Ebay has taken an expired card as payment?

[flumpdragon]

Hi all, I'm a bit puzzled here.

I have just purchased  an item.  There is an expired card on the account,  which I haven't bothered updating as I always use paypal.   I went through to check out as usual expecting to select paypal and it had just gone through automatically on the card, no options at all.

I'm assuming the seller has imediate payment set, but surprised the system attempted to take the expired card.   What will happen now, obviously the payment method will fail at some point, rather annoying as the item I tried to purchase is the only one available.

What is my best course of action?  Ask the seller to cancel then buy again? 

Also there dont seem to be any options to add paypal, I'm obviously going to have to remove the old card but at first glance on the account tab it seems it wont let me delete unless I add a valid one?   I purchased an item last week quite happily selecting paypal at checkout and paying normally.

Have ebay stopped allowing paypal payments (since last week) or do they only take card payments when instant payment is set?

Thanks in advance x

[john1297576]

I suspect card payments arecrequired for instant payments. 

Have you looked at your card statement on line, as I would expect your card company to reject payment as card out of date, but until you know it has been unpaid, it would not be wise to get involved in paying again.

If rejected it would be a good idea to update details with your current card.

Paypal should still be available at checkout for normal payments.

[flumpdragon]

Thanks for your reply

I don't want to update the card.  I only leave card details on sites I use regularly ie my weekly online grocery shop.  Sadly I use ebay so infrequently now,  that I'm not happy about them having my card details permanently on file now without the option to opt out as per their recent changes.

Typical of ebays system to get it so wrong yet again, every other site in the world would have rejected it immediately and put up a message to notify you to update the card before proceeding. 

So far in the account its saying gone through and awaiting dispatch. 

[flumpdragon]

Just an update.

I have just checked the cc card account, although the transaction is not visible in the list yet, as the monthly account has just gone out, but my available balance at this moment is down by the £15.18 of the purchase so that has to be it.    Given that the old card is a) a year out of date  and b) the security number obviously doesn't match the current card, I'm a bit gobsmacked.  I will just have to wait it out.

[tobiasd4]

I have noticed that on some sites my card is updated automatically. 

Not that I am happy with it, but at least payments are not rejected l

[flumpdragon]

Well I suppose thats OK if you had intended to use that card, but its a bit naughty.  The 4 digit security code will be wrong , I'm surprised anyone other than holder and bank has authority to update it?   

When the bank issues the new cards they usually say the old card will expire when the new card has its first transaction, the one on the account is a year out of date.  I have to say in nearly 50 years of card use, this is a new one on me 😃.

[tobiasd4]

Yes, it's a new one on me.

Last year I had to manually update card, so looks like only started recently. 

[flumpdragon]

When I checked on my account tab the card is showing a message saying out of date, so they haven't updated it forceably at the moment.

[papso22]

I would be asking questions of the credit card company!

[flumpdragon]

Good point.  Theyve been very quick to reject transactions when there were issues in the past.  So still expecting the payment to fail sometime this morning. But if it doesn't I will definitely be querying it.

[flumpdragon]

I've just seen this on other topic, and wondered if its connected?  There were no normal checkout options for me.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Member-To-Member-Support/Ebay-preferred-payment-method-have-disappea...

[flumpdragon]

Just an update on this.

The item arrived safely yesterday and I have now removed the card from payments, first taking screen shots for the bank query, I didn't want to rock the boat until I was sure I was getting the item or it obviously failed. 

The card was added for a checkout option a few years back  (hence the nov 2023 expiry), never added for offers or immediate payment so shouldn't be regarded as a continuous payment authority. The long expired date should have prevented its use even with that. Ebays payment t&c make it plain expired cards will be rejected (obviously)

What is interesting is that there are 2 other recent topics stating expired card used.  Plus one of a poor seller who was notified by ebay that the payment had failed after posting.  So obviously I'm not the only one.  I'm now worried if the bank insists on revoking the payment who takes the hit ebay or more likely the innocent seller.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Member-To-Member-Support/Help/m-p/7688180#M240974

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Member-To-Member-Support/Expired-card/m-p/7633252#M219582

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Member-To-Member-Support/Sent-item-then-their-payment-withdrawn/m-p/...

I've never bid /offered on anything that I wasn't intending to purchase, and always paid immediately if possible or at least in a few hours.  But have already been put off making offers etc as I dont intend to add permanent card permissions.  This episode just reinforces the doubts. 

I would recommend if anyone has an expired card on their account thinking it cant be used, they should remove it asap.