Guild Wars 2

Alot of people seem to have this issue. I started playing on August 25 as part of head start. I have not been able to purchase gems successfully with credit card or via paypal in 9 days. I keep getting “Approval Failed” when I used a credit card. I contacted my credit card company and they said they are not seeing charge requests come through. I am assuming the problem is on the ArenaNet end. I submitted a ticket 6 days ago (120904-009313 and 120831-002971- sorry about the multiple tickets!) and have not heard anything on this. One person on the guildwars2guru forums said they were told their account had a purchase restriction on their account but was never told why. The purchase restriction was lifted and they were able to purchase gems.

In any event, I want to purchase gems with my credit card and it has been incredibly frustrating not being able to do so. Please help!

I put in a ticket about this issue 2 days ago as well.

[Incident: 120903-002260]

Support Ticket Number: 120901-003732

Hey guys -

I created a ticket in the system for this as well, but that was back on the first. Still no response whatsoever. I bought the Digital Deluxe edition upgrade on the in-game store and am still waiting for the items to be delivered to my inbox. Nothing there yet.

I would really appreciate a response on this ticket…at a minimum to let me know that it has at least been seen.

Thanks for the help!

As per the title, I bought a Dye Pack, 200 Gems got deducted from my balance,
however I did not receive any Dye Pack and my tickets have gone unanswered over the past 48 hours.

This is putting me off from buying anymore stuff from the Gem Store atm.

Hope someone gets back to me.

Regards.

Alot of people have put in tickets on this yet I have not even seen it acknowledged as an issue by ArenaNet yet.

The same thing happened to me with the Dye Pack and a Black Lion Salvage Kit. The gems were deducted, the items show up in my recent purchases list, but I received nothing.

I made a ticket on the 29th of last month and only just got a response today about it. Hopefully it gets corrected soon and I don’t have to wait another 6+ days to hear back…

At least yours shows up in the “Recent Purchases” list. Mine doesnt, thats what worries me even more, my only chance of getting the dye pack or 200 gem back is “if” the transaction is logged on their end.

Seriously losing faith in the Gem Store.

Only way I can prove it on my end is to add/minus the balance.

I actually just solved my problem. I saw someone else on the forums had an issue with their mailbox, and how it was not delivering mail properly and the inbox was stuck at 9/10. I deleted a whole bunch of emails, and lo and behold my deliveries came in immediately.

So there is still the rather serious problem with the mailbox, but try cleaning it out a little and see if the pack gets delivered.

check that your mail is not full, that happened to me once.

Lots of people on FB, guildwars2guru forums, and twitter have this issue. I hope they fix it soon! We are trying to give you our money!

I am having the same problem. And what kind of game that deals in real money markets would not have some way to buy gems on the website?

I’m having the same problem. It’s declined my credit card every time I try to buy something. The information I’m putting in is the same I’ve used for years for every other online store, and it’s been processed without issue by them.

I’ve had to use PayPal both times I’ve bought $20 in gems.

I’d think ArenaNet would want this fixed ASAP, since PayPal is taking a percentage of their money.

I have Wells Card, Cap 1, and Paypal. Only my Cap 1 card works for making payment. Paypal takes me to login page, I login, then I hit continue and it redirects me back to GW2 website – where it then fails. My Wells card simply fails. Wells says no charge even hits my account or pending or queries.

I should probably note that I was attempting to use a Mastercard. I’ve seen processing systems in the past refuse Mastercards while having no problems with Visa (e.g., a friend of mine who owns a business had that exact problem with a POS terminal).

I bought a primeval gear set to put on my heavy armor. However, when I double click the primeval pieces like instructed nothing happens. I am uncertain as to why.

I’ve tried a Mastercard, two different Visas, an Amex and PayPal and NONE of them work. ArenaNet should either fix it if its an easy fix or set up a website where we can purchase codes to redeem in game.

I had (have the same issue) – basically, I attempted to use a BoA credit card to buy some gems. BoA flagged the card as possible fraud. I called BoA and got that cleared up (they denied the charge). I still was unable to purchase gems (i.e., give Anet money). I opened a support ticket, they said they could give me a 24-hour lift on my fraud suspension. I was then able to purchase gems (I uses a different credit card), it has been 24 hours later and I can no longer purchase gems.

I am not sure what the problem is – The latest response was they are only able to lift the fraud suspension for 24 hours and then I have to contact my credit card company (which I already did). I am completely flabbergasted at this. I am currently awaiting a response.

Its infuriating. Whats worse is no one from ArenaNet seems to be acknowledging this is an issue. I’ve tried multiple cards and haven’t been able to purchase gems yet. There are lots of people with this problem. This is costing them ALOT of money. Can we at least get some sort of official acknowledgement that ArenaNet is reading this, aware of the issue and working to address it??

I am one of the people who have been unable to buy gems with my credit card – from what support has told me NCSoft restricts the number of Master Accounts you can use your credit card with. If you are like me and created multiple Master Accounts for various games to avoid having all of you games hacked at the one time – then you have probably gone above the limit.

Also – brilliantly – your purchase of GW2 created a new Master Account for you, so if you think you only had one or two well you don’t. That’s what caught me out – I would have been under the specified limit (4 max, 5 apparently puts you over and gets you blocked) if GW2 had not created the additional account.

It is (according to the email support sent me) an anti-fraud measure which they will not remove. I was told by support to get a new credit card.

Now apparently there is a second limit which I also got caught on – so my credit card doesn’t work let’s try gift debit cards, they don’t need to be tied to my bank account and I can buy exactly the amount I need – but you can only have a limited number of payment methods associated with your account. So if you have used multiple credit cards, debit cards, or pay pal accounts you will also be blocked.

Welcome to the small but frustrated group of those who cannot buy gems :p

That is beyond absurd if that is true. I only have one account associated with my card so I don’t think that is my issue.

Can we get someone from ArenaNet or NCSoft to please comment here? Seems like the only people they are paying attention to are those who were careless enough to get their accounts hacked or exploit an obvious in-game issue. The rest of us who are sensible enough to avoid such situations but still have issues through no fault of our own are ignored.

I have been able to purchase gems at least one time, and every other time I have tried, it does not approve the card. My husband and I both are using the same card to buy gems, and he has had at least two transactions go through while mine do not. I have submitted a ticket with no response on this issue. I would like to continue to buy gems on my account because I enjoy the items in the store. Please fix this issue soon so people may purchase the gems. Thank you.

Same issue here Elle. My wife has used her Amex and been able to make some purchases though others were inexplicably refused. However, I have not been able to make any purchases and keeping getting “Approval Failed” every single time. I’ve been trying since August 25th and no luck!

I’m having the same problem. I’ve been whining to them on twitter and I’ve sent in a ticket but have received NO response on this matter. Luckily, it seems to fluctuate. I can usually buy gems once every two days or so, then it locks up again with the “Card approval failed”.

I’ve tried paypal and three different credit cards. Maybe that’s what my problem was? Too many different purchase methods caused my account to be flagged?

But I’ve paid them every time I’ve bought gems, I wish they could unflag my account! I’m tempted to get a new account and credit card just to buy gems!

Sangrivane – I can copy and paste the full chain of emails between myself and support confirming what I have said, although they are long and I might have to sensor my more sarcastic moments (nothing rude but I do get sarcastic when frustrated).

The sad part is I’ve usually had a really good relationship with NCSoft support, but the third ticket I’ve submitted – which was for a sound bug – got me an email sent back saying “your problem has be elevated to a senior customer support representative please do not create multiple tickets on the same issue” yes for a sound bug.

I’d like to take the view that it’s just because they are flooded with hacks and exploits but it can be hard when you have $150 worth of debit gift cards sitting on your desk for character slots so you can have all your GW1 characters back.

LadyLozza, so if you get a new card that would fix your problem? Or is your account tainted now so even if you get a new card that won’t fix your issue?

I’ve tried using my boyfriend’s credit card and it won’t take that either – so my account is effectively locked for all purchases. I can’t even buy NCoin for Lineage 2 or Aion right now – though Support seems to think I should be able to as my credit card has been associated with those two games for years.

My light at the end of the tunnel has been the hope that Anet implement the gift functionality of the gem store I saw during beta (this credit card issue was identified in beta before launch, I tested the gift card idea in the last stress test where it worked). My sister would be happy to gift me some character slots, and I can just give her the gift cards I bought.

Well all I know is we want to give them our money, microtransactions are an important part of their business model, and (1) there’s an issue preventing us from giving them our money and (2) no one seems to care because they aren’t offering solutions – or even posting in this thread to acknowledge there is an issue!

look on the bright side, at least you didnt buy gems, get charged the money and recieve no gems for it, plus not get answered / responded too in well over 5 days >=(

If this is the case – that makes no sense.. why isn’t there a FAQ on this or anything?

I don’t think I fall into the master account scenario because I have tried purchasing gems with 4 different credit cards and paypal. Only once the block was removed for 24 hours could I buy gems. Once 24 hours had passed, I am blocked again.

Gaile, Thank you for responding! Here’s my ticket number: 120904-009313 . I can’t remember if I submitted multiple tickets or not. That is the only number I have.

yes please i have the same issue. ticket number 120902-015042

Ditto, ticket number 120831-021474.

Same issue here —
I was able to buy gems with paypal the first night of launch, and since then have gotten payment denied on a Capital One Mastercard, Chase Visa, Bank of America Visa/debit card, and Discover card -- and PayPal no longer works.

Ticket #120828-001585 — just received a response that my ticket has been escalated, hope there’s a good answer.

Opened ticket 120825-023780 on 8/25 as I never received an email containing my gem purchase of Black Lion keys. I have received the free hat. The ticket was updated on 8/27 by Anet with no useful information. I responded back on 8/27. It was again updated by Anet on 8/30 with no useful information, to which I responded again on 9/1. It’s been 11 days with no resolution for an actual cash transaction.

Sorry I did have another number. 120831-002971

I guess I did submit multiple tickets. Sorry!

Same here. #120905-001054

I have the same issue with credit card and also with pay pal – I emailed support a couple days ago. My reference # 120902-009663— this is happening with my whole family with different cards and accounts. :0[ please help thanks!

To be honest I would greatly prefer my credit card working. As I told Support in the original emails after the issue was identified in Beta 3, changing my credit card is unfeasible, it’s my payment card which is associated with many, many more bills and payments than just my NCSoft games. Changing it would be a hassle, and to be frank hardly something I’d do just for a game.

To give you an idea of the hassle I have to go through to get a gift debit card – ones that will work with international stores aren’t available just anywhere so I have to find a place that has them, I have to buy it, there is a minimum of a 24hr wait after purchase to ensure activation – trying to use it before then might end up in the funds being wiped making the card useless, and then I have to enter all the details of the card differently every time I use a new one. The gift cards were a stop gap measure for character slots only. I’d never have used them for the average micro transaction.

The funny part about it is that I am a big buyer of micro transactions. But only when it’s a click to buy and forget. Amazon, iTunes, other one click type stores make a fortune out of people like me. I have the funds, and it’s super easy to buy. NCSoft’s anti-fraud measures are… archaic to say the least. They are based on an era when debit cards couldn’t be used online, even when stuff like Paypal didn’t exist. The original GW ingame store didn’t originally offer Paypal as an option for purchase – I suspect NCSoft’s billing system couldn’t handle it initially. It was a time when selling accounts to other players was hugely attractive because it took so very, very long to level a L2 character to maximum level. And anyone who played L2 back in the first chapters knows how often the account lists at NCSoft were hacked – hence why players like myself would never put all our games in the one basket.

Times though have changed, and they have not kept up with it. The average age of gamers where I live is 30+ (like me), with their own incomes. Credit card companies employ hundreds even thousands of staff focused on anti-fraud measures, and even game companies have better ways to track these things than the flags NCSoft have chosen to use.

I want to be charitable because NCSoft and Anet have given me many hours of relaxation after work. They have fixed issues in the past with little fuss, and amazingly quickly. (I could tell you all about how long Trion Worlds’ Support takes to fix things :p ) We all know that no one expected there to be wide scale account hacking before the game even launched, or that players would be so attracted to an accidental exploit within hours after the game goes live. Yet many of us just want our GW1 characters back and no one is even sure if Anet has removed the reservations yet. It’s a huge pain to wait with no feedback other than “get a new card” or unrealistic expectations which no business would normally think about feeding to their clients.

At the end of the day though Anet and NCSoft know that everyday we wait for a solution brings us one step closer to not spending our money with them now – or even ever again. I’m certain a solution will be presented, whether it’s in time to save our business is something we determine. In short there is only so much whinging we can do before giving up seems a much better option.

EDIT: Ninja’ed by an Anet response – serves me right for long winded posts. Oh and original ticket number is 120809-002854 involving my credit card. Let me know if you want the one for the gift debit card which stopped working.

Gaile is asking for ticket numbers in the following thread:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/account/Gem-Store-Questions-Issues-merged/first#post5461

I want you guys to take my money again Anet, halp me :’c . 120905-000681

I recently purchased Primeval Armor skin for 500 gems. They already deducted my gems but I’ve yet to receive the item. Later the same day I purchased some transmutation stones and got them right away. The Primeval Armor is not even on my purchase history while the amount is already deducted. Help, anyone?

I also have this problem sent in a ticket the number is :120904-005917

120809-002854
This is the incident involving my credit card and dates back to Beta 3.
I successfully made purchases by gift debit card too before payment methods appeared to be blocked completely.

Made my ticket six days ago, got a response a few hours ago with no new update/reply…

Both my PayPal and Credit Card are having issues.

Incident Number: 120829-011103

Made a seperate post earlier. Removed said post and moved it here

Hello.

Roughly 3-4 days ago, I bought 1600 gems via credit card and decided to buy dye packs from the gem store.

When I bought the 1600 gems I still had some left over from my previous purchase, for a grand total of 1725. I bought 3 dye packs and opened them. I used the ones that i could, putting the rest(duplicates) in my bank. I then repeated this on another 3 dye packs. With 525 gems left, i decided to buy 2 more dye packs. The game lagged and it took a minute, but I finally got a mail. However, in my mail was only ONE dye pack…

I have 125 gems left, and still my second dye pack has not arrived. Just wondering what can be done about this.

I created a ticket half an hour after the incident, and the ticket number is:

120901-004056

Thank you for your time.