Warning of Square Enix Payment Options

[PortableFishy]

I have to agree that the payment options for FF14 do require some significant improvements to achieve the current standards and be more competitive. I too have faced numerous difficulties and had to jump through various hurdles to simply try to make payment.

Key Suggestions for Payment Options

• Credit/Debit Cards - I think having the option to send payment to SE directly using a Credit/Debit Card globally would be a very welcomed improvement. This option only appears to be available for certain countries (e.g. Japan) at the moment, but not for others (e.g. US).
  
• PayPal - It would also be great to have the option to send payment SE directly via PayPal globally (instead requiring an additional 3rd party service such as UltimatePay).

Other Suggestions regarding Payment Options

• 3rd Party Payment Services - Although 3rd Party Services can be helpful to increase accessibility for those in certain Countries/Regions, I think that payment through any of them should strictly be optional but never a requirement. This includes services like UltimatePay, Play Time Cards (if they are ever supported), etc
  
• Account Address/Country Amendments - I strongly feel that it would be important to allow your customers to change their Account Address/Country with adequate verification (e.g. IP location check over a certain period, etc?). Globalization is an ever increasing norm with more people commonly moving to and living in different parts of the world. Strictly disallowing country amendments have been very limiting, which really becomes a factor when there are Country/Region specific payment options, currency conversions, and other services/events/promotions based on a user's location.
  
• 3-D Secure - It would be extremely helpful to not make this a requirement for Credit/Debit cards. This service for additional security (also known as Verified by Visa, MasterCard SecureCode, etc) has been a challenge for too many consumers and is simply not available from every Credit Card issuer (e.g. Citibank/Citicards Japan)
  
• Click&Buy - This deserves its own bullet point. To put it fairly bluntly, I strongly believe that SE's decision to suggest Click&Buy as a primary payment option for their customers certainly has not helped reputationally. It is quite rare for me to have such a negative view on a company, but "dodgy/sketchy/shady" is the only way I can describe Click&Buy. Long story short, I eventually ended up cancelling both my Click&Buy account as well as my credit card to ensure that all ties have been completely severed with that company. I cannot recommend and in fact strongly suggest that people stay away from using Click&Buy as their payment option

[Catapult]

[LIST][*]Credit/Debit Cards - I think having the option to send payment to SE directly using a Credit/Debit Card globally would be a very welcomed improvement. This option only appears to be available for certain countries (e.g. Japan) at the moment, but not for others (e.g. US).

This is not correct. This was implemented when the massive sh*tstorm went down as SE discovered they were about to lose a large chunk of their XI playerbase. Of course, people who were capable of paying by other means would not necessarily be aware of this.

Direct Credit card payment is now available from the overwhelming majority of countries. I think there are only a handful still excluded for reasons of trade regulations and so forth.

[PortableFishy]

Which part of the suggestion was incorrect? I don't have the option to make payment directly to SE using a credit card (I have a US based account) whereas my friend with a JP based account does in fact pay directly with her credit card.

This is not correct. This was implemented when the massive sh*tstorm went down as SE discovered they were about to lose a large chunk of their XI playerbase. Of course, people who were capable of paying by other means would not necessarily be aware of this.

Direct Credit card payment is now available from the overwhelming majority of countries. I think there are only a handful still excluded for reasons of trade regulations and so forth.

[Catapult]

Which part of the suggestion was incorrect? I don't have the option to make payment directly to SE using a credit card (I have a US based account) whereas my friend with a JP based account does in fact pay directly with her credit card.

Have a read on the Lodestone's topic for January 2012:

Introducing Easier Payment Methods! (01/26/2012)

In the months leading up to the end of FINAL FANTASY XIV's extended free trial period, we received copious amounts of feedback from customers regarding the billing system. We took that feedback to heart, and have worked to implement new payment options that better meet the needs of our players. As the first step towards our goal, we introduced the ability to utilize additional payment methods to purchase Crysta, and subsequently implemented a system that allowed for the purchase of user-specified amounts of Crysta.

As the next step towards a better customer experience, we are pleased to announce that it is now possible to enter credit/debit card information directly into the system to handle subscription payments. This feature has been by far the most popular request received from the community, and so we are very happy to make it available.

To utilize the new easier-to-use payment options, simply log into the Square Enix Account Management System and select the FINAL FANTASY XIV Service Account to get started.

Prior to Jan 2012 it was indeed only the Japanese that had a direct Credit Card billing method, but that changed about ten months ago.

I'm guessing you haven't logged into the Square Enix Account Management System to check out your payment methods since 2011. This new payment method went live a few weeks AFTER billing started, so if you are unaware of the change, it is because you had a working payment method at the time that allowed your attention to not be drawn to the change.

[PortableFishy]

Ah, so everyone is able to bypass Click&Buy and UltimatePay to directly send payment to SE using a credit card now? Great news if that's the case, can check-off the first suggestion

Have a read on the Lodestone's topic for January 2012:

Prior to Jan 2012 it was indeed only the Japanese that had a direct Credit Card billing method, but that changed about ten months ago.

I'm guessing you haven't logged into the Square Enix Account Management System to check out your payment methods since 2011. This new payment method went live a few weeks AFTER billing started, so if you are unaware of the change, it is because you had a working payment method at the time that allowed your attention to not be drawn to the change.

[Thunderz]

[*]Account Address/Country Amendments - I strongly feel that it would be important to allow your customers to change their Account Address/Country with adequate verification (e.g. IP location check over a certain period, etc?). Globalization is an ever increasing norm with more people commonly moving to and living in different parts of the world. Strictly disallowing country amendments have been very limiting, which really becomes a factor when there are Country/Region specific payment options, currency conversions, and other services/events/promotions based on a user's location.
[*]3-D Secure - It would be extremely helpful to not make this a requirement for Credit/Debit cards. This service for additional security (also known as Verified by Visa, MasterCard SecureCode, etc) has been a challenge for too many consumers and is simply not available from every Credit Card issuer (e.g. Citibank/Citicards Japan)[/LIST]

3D secure (Verified by VISA or Secure Code MC) protects the merchant from a charge back from Credit Card companies (someone disputing the charge as unauthorized)

As far as the address issue... i'm assuming they have to abide to multiple laws/regulation where it can become a compliance issue when it comes to down to address changes to different countries... also it comes back to the point of CC charge back (IE your address must match to your CC address or SE may get hit by CC fraud charge back or disputes)

Risk vs Customer experience

at least that's how I can understand it with my experience dealing with merchants and Credit Card companies