Can't purchase on ebay. Card "not confirmed"?

[Lisergiko]

I've been buying things on ebay for over 5 years now, and I've always used a Maestro debit card connected to my Paypal account. My last purchase was on the 30th of August, but I can't buy anymore now. ebay prompts this error, which usually appears when there's no money on my card. I checked three times and I have over $15 on my card, hence I should be able to make this $2.5 purchase.

The Mastercard you see in the picture is completely empty, so I can't use that.

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After clicking Continue towards Paypal, the American site comes up and prompts me to register another card. This has happened to me before; I'd usually open the Italian Paypal in a new tab, log in and I could complete the purchase by refreshing and confirming in the ebay tab.

But since yesterday, I can't do this anymore. I suppose this bug has happened to me since Maestro cards only exist in Europe. But using the Italian site doesn't work anymore, it instantly redirects me to "paypal.com". When I check the Wallet page, my Maestro card (under Payment methods) has a yellow exclamation mark. It requires me to enter this "code" I should receive in my bank invoice. Problem is, we don't get bank invoices here, not for rechargeable debit cards at least. I only get text messages after every purchase, but there's no such code in these SMS...

I've messaged Paypal but haven't received a response yet. Repeating: I could always bypass this issue by logging in the Italian site (where I originally registered), but Paypal instantly redirects to the American site and I'm unable to make purchases.

What has changed since 6 days ago? I completed a small purchase on the 30th of August, without any issues...

Please help?

[Owen-19]

So I think you need to go on to the card and press confirm it will send it to your bank statement then you need to view the 4 digit code on the bank statement and then you just enter that code

[Lisergiko]

I guess you didn't read beyond the few first sentences. We don't get bank statements/invoices here, not for debit cards at least. I get an SMS for every purchase I make, and there's no code in them. Even if I could get my hands on a bank statement, Paypal has never charged me that 1.50Euros it claims to do...if they did, I'd get a text message instantly. So...do you have any idea what is happening? Something has definitely changed, also considering there is not Paypal.it anymore and I just get redirected to the American/International website...

[PayPal_paula]

Hi Lisergiko,

As @Owen-19 advises it sounds like you need to confirm your card. You can use your card for some transaction before we will request verification. Once this is requested you will need to complete this step. Once you initiate the confirmation a code will be sent to your card statement along with a charge. When you receive the code you will need to enter this in on your PayPal account. 

I hope this helps, 

Paula 

[Lisergiko]

• Please, read what I have written...
• I already tried confirming my card, but Paypal has never charged me the 1.5Euro it claims to have charged. How can I confirm the card if Paypal does not charge the amount with the 4-digit code I need to get the card confirmed? I went to the bank and they apparently can get me the code if Paypal actually charges the amount, but there is no charge made by Paypal on my debit card. I have tried this multiple times during the years, but Paypal NEVER charged me the amount, and I have kept purchasing without problems on ebay for the last 5 YEARS. Now that Paypal demands I confirm the card if I want to keep using it, doesn't actually help me confirm it.
• Who can I write to to get help with this? Can you contact any technician at Paypal and tell them to charge my card so I can confirm it?
• Let me repeat this again: Paypal is not charging the amount needed to complete my confirmation, and it has never done it in the past 5 YEARS. Nonetheless, I have kept buying normally...but something must have changed the last 10 days...

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi @Lisergiko,

I'm sorry to hear that the charge for confirming the card has not been received on your card. If the card issuer has refused the charge or there is no online banking to check for the code, the card cannot be confirmed on the PayPal system.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

Olivia

[Lisergiko]

EDIT: You should still read the reply I wrote below, but after visiting the "Wallet"

 page on Paypal, my card does not show anymore as unconfirmed; the yellow exclamation mark is gone, and there is no link "Confirm card" or other hint to some code or confirmation. But I still can't make purchases...Will it take some time for the system to recognize my card as confirmed?

@PayPal_Olivia  I just got a call from the bank. They gave me a 4-digit code that appeared next to a Paypal charge of 1.5Euros, unfortunately, Paypal says that the code does not match. I don't think Paypal made a subsequent charge and sent a new code since it declined my request, but it's possible I guess. But the charge does not yet show on the bank's database, which it should (the girl that called said the these codes appear instantly on their system). Whatever, I'll wait 1 or 2 other days and see what has changed.

Meanwhile, something I ordered almost 2 months ago hasn't yet arrived and seller won't respond to the multiple messages I have sent him. I'd like to start a refund request with ebay or Paypal, but considering this card confirmation issue, I'm scared the refund might not work and the money won't transfer to my card. Can you confirm this? Can I receive refunds even if I can't make purchases (because of this confirmation issue)?

I remember I never received a refund of $14 about 2 years ago. I had some other issue where the bank could not figure out the problem and blamed Paypal, while Paypal kept prompting me messages that blamed the bank for declining my card or payment. That money is gone, but I don't want to risk losing my money again. But if I don't start the refund process immediately, I risk having issues ever getting the refund because the time window between "Estimated arrival date" and the final time when I can start the refund process is so short. I have lost a couple of bucks with small items I forgot to ask a refund for...I couldn't even leave feedback, and by that time, the sellers would just ignore me 😕

Anyway, hope you respond...

Thanks.

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi @Lisergiko,

If a dispute is opened and found in your favor, the refund will go back to the payment method that was used, regardless of whether or not it is confirmed. I'm sorry to hear about the other event with a missing refund. If that were a more recent situation, a trace would be able to be instituted for the missing funds to determine what happened to them.

Olivia

[Lisergiko]

Thanks for the response. I talked to the bank again today, and they say that the "address" has been hacked. The woman I talked with doesn't really know what that means, and couldn't explain the meaning of the word "address". She thought Paypal or ebay were hacked, but I assured her that they haven't been, and even if they were, this issue would happen to millions of people and create a huge mess for such big corporations. She then assumed the seller could have been hacked, but this doesn't make sense either and I've tried buying from 3 different vendors these days, so that's not it.

After she spoke to someone, she came back at me and said: Our technicians have witnessed some sort of dubious behaviour (someone logging in from abroad, or someone trying to spend my money) and have blocked the card momentarily. This actually makes a lot of sense, but why didn't they notify me about such occurrences...Plus, Paypal would be the first to notify me about unusual log ins and other issues...

I don't know what's happening but what I'm sure of is that my bank sucks, their security systems, call center employees, coordination and what not. It's all a big mess and the same happened in the past when my refund disappeared; Paypal had confirmed that the refund had been credited, but the bank must have confused accounts and cards and everything else. I guess I'm a bit scared to ask for a refund now, if the bank has really blocked the card, I better not try anything else. I'll try to sort this out tomorrow and hope for the best.

Thank you for your support. You deserved the kudos, but I'll have to fix the issue before accepting the case as closed. I'll write back after knowing more about what really happened. 🙂

[Lisergiko]

Hello @PayPal_Olivia.
My bank finally decided what the reason for my debit card getting blocked was: It was hacked.
I applied for another card, and after a week of waiting, I just received it. I'm trying to link it to my paypal account but it doesn't work.  It says that my card was declined. I activated the card by putting it into an ATM like the bank instructed so I don't really understand why it's getting declined.
Meanwhile, I can't even "Continue" to Paypal on the ebay Checkout page. The small secure window that should appear, appears, starts loading and then disappears. While the main checkout page just gets reloaded. Weird...

I wanted to send a message to Paypal customer support but it prompts me to verify my account even if I'm logged in. Well, okay...but my phone number appears backwards and I can't receive the security code (e.g. If it's 069*****77, it appears as 77*****069). And there's no other way to verify the account at this moment. So I guess I'm stuck in a limbo...

Do you know what is happening? Maybe my card was never hacked and Paypal just messed up my phone number (rendering my account invalid and prompting the bank to believe my card was being used by someone else...)