Credit card restrictions in Thailand

[Pib]

55Jay,

A few weeks ago I was thinking about ordering something from Lazada on a Monday when they supposedly give 10% off if paying with a Mastercard...and I also was going to use my Capital One Mastercard.

Now since their Mastercard ad was in Thai I just couldn't find any details in English, like was it only Mastercard cards issued by certain banks...like Thai banks maybe. When surfing to some other other English language websites like Lazada in Malaysia, Singapore, etc., I found some more details like it's only through 31 Dec 14 but even those websites indicated it was for "all" Mastercard cards. However, but, then I found one website (can't remember were I found it) and it indicated it was only for Mastercard cards issued by certain banks in that country and it listed the banks I think....but I just can't find the webpage now.

But while googling a little more while writing this post I stumbled upon this Mastercard Thailand which gives the details in English and in the details it does not say only Mastercard from certain banks...but it does close out with a catch all statement of "Other Terms and Conditions Apply" but it doesn't say what. See this webpage and snapshop below.

And it also has the statement of, "Cardholders in Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia are eligible for this offer" and I bet that means the card must be issued by a bank from one of these countries otherwise a person is sh&t out of luck.

[Pib]

Lazada responded quickly today, not long after I posted above ^^. From the same person, it said,

"Let me try finding out more details about this situation for you and I will get back to you as soon as I find out. Thank you for the inconvenience."

At least they are responsive. We'll see. Did get a chuckle out of the "Thank you for the inconvenience" part. LOL.

And their response may not have been a grammar error/typo...maybe they got a chuckle out of your order also...you crazy farang--discount only for Thai.

[55Jay]

Lazada responded quickly today, not long after I posted above ^^. From the same person, it said,

"Let me try finding out more details about this situation for you and I will get back to you as soon as I find out. Thank you for the inconvenience."

At least they are responsive. We'll see. Did get a chuckle out of the "Thank you for the inconvenience" part. LOL.

And their response may not have been a grammar error/typo...maybe they got a chuckle out of your order also...you crazy farang--discount only for Thai.

Yeah, that would be amusing.

Thanks for that post up above, nice find. Mrs. was buying it anyway, wasn't until filling out the payment screen, she mentioned something about a discount with MC, which we were using anyway. Would of been nice, sure, but now just trying to figure out why they completely rejected the CAP1 card.

Got the last encounter at Global turned around favorably. Will see if this Lazada rep is blowing me off or not before breaking out the big guns. LOL.

[Pib]

I just had a credit card issue with AliExpress (Allibaba) where I was ordering a $15 tablet battery. I first needed to establish a AliExpress account which was fast and easy, and then order the battery. Used my U.S. Capital One Mastercard to make the payment. Everything seemed to be OK, got an immediate notice from AliExpress saying my order had been accepted and the payment is now "Being Verified" which would take no longer than 24 hours. I logged onto my CapOne account and saw the charge had already hit. But this morning I get an email from AliExpress saying they were unable to process the payment due to security reasons...and the order is cancelled.

No call from Mastercard or anything and the transaction is still showing on my CapOne account as of a few minutes ago. Since my credit card has a U.S. address on file and I gave a "shipping" address of my Bangkok home and since my AliExpress account was brand new, my gut is telling me AliExpress feels it may be a fraudulent transaction...some crook in Thailand fraudulently using a U.S. person's credit card.

Anyway, as shown in below AliExpress email they tell a person how to validate their payment information which I have done, but I must wait 3 to 5 days for them to do the validation. Hopefully that will allow me to reorder without a problem and future orders won't run into the same brick wall also. We'll see.

**********************************

Thank you for shopping on AliExpress AliExpress !

Unfortunately AliExpress was unable to process your payment due to security reasons. As a result, this order has been cancelled and payment was not accepted. Please note that some banks may hold onto payments for up to 7-30 working days before releasing the funds back into your account. If you have any questions, please get in touch with your issuing bank.

To avoid order cancellations in the future, please submit a claim to validate your payment information. You can follow the following steps:

1. Sign in to AliExpress
2. Go to My Orders and locate this order
3. Click View Details
4. Click Want to Claim
5.Submit the following documents:
5.1 A clear picture copy of your personal ID, passport or driver’s license.
5.2 A clear picture copy of your card and bank statement (if you paid with a credit/debit card) or a copy of your recharge record (if you paid with your Alipay account).

Note: For security reasons, we advise you to conceal all but the last 4 digits of your card number. Please make sure that the card holder’s name, card issuing bank and the last four digits of the card number are clearly visible)

We will respond to your claim within 3-5 working days. Once your card/Alipay account information has been validated, you can place this order again.

Sincerely,
AliExpress.com
2014.12.04 21:31

This is an automated system email. Please do not reply to this email.

*****************************

[55Jay]

Well then, seems to be a fast growing problem here.

Must the the bloody Junta at the root of all this evil!

[Pib]

I doubt my Aliexpress issue is purely Thailand related. In my googling I see lots of people all over the world having this issue with Aliexpress. Expect it's just Aliexpress being very cautious in payments when shipping and residential addresses don't match and other factors. Then again maybe Thailand's reputation in having more than its fair share of fraudulent money transactions is indeed a factor in play.

I haven't heard back from Aliexpress yet...they did say it takes them 3 to 5 business days to respond on this type of issue. My googling also showed even after Aliexpress validated a payment people still had repeat problems in reordering/future orders.

[JDGRUEN]

I have same issue as OP, I can use my USA Master Card in the True shop, but not on line,

AIS I can top up with my mastercard at an AIS (Not telewiz) store, BUT I can't do the same online.

Annoying

I cannot pay my AIS payment on line either using MasterCard... it has never worked. I gave up.

[samtam]

No, I don't think so. They got the expiry date right for the previous payments, and they appear to just be sabotaging payments now by just excluding the expiry date altogether. Thai credit cards use the Western system of date AFAIK.

Did you ever get more info on your card rejection with True?

/////

Nothing more than that which I've written so far. I have now tried to set up my True Online bill using a Direct Debit on my Thai bank; will see whether it goes through at the billing date this month.

No response from either VISA or MasterCard about the problems I reported to them, but they said it would take a few weeks. I do encourage others to make the report about the restrictions we are facing.

Not sure how this will all work out with the advent of the AEC, but perhaps fellow members (of the AEC) don't have very large e-commerce for it to be a problem that they need (or care) to worry about.

Edited December 7, 2014 by samtam

[55Jay]

Lazada responded quickly today, not long after I posted above ^^. From the same person, it said,

"Let me try finding out more details about this situation for you and I will get back to you as soon as I find out. Thank you for the inconvenience."

At least they are responsive. We'll see. Did get a chuckle out of the "Thank you for the inconvenience" part. LOL.

And their response may not have been a grammar error/typo...maybe they got a chuckle out of your order also...you crazy farang--discount only for Thai.

Yeah, that would be amusing.

Thanks for that post up above, nice find. Mrs. was buying it anyway, wasn't until filling out the payment screen, she mentioned something about a discount with MC, which we were using anyway. Would of been nice, sure, but now just trying to figure out why they completely rejected the CAP1 card.

Got the last encounter at Global turned around favorably. Will see if this Lazada rep is blowing me off or not before breaking out the big guns. LOL.

Lazada finally got back to me today, said it was due to a promotion mix up of some sort, so that hunch was right on.

[Pib]

Yea, I expect the Mastercard needs to be issued from a bank in Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam or Malaysia to be eligible for the discount with Lazada.

And regarding my CapOne Mastercard and AliExpress issue talked a few posts up, it been 5 business days and I haven't got any response back back for AliExpress...they did say will respond in 3-5 business. Maybe they will respond at some point. Anyway charge never finalized and did drop off my CapOne Mastercard after a few days just like the AliExpress cancellation email said it would.

I did some more research and although I still not completely sure it appears to use a Visa/Mastercard card for payment with AliExpress that cards needs to be setup with the Mastercard Secure Code or Verified by Visa methods for "online orders" where after you enter you card number info it will then pop up and ask for your Mastercard Secure Code password or Verified by Visa password---basically, another layer of authentication/security to confirm you are really the card owner and not some bad guy just didn't get your card number info and is trying to do online orders.

More research shows most CapOne credit cards no longer use Mastercard Secure Code or Verified by Visa. Apparently those two authentication methods pushed by Visa/Mastercard have never caught on fully credit/debit card industry wide....a lot of banks offer these authentication methods but a lot don't also. Wouldn't surprise me that Visa/Mastercard charge the banks and possibly even the merchant a little to use the methods which has hindered wide spread use by banks and customers. Plus my additional googling about the authentication methods (AmEx has its method called SafeKey they use in some markets/countries) showed a lot of customers just don't want that additional step, another password to remember in doing online ordering so the customers never sign up for it. I know I had never signed up for any of the authentication methods until last night so I could do a AliExpress order test.

I noticed some of PenFeds card offer the Verified by Visa (and maybe Mastercard Secure Code) so I registered my PenFed Visa card with Verified by Visa (easy and quick process which is like a short identity confirmation and password creation process). Ok, my PenFed Visa card is not setup with Verified by Visa for those merchants who use it for online orders...and even though I just setup my Verified by Visa password it is suppose to be "immediate"...no need to wait a while before it takes effect.

I then logged back on to my AliExpress account and tried another battery order, hoping in this case while entering my Visa card payment info a window would pop up asking for my Verified by Visa password to confirm I'm really the card owner. Nope, no window popped up when placing the new order and once again my AliExpress account shows the payment is "Being Verified" and will take up to 24 hours to complete just like before. I gut tells me it will end the same as my previous order in being cancelled for security reasons. AliExpress sure is picky in accepting payment (or at least in my case they are)....seems they are going overboard on their security to prevent fraudulent payments...then again maybe they don't like American credit cards...or maybe in payment verification process if and when they see phyical address of the card does not match the shipping address they don't validate/disapprove the payment.

If this order is cancelled like the other one (my gut is telling me that is what going to happen), I'll just give up on AliExpress and continue to try to find my oddball sized tablet battery somewhere else...haven't found it on Ebay or anywhere else yet...got some that are a little smaller phyicially and milliamp hour wise but not exact match like I can easily find on AliExpress.

Oh well, at least now I'm now smarter on the additional layer of online card ordering available under the Verified by Visa and Mastercard Secure Code authentication methods....and if I ever use the one PenFed Visa card I registered with Verified by Visa for an online order and if the merchant uses that authentication method I will need to enter that Verified by Visa password...sure hope I can remember it.

Edit: just as FYI, to show what I mean by AliExpress Verifying a Papment, I logged onto my AliExpress account a few minutes ago, it showed the payment for my order from last night is still being verified (they a use a 24 hour count down type clock to show the process), and below is a snapshot of the order screen. As mentioned, I expect this attempted order to end in failure also.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Pib

[samtam]

Not sure how this will all work out with the advent of the AEC, but perhaps fellow members (of the AEC) don't have very large e-commerce for it to be a problem that they need (or care) to worry about.

Perhaps this is actually one (of many) of the issues facing the formation of the AEC, which is being acknowledged at least.

[laolover88]

Some murky areas here! Surprise?!

Of course numerous Thai businesses make a charge for using a Visa/Mastercard credit/debit card which contravenes the Card Issuers conditions. Generally not large companies.

My wife was shocked to be asked to enter her Halifax UK credit card PIN in Robinson. Not come across that, much! Even she was not sure if that was secure, but better than someone disappearing to a far distant cashier with the card, which is not allowed in our household. . Most store checkouts can't even be bothered to look at the name/signature on the cards

And as for prepaid Credit Cards which the kids have...work in ATMs but not acceptable in many places, particularly Car hire, unless as at Avis the other day all was well as the wife could also supply a Thai ID card in support!

[Pib]

Well, I "did" just get an email response from AliExpress in response to the verification docs I provided late last week regarding my Capital One Mastercard and my identity so my payment could pass AliExpress verification (which they had responded before I placed my 2nd order this morning trying another credit card...a Visa card):

Congratulations, your payment information has been verified.
We have successfully reviewed and verified the documents you provided. You can now continue to use this card/bank account to make payments on AliExpress.com.
If you would like to reorder your previously cancelled orders, please visit My AliExpress > My Orders.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
If you have any further questions, please visit our Help Center at http://help.aliexpress.com
Sincerely
AliExpress Order Verification Team

And as they state it says I can now reorder any cancelled orders using the card and use the card for future orders. However, but, from my earlier googling I saw posts from other folks who submitted their docs for verification, got the same response I just got, but when trying to reorder the order failed/was cancelled again. Frustrating I'm sure.

My 2nd attempted order from last night using a PenFed Visa credit card is still being verified by AliExpress but I expect the verification will fail just like the Mastercard did earlier since I bet AliExpress would need to verify/approve "every different card you may want to use" whenever the card doesn't pass immediate verification for whatever reason.

After the failure/cancelled order which should occur by 10pm tonight, then I will try reordering using my CapOne Mastercard since AliExpress said it's now good-to-go with them...I hope they are right but I'm not holding my breath since like I mentioned I saw quite a few other posts from folks saying their reorders with the same card supposedly blessed by AliExpress resulted in failed verification/cancelled order again. But maybe I'll get lucky and those other folks had other card problems they didn't talk about.

Will provide update on my results as I sure would like to be able to successfully order off of AliExpress using my credit card and because AliExpress does have a wide, wide variety of items for sale (hard to find items also) and at very good prices. If it doesn't work out, then at least I can say I gave it the "old college try."

[Pib]

As expected the 2nd order that was placed with the Visa card was cancelled because AliExpress said they couldn't verify the payment. So, since I got the notice from them a few hours ago that my Mastercard is now blessed for payment I reordered and used the Mastercard as payment. I was hoping for immediate verification since AliExpress told me they have now blessed use of the card, but no...it's doing the same verification thing as the previous two failed orders...said the verification could take up to 24 hours just like before. Maybe the verification will end with success this time but I'm not holding my breath based on posts by other folks who reordered after getting a card blessing from AliExpress but the payment continued to fail. Will know by this time tomorrow.

[Pib]

As expected the 2nd order that was placed with the Visa card was cancelled because AliExpress said they couldn't verify the payment. So, since I got the notice from them a few hours ago that my Mastercard is now blessed for payment I reordered and used the Mastercard as payment. I was hoping for immediate verification since AliExpress told me they have now blessed use of the card, but no...it's doing the same verification thing as the previous two failed orders...said the verification could take up to 24 hours just like before. Maybe the verification will end with success this time but I'm not holding my breath based on posts by other folks who reordered after getting a card blessing from AliExpress but the payment continued to fail. Will know by this time tomorrow.

Checked my CapOne online account and the transaction is already showing as a Pending Transaciton---just like before... that is, the transaction that AliExpress said failed for security reason but also hit my CapOne account immediately as a Pending Transaction. Below is what CapOne says about Pending Transactions which to me is saying it's now up to the merchant (AliExpress) to finalize the transaction. If they don't, the transaction falls off your card account. So, when AliExpress reviews the transaction even though it has initially been approved by the credit card company/bank (CapOne), it's still up to AliExpress (the merchant) if they decide to accomplish the final billing which will allow the transaction to finalize/post and the order to be finalized/done & dusted.

1. What is a pending transaction?

Pending transactions are processing but have not yet posted to your account. They can only be removed by the merchant and may remain on your account for up to five days.

Because your card information is sometimes provided to merchants (like restaurants, gas stations, hotels, car rental agencies, and airlines) before the final transaction amount is known, they may place a hold on your account for a certain amount to make sure the card is valid or has sufficient available credit. The hold will show as a pending transaction and the amount of the pending transaction may be different from the amount when it shows in your posted transactions.

For example, you may see a pending transaction of $5 from a gas station, and then the full amount that you spend will appear once the transaction posts. Similarly, you could see a pending transaction of $100 from a hotel though your final posted amount may be less.

Some merchants may issue multiple authorizations before the transaction posts. The actual amount you spent will appear when it posts to your account within five (5) business days.

Back to top

2. How long will it be before a pending transaction posts as final?

A pending transaction may post within one to five days.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Pib

[curtklay]

Pib: I can only assume your problem using a Cap One card on Ali Express is due to the billing and shipping address being different. I have used my Cap One Visa on Ali Express with no problem; instant acceptance with no verification process, but my addresses match. A friend had the same problem as you, but his billing address was US and the shipping address was Thailand. I've also seen that problem with Ebay. My Cap One card has Thailand as my residence, and a US address as secondary, since they won't mail renewal cards outside the US. It is my primary card in Thailand (due to no foreign transaction fee plus cash back) and has never been rejected.

True Visions is a different story. No matter what I do, I can't get any US credit card to work with them. I attempted to register with "Verified By Visa" and "Master Card Secure Code", but as you said, most cards aren't even participating in that anymore. All my US cards work in Thailand, whether it's in stores or online, even when I get that bank verification page asking for the card info again. It gets instant approval, with the exception of True. I think samtam is correct, that True is not accepting non-Thai cards, although they say nothing about it, and their online payment page still has a dropdown for foreign cards and banks. I have given up, and gone back to cash.

Hope you get your Ali Express issue sorted out. They are a good source for cheap Chinese gadgetry. I normally use PayPal for Ebay, and COD for Lazada, but Ali Express doesn't offer those options.

[55Jay]

Pib: I can only assume your problem using a Cap One card on Ali Express is due to the billing and shipping address being different. I have used my Cap One Visa on Ali Express with no problem; instant acceptance with no verification process, but my addresses match. A friend had the same problem as you, but his billing address was US and the shipping address was Thailand. I've also seen that problem with Ebay. My Cap One card has Thailand as my residence, and a US address as secondary, since they won't mail renewal cards outside the US. It is my primary card in Thailand (due to no foreign transaction fee plus cash back) and has never been rejected.

True Visions is a different story. No matter what I do, I can't get any US credit card to work with them. I attempted to register with "Verified By Visa" and "Master Card Secure Code", but as you said, most cards aren't even participating in that anymore. All my US cards work in Thailand, whether it's in stores or online, even when I get that bank verification page asking for the card info again. It gets instant approval, with the exception of True. I think samtam is correct, that True is not accepting non-Thai cards, although they say nothing about it, and their online payment page still has a dropdown for foreign cards and banks. I have given up, and gone back to cash.

Hope you get your Ali Express issue sorted out. They are a good source for cheap Chinese gadgetry. I normally use PayPal for Ebay, and COD for Lazada, but Ali Express doesn't offer those options.

Quick Sidebar ~ When did Cap1 accept your Thailand mailing address? I tried 2 years ago, just about lost both bank and credit accounts with them.

[Pib]

Pib: I can only assume your problem using a Cap One card on Ali Express is due to the billing and shipping address being different. I have used my Cap One Visa on Ali Express with no problem; instant acceptance with no verification process, but my addresses match. A friend had the same problem as you, but his billing address was US and the shipping address was Thailand. I've also seen that problem with Ebay. My Cap One card has Thailand as my residence, and a US address as secondary, since they won't mail renewal cards outside the US. It is my primary card in Thailand (due to no foreign transaction fee plus cash back) and has never been rejected.

True Visions is a different story. No matter what I do, I can't get any US credit card to work with them. I attempted to register with "Verified By Visa" and "Master Card Secure Code", but as you said, most cards aren't even participating in that anymore. All my US cards work in Thailand, whether it's in stores or online, even when I get that bank verification page asking for the card info again. It gets instant approval, with the exception of True. I think samtam is correct, that True is not accepting non-Thai cards, although they say nothing about it, and their online payment page still has a dropdown for foreign cards and banks. I have given up, and gone back to cash.

Hope you get your Ali Express issue sorted out. They are a good source for cheap Chinese gadgetry. I normally use PayPal for Ebay, and COD for Lazada, but Ali Express doesn't offer those options.

curtklay,

As you state above and as I mentioned in an earlier post my best guess also would be my particular problem with the AliExpress orders was the shipping address to my Bangkok home address was different than the registered/mailing address on my Mastercard and Visa cards which have my military APO address here in Bangkok. With my APO address and as a military retiree I can only have certain things shipped to my APO address as a retiree...like documentation/letters, medication, and a few other vary basic things and it needs to weigh less that 1 lb. So, I don't attempt shipment of not-allowed items to my APO address because I don't want to loose the address due to abuse...plus the APO would just reject the item...sent it back to the sender as a not authorized item.

Now I also use the cards for other buys like on Ebay through Paypal, other sites, and have never had a problem when specifying a shipping address different than the registered address on the PayPal account or on the cards. Well, I'll take that back there was one or twice in the hundred of Ebay buys I have done where I had some payment problems for an Ebay item I bought because the seller had set the item up only to ship to my PayPal registered address but I wanted it shipped to another address...in each of those cases I worked that out with the seller and the items got shipped to the shipping address I specified like my Bangkok home address or a friends address if I was sending a gift to him/her. These were couple of times were good examples of where the seller controlled where he would ship to like only the PayPal registered address versus a shipping address you specify after the buy/during payment.

Anyway, guess what? Since my two previous AliExpress orders got cancelled at about 18 to 20 hours into their up to 24 hour Payment Verification process, I noticed I had not got the notice at about the 20 hour point. I just logged onto my AliExpress account and apparently the Payment has been Verified (Succeeded) and the order has been forwarded to the seller for shipment. Right now the order is in the "Supplier is processing your order." See below snapshot of the status from my AliExpress account. Summary: Payment has been verified---sweet success finally...I have been allowed to order stuff through AliExpress.

So, apparently in my earlier post where the AliExpress Payment Verification Team said the docs I sent in to get my payment/card verified (blessed) by them for future orders has worked. Everyone of those documents had my APO address on them (no mention of my Bangkok home address anywhere on the docs) but the shipping address I'm using is to my Bangkok home...and this shipping address is the same one I have entered in my AliExpress account Looks like I'm now good-to-go with AliExpress as long as I continue to use my CapOne Mastercard which has been blessed by AliExpress.

Last night I also noticed something a little different in the order hitting my CapOne account...it appeared as a Pending Transaction just as before with the earlier canceled order but this time I got an email alert notice of an international transaction since I have my CapOne cards setup to email me of any transactions. I did "not" get such a notice on the first order (the order that was cancelled) although it did appear as Pending Transaction just like the current successful order which is still in Pending Transaction status...it should move to Posted status in a few business days based on what I see with all my other transactions. When I got that email alert last night I thought to myself maybe, just maybe, the order will fly...and it has since the payment was apparently verified and has moved to supplier shipping status.

In closing, I hope no one got bored with my long winded updates with me trying to get AliExpress to accept my U.S. CapOne Mastercard and PenFed Visa credit cards for payment (which get used all the time here in Thailand...I mean all the time), but hopefully the OP's story, my story, curtklay's story and others with credit and debit cards that get rejected for online payment will have a little better insight on what can go wrong, possible fixes, headaches, etc., associated with trying to use cards for some purchases/payments....especially online payments. A lot can also depend on what the "seller" will accept and what flags he has set in his payment system to reject certain cards and the problem may not necessary related in any way to Visa, Mastercard, or your card-issuing bank....it's may be purely something the seller/merchant has control over in whether to accept your payment method or not even after Visa/Mastercard/your bank has blessed the payment but then the merchant says No, on second thought, I won't accept the payment.

[curtklay]

55Jay: Cap 1 has had my Thai address for 5 years. It is my residence address; not my mailing address. I recieve and pay my statements online. Whenever my card comes up for renewal, I call them and ask if they will send the new card to my Thai address. The answer is always "no", but they are more than happy to send it to a friend's US address who will forward it on to me. They have no problem with my using the card in Thailand, but they are the only ones who won't send renewal cards directly to my Thai address.

Pib: Congratulations on your success with Ali Express! And welcome to the world of Chinese crap...just kidding, I actually like Ali Express.

BTW, I have noticed that Cap 1 has been a little inconsistent with their international transaction emails lately. Sometimes they don't arrive, but I can go into my account online and there they are under "pending".

Edited December 13, 2014 by curtklay

[55Jay]

55Jay: Cap 1 has had my Thai address for 5 years. It is my residence address; not my mailing address. I recieve and pay my statements online. Whenever my card comes up for renewal, I call them and ask if they will send the new card to my Thai address. The answer is always "no", but they are more than happy to send it to a friend's US address who will forward it on to me. They have no problem with my using the card in Thailand, but they are the only ones who won't send renewal cards directly to my Thai address.

Pib: Congratulations on your success with Ali Express! And welcome to the world of Chinese crap...just kidding, I actually like Ali Express.

BTW, I have noticed that Cap 1 has been a little inconsistent with their international transaction emails lately. Sometimes they don't arrive, but I can go into my account online and there they are under "pending".

Wow, that's fantastic. I'm "in the closet" with CAP1 and Schwab, although all my xactions are in Thailand. Aggravating. Anyway, thanks for the response.///

[Pib]

55Jay: Cap 1 has had my Thai address for 5 years. It is my residence address; not my mailing address. I recieve and pay my statements online. Whenever my card comes up for renewal, I call them and ask if they will send the new card to my Thai address. The answer is always "no", but they are more than happy to send it to a friend's US address who will forward it on to me. They have no problem with my using the card in Thailand, but they are the only ones who won't send renewal cards directly to my Thai address.

Pib: Congratulations on your success with Ali Express! And welcome to the world of Chinese crap...just kidding, I actually like Ali Express.

BTW, I have noticed that Cap 1 has been a little inconsistent with their international transaction emails lately. Sometimes they don't arrive, but I can go into my account online and there they are under "pending".

I would have to say that I get a transaction email at least 99% of the time....and it may be higher just because I may delete the email before thinking about it/reading it especially if it comes rolling in a few seconds after the transactions. Sometimes I get them why still signing the receipt, but usually they roll in within 5 minutes. For the first transaction that AliExpress cancelled and I mentioned I didn't get an email from CapOne, I spent a good 10 minutes looking through my email inbox, spam box, and deleted box to see if maybe it had arrived...but I didn't find it. In credit card transaction there are a "series" of communications back and forth between the merchant and the card-issuing bank...that's why it usually takes days for a transaction to post because your card-issuing bank is waiting for the merchant to complete necessary actions to finalize the charge instead of just "pinging" CapOne so to speak to confirm your card is good.. Maybe AliExpress (the merchant in this case) followed completely through with the transaction with a additional confirmations with CapOne like in a normal transaction...as in AliExpress wants to get the money now instead of just seeing if the charge is initially approved, seeing what address info comes back, etc. Who really knows.

[Pib]

I expect AliExpress did the "Authorization" process as shown in below Visa credit/debit transaction flow (expect other card network flows like Mastercard is basically the same)....AliExpress didn't like what they saw possibly in mismatch in registered and shipping addresses during the Authorization process...canceled the order...tell me "so sorry" your order has been canceled due to security concerns....and then they didn't follow through with the Clearing & Settlement process that also allows the Pending Transaction to fall off your card account.

But once blessing my card based on the docs I sent AliExpress to prove I'm really the card owner regardless of address, they then coded their system with identity confirmation info which would explain the address mismatch on future orders allowing those future orders to be approved...not instantly but after some AliExpress Payment Verification Team Member did a quick review of authorizations that get flagged with address mismatches. Then the "Clearing & Settlement" process would begin. Of course, I'm really just guessing here.

Slows the order down by almost a day, but since it will usually take weeks to maybe 2 months to get some orders from China using low cost/free shipping that one additional day is no biggie for me. With my Ebay orders from mainland China/Hong Kong suppliers the arrival time to my Bangkok address is usually around 3 weeks...I've got a few in around 10 days...actually got one in 6 days (I was shocked) and a few up around 45 days...but around 3 weeks is probably the average.