Payment problems with amazon in a diff country?

[crimsonandclover]

So my parents got brave this year and set up an amazon.de account to order us stuff directly from there. My mom did it using google translate for the pages, so obviously not everything was easily understood, but she managed to order 2 things for us. For some reason she put in her work address as her billing address, but then when she used her credit card, it was refused because the ZIP code on the credit card's billing address (our home address) didn't match the one she gave on amazon (her work address). Fine, so I thought the problem was solved, changed her billing address on amazon to our home one, and reordered everything for them.

Yesterday I went in to her account to see why the things hadn't arrived yet and saw that there was a payment problem again. One of my payment methods on my amazon.de account is my US credit card, so I can't imagine that the problem is that she's using a US credit card. Does anyone have any ideas as to what might be going wrong?

I then entered my US credit card info into her account and reordered the things. One seems to have gone through, the other not. WTH?

[VillainV]

I would guess her credit card company is blocking it. FWIW, when I log into our amazon.co.uk account it pulls all of the settings from amazon.com (including payment cards) so there was nothing to "set up." We just started shopping, and were able to charge .co.uk stuff to our normal USA credit cards, and have stuff shipped to our house in the UK. I think I probably had to re-enter the CC security codes (3-digit number on the back) just like you do any time you add a new shipping address.

[crimsonandclover]

Yeah, the cc company already contacted my dad about potential fraud, though, so I would think that would be cleared up. I'll have him call them and make sure the problem's not on their end.

[Shreddingbetty]

Maybe have them set up a US account? I logged into amazon.fr by using my US info and it defaulted everything into amazon.fr including the CC info. I just had to re-enter the CC number and security code because I shipped stuff to my aunt's house. I ordered about €150 worth of stuff and it wasn't a problem.

[crimsonandclover]

They have a US account (each of them has one, actually). Maybe it really is a problem with the cc company.

[clogged]

I just used .co.uk, .com, and .de all this month on a Dutch card. Same with me- all my Amazon stuff is there so whatever dot extension I use my card works. My guess is the original mess of of address flagged their card and the credit card company blocked it as a precaution.

[crimsonandclover]

Yep, my dad just got a fraud call from VISA and they said that they had been denying the charges. Problem found and solved :-)

[VillainV]

I'm glad they figured that out! My sister had an issue with this a few years ago, using an American CC with Amazon.com, so it's not just an international problem! I think he issue was that she was actually trying to buy a (rather expensive) camera from a third-party retailer THROUGH Amazon, and it was something about the third-party seller (location or description or whatever) that tripped the fraud alert on her CC.

With your parents, maybe it was because it looked like someone in NL was trying to charge his CC when the CC company knew he was in the US because of other charges. That could easily trip a fraud alert.

[Cheesecake]

CC companies are really quick blocking cards nowadays when they get used internationally and there is anything unusual going on.
I know my Dutch card got blocked after buying a pre paid cell phone at a Manhattan Radio shack, because apparently small charges (and especially things like phones and such that are easy to re-sell) at stores like Radio shack are just the thing people like to do with skimmed credit cards.

From what I know with using both US and NL cards internationally is that if you just always use the address that the card is registered at as the billing address, all will be fine. (In other words, just alter shipping addresses, not billing addresses).

[stever]

IDK. I used my US credit card to order stuff from Amazon.co.uk when I lived in London and we still use it to order stuff from that account for people in the UK.

[anna7602]

I agree that it's likely an issue with your parents' cc company. I order stuff from different amazon sites using my US cc and never have a problem. One of my cousins sent me gifts through amazon.fr this year using her US cc and it arrived okay.

The only thing that has been a problem is e-books for the kindle. We can only set up one account with that, but if someone has figured out a way to link international amazon accounts, I am all ears!