Warning of Square Enix Payment Options

[Kyri]

At one point it asked for a drop of my blood, what was with that

for your soul.. @.@

[Delsus]

Ultimate game cards should be less of a headache then trying to do online transactions. Sure you'll have to keep going to the store and buy them but if you buy a $20 one you just have to go to walmart or something once ever 2 months for xiv lol if you have legacy account that is. Hope you find something that works for you =/

Ultimate game cards only exist in US, no one else can use them, I just pay by crysta, top it up when I can with at least the minimum amount, no problems with ultimate pay using paypal.

[Catapult]

Woah, the payment option dilemna rears its head again! I remember that one!

Yeah, seriously, don't touch Click&Die with a kilometer-long pole, especially if you don't live in the EU.

Ok, as for CC problems you might be having, a thought comes to mind about what you might be experiencing:
What country is your SE account listed to?

If it is not the same country as the country of issue for your credit card (which can be easily identified within the first four digits) then it might be throwing up a red flag at SE's end.

Just an idea.

[Seirra_Lanzce]

Hmmmm FFXIV doesn't have Paypal right? :< sad panda... . The only Online payment gateway that except my *DEBIT CARD* and is not available for FFXIV..

yesh i have CC but i hate using CC.

[Catapult]

Hmmmm FFXIV doesn't have Paypal right? :< sad panda... . The only Online payment gateway that except my *DEBIT CARD* and is not available for FFXIV..

yesh i have CC but i hate using CC.

Paypal is available to NA customers who choose to purchase crysta through Ultimatepay. Kind of limited and roundabout, but it's there.

[Nix]

Paypal is available to NA customers who choose to purchase crysta through Ultimatepay. Kind of limited and roundabout, but it's there.

That's how I pay for xiv with debit card, works really well! I'd still rather a directpay type of thing, but paypal is really nice still

[kimoi]

So now im left with no choice but Click and buy at this time. Recently looking back to my CC purchases from click and buy im finding almost every charge from SE is for a different amount. it changes between 2-5 dollars every time they pull money out and that makes no sense. In fact this is wrong. If Se is charging me 19.85 and 17.85 for the two accounts THOSE are the numbers I should be seeing not 22.95 23.75 20.85's all across every payment option right?

Things look shady again and these are the only options I have to pay!

This isn't shady. This is because the company uses a different currency than your local currency, so the fluctuations in the global market cause the price to change every month. But yeah, besides this, everything else Click and Buy does is shady.

Ultimate game cards only exist in US, no one else can use them, I just pay by crysta, top it up when I can with at least the minimum amount, no problems with ultimate pay using paypal.

I always have CC problems when trying direct, so I buy Game Cards. I don't live in US, but you can buy them online.

[Seirra_Lanzce]

Paypal is available to NA customers who choose to purchase crysta through Ultimatepay. Kind of limited and roundabout, but it's there.

only NA... that why i say SAD ;_;

[Quesse]

I used Click and Buy one time and was overcharged. It was only by a few cents so I didn't care. But it seemed shady.

Now I just buy crysta in the exact amount I need(ed) straight from my visa card. Never any issue. Still, I'm not saying its easy. The problem is, when it doesn't work - you're pretty much screwed.

Ever have this problem buying from Amazon??? NOPE. SE needs to get their payment crap together.

[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