Steam & PayPal

[Codicier]

The hell?

I'm trying to pre-purchase Left 4 Dead off Steam today using Paypal. I've been able to buy stuff off of Steam before by paying with Paypal without any issues (bought Audiosurf just recently when it was on sale). Now however, when I select Paypal as my payment method first it tells me there was some issue:

There seems to have been an error initializing or updating your transaction. Please wait a minute and try again or contact support for assistance.

and the little box in the bottom right is stuck on "initializing". Selecting Paypal again changes the box to Begin Paypal Purchase though so I went ahead anyway.

I log into paypal and confirm the purchase as usual before being put back to Steam for final confirmation. When I try to click "Purchase" on the Review + Purchase tab I get this message:

Your purchase has not been completed. Your credit card information has been declined by your credit card company.

Note that in some cases, your credit card company may put a 'hold' on funds in your account, but you will not be charged. After reviewing the information below, if you believe your card has been declined in error please try your purchase again.

Which is bullshit because there's nothing wrong with my card. I've tried several times and every time I get the same result.

Anyone else have similar issues or links to reasons or solutions?

Why are you making it hard for me to give you money Valve?

[digitalErich]

If you are using a CC anyway, why not just buy directly through Steam? Why would you opt-in for using Pay-Pal? They are one of the worst services on the net in my experience.

[Codicier]

If you are using a CC anyway, why not just buy directly through Steam? Why would you opt-in for using Pay-Pal? They are one of the worst services on the net in my experience.

Because it saves me having to retype all my info every time. Paypal has been a mixed experience for people it seems but I've yet to have any issues with it, probably because I don't use it for much.

[Lon Lon Rabbit]

It's not much but since the shopping cart update Steam saves SOME of your details now.

I think it's address, name, and phone number; you still need to put in CC number and security code, but it's better than it used to be.

Sorry I don't really have anything helpful on the actual issue though...

[Codicier]

Well no worries Lon Lon because I think it actually is my card... I tried just going direct with my CC info and that gave me the same issue. :mad: :confused:

I can't imagine why my card would be rejected. There are zero issues with it. No balance on it, payments always on time and in full. I've been using it for a while now and have used it through Paypal several times to buy from Steam.

Well this is aggravating.

Edit: And after trying it through the website rather than the Steam client proper it works fine. That is some terrible error messaging.

[KingGorilla]

Paypal does not play nice with my Debit Master card. Had a SNAFU buying an illustration earlier this year over it. I ordered 3 things from the Amazon Marketplace with it, 3 vendors, one went through and two were rejected. Credit Cards and Banks can just suck sometimes.

[Smoof]

If you are using a CC anyway, why not just buy directly through Steam? Why would you opt-in for using Pay-Pal? They are one of the worst services on the net in my experience.

Really? I love Paypal. I've been using them since 2001 and have never had an issue with the service, it's been utterly fantastic.

[Hotcod]

I ran in to a problem when i had one of my debit cards stolen. I had to cancel it and get a new one... It had a new security code but paypal wouldn't let me update that for some reason... and i can add the card as anew one or on another account beacuse it already thinks the numbers in use on my account. I don't have a credit card and so it's a pain in the ass with some things, like the childplay stuff...

thankfully steam also uses a thing called click and buy which has been a billion times better than paypal for me since i started using it.

[nixpayn]

i actually didnt know you could use paypal to buy off steam, which is good for me since i have no credit card :P

just tried it and it worked great! pre-loading now.

[TrackZero]

Paypal does not play nice with my Debit Master card. Had a SNAFU buying an illustration earlier this year over it. I ordered 3 things from the Amazon Marketplace with it, 3 vendors, one went through and two were rejected. Credit Cards and Banks can just suck sometimes.

What the....*re-reads, scratches head*. Well that'd be because your debit card isn't a credit card, it's a debit card. They're two completely different things.

[Hotcod]

What the....*re-reads, scratches head*. Well that'd be because your debit card isn't a credit card, it's a debit card. They're two completely different things.

the main point of paypal is so you can use debit cards... if you've got a credit card you can most likely pay directly with almost anything anyway.

[TrackZero]

the main point of paypal is so you can use debit cards... if you've got a credit card you can most likely pay directly with almost anything anyway.

It is? I remember when Paypal only took credit cards. The point of it is a single login to use and let them be the front man for purchases and do currency conversion, etc. They only take debit cards from Americans anyways.

[muddi900]

Steam credit card system sucks. They decline my card every time because I am not in the country it was issued. I understand that, but what really gets me is that they'll accept if I shoot them a complain. I'll recieve an email in 12 hours later. Every. Fucking. TIME!

[Hotcod]

It is? I remember when Paypal only took credit cards. The point of it is a single login to use and let them be the front man for purchases and do currency conversion, etc. They only take debit cards from Americans anyways.

odd given that i live in england and use it beacuse i don't have a credit card.

PayPal takes a cut of the transaction, there wasn't much reason for any one to use it when it was just using credit cards... that it used debit cards meant that it was a simple and easy way for sites to take debit cards from people around the world which IS worth the cut that paypal takes...

well that's as far as i'm aware... either way, the only reason i use it is beacuse i don't like having credit cards so i tend not to have one and paypal let me buy things from the US using my debit card.

[TrackZero]

odd given that i live in england and use it beacuse i don't have a credit card.

PayPal takes a cut of the transaction, there wasn't much reason for any one to use it when it was just using credit cards... that it used debit cards meant that it was a simple and easy way for sites to take debit cards from people around the world which IS worth the cut that paypal takes...

well that's as far as i'm aware... either way, the only reason i use it is beacuse i don't like having credit cards so i tend not to have one and paypal let me buy things from the US using my debit card.

I use it because it means I don't have to give a shady site my credit card info. Having done web support before for a number of years, I simply don't trust all the sites I purchase from to securely store my credit card info (in something other than plain-text e-mail or text files on their back end, ugh). I don't give a crap about the minor percentage that they take off my purchase.

[Hotcod]

I use it because it means I don't have to give a shady site my credit card info. Having done web support before for a number of years, I simply don't trust all the sites I purchase from to securely store my credit card info (in something other than plain-text e-mail or text files on their back end, ugh). I don't give a crap about the minor percentage that they take off my purchase.

fair enough and that is a valid use of it but from what i remember it only started to be really widely used and widely offered as an option but sites when it started letting debit cards be used.

*shrug*

i could be wrong and it doesn't really matter, we are just getting side tracked. You said that you can't use debits cards with it, you can. You said it only uses American debit cards, you where wrong.

So, in other words, not very helpful to the point of the topic

[squirrelTactics]

Many debit cards can be run exactly like credit cards, and in fact, my bank encourages doing exactly so. So really the difference isn't huge.

[LarsenNET]

Many debit cards can be run exactly like credit cards, and in fact, my bank encourages doing exactly so. So really the difference isn't huge.

Mine works just like that. If you put in a PIN it's debt if not it is credit and if you use it as credit the credit union gives a rebate. They must get a higher cut if it's a credit transaction.

[Widgetcraft]

Really? I love Paypal. I've been using them since 2001 and have never had an issue with the service, it's been utterly fantastic.

I pretty much put them on my shit-list once they bounced a check three times on my bank account. I had an account just for internet purchases and forgot to put the cash in for this three-month payment thing, and they bounced a check (since I was using my checking account; they get bitchy if you only give them a credit card number). After bouncing the check, they said to themselves "Hey, why not do that a couple more times?" You'd think they'd just cancel the service for non-payment, but I guess this is the better scam.

Pricks.