posted on August 28, 2000 04:40:59 AM new
Well, as a seller I've been having buyers pay with Billpoint and I've never heard of a problem from any of them.
However, for the first time last night I tried to pay for an auction with Billpoint to try and get my $1 off with Visa. I kept getting a message saying that authorization had failed and to either try back later or check with my bank. Well, I checked and rechecked my card number, billing info, etc. input and reinput the data, nothing changed. So I called my bank (yes, they have 24 hr. customer service, it's great!) and they said that my Visa was showing it was declined because of current network incompatibility between the Visa network and Billpoint's network. They suggested I try again today in case the problem cleared up, meantime, they'd have some people look into it.
So I tried again this morning and the situation hadn't changed any. So I put in my Discover card instead and it went through immediately without a hitch!
So you may not be able to take advantage of that $1 off after all.....
And if a buyer ever contacts you and says they want to pay their Billpoint invoice, but the system won't let them, they might not be spinning a yarn....
posted on August 28, 2000 08:32:17 AM new
It is not just Billpoint, there seems to a problem with Visa because some of our Visa transactions, both sales and purchases, have bounced. Keep a close eye on your accounts.
Miscreant -and proud of it!
posted on August 29, 2000 06:22:52 PM new
What follows is the response I got from Billpoint regarding their inability to authorize my Visa card the other night.
Some card issuing banks are using an new, optional credit card verification system that checks for three digits that would appear on the back of your credit card. It seems that your financial institution has begun to participate in this optional system. Neither Mastercard nor Visa require these three digits to be passed to them at this time, so most merchants including Billpoint are not doing so.
Since we do not pass these numbers on, we are not able to gain approval from your financial institution when you attempt to use it to register for Billpoint. Unfortunately, at this time, we have no ability to override this response.
I'm not quite certain why I'm able to use my Visa at every other establishment, both offline and online, and not Billpoint, but I guess that's the way it is right now. Hopefully, they'll start doing whatever they need to do to fix the situation. And I did have my Visa card on registration with them as a seller long before I tried to use Billpoint as a buyer, so I don't quite get that part of it either.
However, I will say in their defense that due to the inconvenience, they agreed to give me the $1 off anyway on my Discover card. I think that's pretty nice.
-and proud of it!