Safest online payment method?

[OlderNDirt]

After 20+ years with the same credit card and number, I've had the misfortune to experience two instances of unknown, unauthorized charges within the last 3 months. Both times the charges (not vape related) were removed, but it required the cancellation of the old card and issuance of a new card with a new number along with some inconvenience for notifying affected businesses having my number on file. But here's the thing.......

Since issuances of a new card just under 3 months ago, there have only been 5 charges to the new card. Three of those charges were to two companies my card has been on file with for years for ongoing automatic charges....one of which I have now stopped. Although possible, I'm thinking it is unlikely the source of "the theft." The other two charges were to one online store and a charge at my "local" B&M. I'm also finding it a bit interesting that I also made a charge to both of those within 30 days of the first "theft/use." While my gut feeling is that the most likely source of "the theft/use" is through the online store, there just isn't enough evidence to end that relationship and I am uncomfortable making that accusation.

My credit card company has been good with notifying me and correcting the charges at no financial cost to me, but is of little/no help in determining where these breaches are taking place or who is making the charges. They just reverse the payments to the business making the charge and issue the new card.....then advise me to only use the card with trusted businesses, something up until now I thought I was doing.

So now I find myself in the quandary how to continue with online vape shopping? I already stopped using one vendor due to their intrusive age verification process and really don't want to eliminate another. I took a look at prepaid cards, but most seemed to have "unknown charges" that could be as much as $10 a month or more......not to mention the need to use some form of online banking to make transfers. I've never used online banking not being comfortable having that information "floating around."

Although I carry a couple credit cards for the ease and convenience, I make minimal use of them already. Reducing that use further would be akin to elimination of their use. No more checks. No more (or limited) credit/debit card use. Additional costs/inconvenience/risks of prepaid cards. What's left, particularly for online vape (or any) purchases?

Anybody else have similar experience involving online vape purchases?

 

[bwh79]

Paypal, when it's available (free for buyers, fees are collected from seller/recipient -- not always available for US retailers due to PP policy on "tobacco products," but some places are overseas or just plain don't care)
Prepaid debit cards (usually cost about $5 to reload, some have monthly fee some do not)
Some banks will issue a temporary credit/debit card number for online transactions. The number is valid only once, and won't do a thief any good after the initial purchase.

 

[alvitae]

After getting my credit card "hacked" twice and a girlfriends card once all instances immediately following vaping purchases from known online stores, I only use prepaid cards now.

Walmart prepaid is only 3 bucks to load.

 

[puffon]

I opened a CC with a $300 limit, but still only transfer what I need to it, via online banking. No cost through my CU.
Only have had 2 breaches in 22 years, both caught by the CC company before I knew about them.
I put a freeze on my credit after the Equifax beach last year.

 

[Belhade]

I use PayPal whenever I can, purely for simplicity's sake. But for real security, prepaid cards is the way to go.

 

[stols001]

Prepaid card is the way to go. I'd be uncomfortable necessarily "blaming" a vaping company given that Equifax was breached, all our information is pretty available on line. Paypal is good about dealing with "fake" charges but most credit card companies are as well. Many banks will let you use a "preloaded" credit card that you can transfer funds to with little to no fee, as well. It's how most people with bad credit have to start out. This may "limit' the damage, but there is no way to avoid it entirely, unfortunately. Vigilance is important.... Sigh, it's also a pain in the neck, but it is important.

Good luck figuring out a method that works for you.

Anna

 

[CagedSpam]

I found out the hard way not all pre loaded "basic" credit cards will allow overseas purchases.

These are the ones purchased at grocery stores, etc.

 

[OlderNDirt]

Thanks for the responses!

Paypal, when it's available (free for buyers, fees are collected from seller/recipient -- not always available for US retailers due to PP policy on "tobacco products," but some places are overseas or just plain don't care)
Prepaid debit cards (usually cost about $5 to reload, some have monthly fee some do not)
Some banks will issue a temporary credit/debit card number for online transactions. The number is valid only once, and won't do a thief any good after the initial purchase.

Paypal is not an option with this online vendor. I checked with my CC company and small town bank, neither offered prepaid or such cards.....no other suggestions. Comment on prepaid below.....

After getting my credit card "hacked" twice and a girlfriends card once all instances immediately following vaping purchases from known online stores, I only use prepaid cards now.

Walmart prepaid is only 3 bucks to load.

That sounds like the cheapest I've seen/heard, may check it out further. Is there any minimal balance that needs to be maintained?

I opened a CC with a $300 limit, but still only transfer what I need to it, via online banking. No cost through my CU.
Only have had 2 breaches in 22 years, both caught by the CC company before I knew about them.
I put a freeze on my credit after the Equifax beach last year.

I have the ability to place any limit of my choice on my card, but what limit would I use? One of the fraudulent charges was almost $1k and the other was under $30. I settled for immediate notice, e-mail and text, for ANY phone/online/mail charges on the card so I can alert the CC company immediately on those if not mine.

I found out the hard way not all pre loaded "basic" credit cards will allow overseas purchases.

These are the ones purchased at grocery stores, etc.

I make zero purchases out of country.

I figure the prepaid card is probably my only option, but I just have a problem with the idea of paying any fee just to spend my own money! But I guess that is acceptable practice in this day and age. My "local" shop always gives me a 10% discount, 20% when I accumulate enough purchase points (about once a year), and 25% the week of my birthday. Probably not that much different then the online cost when adding those additional charges,

 

[alvitae]

That sounds like the cheapest I've seen/heard, may check it out further. Is there any minimal balance that needs to be maintained?

If I remember right they take 3 to 5 dollars a month off of the card to pay for the service. There is no minimum, But if you charge your balance to zero the next time you load they'll take the monthly fee if it was due while your balance was zero.

It's a Visa card and I'm told it can be used anyplace Visa can be used. I just ordered a bunch of trinkets (ceramic tweezers etc) from the wish app with it which we all know is Chinese stuff. And it went through just fine.

 

[alvitae]

I'd be uncomfortable necessarily "blaming" a vaping company

I don't think it was the vaping company that hacked my card honestly. One time it happened was with a company I had been doing business with since '09. And they have a good honest reputation.

Someone who said that they were in the business told me that most online vape retailers don't have high enough profit margins to afford the premium billing services and that's why it happens. Not from the company but the billing service. How true that is I don't know.

 

[CagedSpam]

Ahh, Just looked again, I was thinking V I S A Gift cards...

Terms and conditions-
PURCHASE FEE: $5.00
DORMANCY FEE: $3.95
Dormancy fee will be automatically deducted from the Gift Card balance on the first day of each month beginning with
the thirteenth month of consecutive inactivity.

 

[dsheik]

After getting my credit card "hacked" twice and a girlfriends card once all instances immediately following vaping purchases from known online stores, I only use prepaid cards now.

Walmart prepaid is only 3 bucks to load.

Totally agree with the prepaid route. I decided to go that route just a couple days ago specifically for vape purchases. Credit card compromising seems to be more prevalent with the online vape industry than in other online purchasing, at least in my online purchasing experience. I went many years with the same card all while making regular routine online purchases. Ive now had my card compromised three times just within a couple years, and like yours vaping purchases were made shortly before each one, but the last incident was a 100% slam dunk on where the breach occurred as the card had not been used for a stretch.

 

[rollersk4te]

I don't think it was the vaping company that hacked my card honestly. One time it happened was with a company I had been doing business with since '09. And they have a good honest reputation.

Someone who said that they were in the business told me that most online vape retailers don't have high enough profit margins to afford the premium billing services and that's why it happens. Not from the company but the billing service. How true that is I don't know.

The store's website may be hacked, and (rarer) the billing service may be hacked. You can even have something like a keylogger (a program that records the keys you hit on your keyboard) hidden on your computer that is used to steal your CC info. The best you can do is plan for it. Don't keep any more money in your banking account than you actually need... keep the rest in savings. Also, you should know PayPal's prepaid card allows you to create temporary credit card numbers to use for online purchases. There's other banks that do this, but PayPal is the only one I know of personally. The catch is that it costs $10/month.

 

[IgnorantCig]

Doesn't a real credit card offer tons more protection than a prepaid card which is basically like cash, and the prepaid often has extra fees associated with it making it more expensive to use than a credit card which is basically free and also offers a 30 day grace period before the bill has to be paid?

I guess that maybe I've been lucky, because I order a ton of stuff online using a bunch of different credit cards, sometimes PayPal and sometimes Apple Pay and have never had an issue.

I do check my accounts almost everyday though, so I am on top of things. And if there was an unauthorized charge for 50 cents on one of my accounts one day, I'll know about it quickly.

 

[OlderNDirt]

If I remember right they take 3 to 5 dollars a month off of the card to pay for the service.

3 to 5 dollars a month would add up much more and faster then $3 per load, especially if only using it every 2 or 3 (or even more) months.

It is looking like my current system, CC with immediate notification of all charges other then in person along with a $250 limit, is my best and only option. Then take my chances for how many new cards per year it will take. I wonder how long I can go only using the card at one place and see if it gets hacked? And start my monthly trips to my bank and withdrawing my monthly disposable income budget in cash.

 

[tearose50]

This subject comes up here from time to time.

The one time use numbers (I think it's B of A who offers this) are a pain, but the most secure, but certainly not always practical.

The next safe way is to simply carefully check your bill. The Banks have gotten very good at finding these issues efficiently, but not always.

And, there is this, which has lots of valuable data.

So your bank has told you your card is compromised

It has often been said or assumed that there is more trouble with the vaping industry, but I've also seen nothing that backs this up. I recall a bit about a survey done here some time ago for months where we were reporting compromises and the most recent vape vendors purchased from -- and there was no common vendor with issues at the time.

 

[mackman]

I have a credit card where I can generate a one time use virtual account number; it's failsafe and all I use online

 

[Vaperer]

I've had my credit card breach twice already. I check my bank account every day. Somebody bought $160 worth of postal stamps. With my card But the bank removed it immediately. There's no telling who got it or where they got it but the world is full of hackers. I keep a dedicated account for my pension
& a dedicated credit card for purchases. I guess that's just the way the world is today. Luckily my bank does not hesitate to reverse charges.

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

You might look into your device's security and that of any WiFi or home network.

 

[Vaperer]

You might look into your device's security and that of any WiFi or home network.

Yeah I was kind of thinking maybe my device is hacked. I don't have any Wi-Fi the wires blew away. Chances are since it was for stamps it had to be someone that knew someone in a prison? From what I hear postal stamps are worth money in prison.
But you're probably right.