Having trouble paying (error 401)

[Shadygrove]

And I cannot find error 401 in the SQUARE ENIX Support Center at all.

Nor have they yet replied to my Email help request.

I assumed that I needed to have payments to Japan unlocked on my credit or debit card. I had done this in the past and it worked. This time it hasn't.

Can anyone give me a clue?

[Shadygrove]

Oh, text of the notice.

An error has occurred.
Please confirm the status of any relevant options and then try again.
For details, please contact the Square Enix Support Center.
(Error code: 401)

status of any relevant options? What does that mean?

[repoe]

make sure card is registered with mogstation as payment method, check the card info ( name adress ). when paying they subroute to a 3rd party for verification of funds. make sure adblocker is off try using a different internet explorer. ie chrome/firefox/etc

[Enkidoh]

That was a very common error that affected a lot of players, but unfortunately, it seems that error code hid a multitude of sins and thus trying to work out exactly what has gone wrong is frustratingly difficult.

So much so, there was a very large official thread in the Technical Support section, but curiously it's no longer stickied (but luckily is still on the first page). It can be found here.

The main causes though seem to be:

Mistyped card info.
The browser you're using to access the Mogstation has a security function that blocks 'scripts' from working (which is necessary for the Mogstation to verify your card details as valid)
Lack of funds in the account if it's a debit card and thus the bank is automatically flagging the card as invalid
The card vendor or bank that issued your card is falsely flagging SE's attempts to verify the card as fraud

These are just some of the common causes, so it basically becomes a process of elimination to finding out what has gone wrong and how to fix it.

[M0xie]

Also I believe when paying with a card, the 3rd party that does the verifying looks to see if you are in the same geographical area via your IP as your billing address. At least I recall hearing something like that a while back.

[Laerune]

I did not get any error, but I bought 1000 Crysta (10 euro) yesterday and I still have not received mine. On Paypal, I see that the money is gone and went to Square Enix, but still no Crysta. Is it possible something is wrong with the payment method?

[Rieze_Xeero]

I'm having the same issue for months now. I'm freaking tired of this SE, I'm on the edge of cancelling my account

[Niqote]

I had 401 once with my credit card, I bought a prepaid card for a month, then when I entered the same credit card a month later, it worked fine.

I don't know why except if you keep trying the same 1 card over and over it will definitely error, like they temporarily block it for 24 hours... sorry I could not help more other then sharing my own experience.

[Bixillarla]

Also could be your credit card "protecting" you from overseas transactions. I had this happen to me once, one of my credit cards would not approve the transcation from SE cause it was a overseas transaction from Japan. Had to use a different card and it went through no issues.

[aesteval]

Also I believe when paying with a card, the 3rd party that does the verifying looks to see if you are in the same geographical area via your IP as your billing address. At least I recall hearing something like that a while back.

There is definitely an IP address check component to it, but it's also when redeeming prepaid cards so it may not just be IP address region matching billing zip. They may deliberately filter out some IP address ranges that are at risk of abuse. Say like proxy services.