always works as it means I'm spending the money I actually have.