Unable to purchase gems [Merged]

Blackbird V.9816 · March 26, 2021

Same issue. Had the issue 2 weeks ago and it got fixed within 30ish hours. Tried again today since I got paid and............ same issue again. Does this happen consistently to some people? If so, I don't really know if I can be bothered with the hassle in the future.

Mausumaus.5894 · March 26, 2021

@"Blackbird V.9816" said:Same issue. Had the issue 2 weeks ago and it got fixed within 30ish hours. Tried again today since I got paid and............ same issue again. Does this happen consistently to some people? If so, I don't really know if I can be bothered with the hassle in the future.

I hope not! I'm about a week into trying to get my issue resolved with no success. I was even sent a response claiming that adjustments were made so I should be able to make purchases but I still get the same "unexpected error" message. If I'm looking at having to go through this routine that often when there are other companies that seem to have made this process hassle-free, then I'm simply going to have to reconsider which company gets my financial support.

Blackbird V.9816 · March 26, 2021

@Mausumaus.5894 said:
@"Blackbird V.9816" said:Same issue. Had the issue 2 weeks ago and it got fixed within 30ish hours. Tried again today since I got paid and............ same issue again. Does this happen consistently to some people? If so, I don't really know if I can be bothered with the hassle in the future.

I hope not! I'm about a week into trying to get my issue resolved with no success. I was even sent a response claiming that adjustments were made so I

should

be able to make purchases but I still get the same "unexpected error" message. If I'm looking at having to go through this routine that often when there are other companies that seem to have made this process hassle-free, then I'm simply going to have to reconsider which company gets my financial support.

If it really is security, then why not add an option where you can use your authenticator to bypass this and buy gems, hell even email AND SMS authenticator codes. I'd do that, over missing out on stuff.

I hope it gets resolved for me before the 30th (last time it took 30 hours or so). I need that Silver-fed and runecrafters salvage o matic >.>

I hope it gets resolved for you quickly. Maybe also contact your bank too? If that helps at all. I don't really know the workings of how AN charge.

Inculpatus cedo.9234 · March 26, 2021

There seems to be two different issues with Gem purchases in this thread.

A (new) change in EU procedures which require a different authentication from banks/payment providers.
A long-standing variety of issues that are usually resolved by contacting the Payment/Billing CS Team.

Mausumaus.5894 · March 26, 2021

@Blackbird V.9816 said:
@Mausumaus.5894 said:
@Blackbird V.9816 said:Same issue. Had the issue 2 weeks ago and it got fixed within 30ish hours. Tried again today since I got paid and............ same issue again. Does this happen consistently to some people? If so, I don't really know if I can be bothered with the hassle in the future.

I hope not! I'm about a week into trying to get my issue resolved with no success. I was even sent a response claiming that adjustments were made so I

should

be able to make purchases but I still get the same "unexpected error" message. If I'm looking at having to go through this routine that often when there are other companies that seem to have made this process hassle-free, then I'm simply going to have to reconsider which company gets my financial support.

If it really is security, then why not add an option where you can use your authenticator to bypass this and buy gems, hell even email AND SMS authenticator codes. I'd do that, over missing out on stuff.

I hope it gets resolved for me before the 30th (last time it took 30 hours or so). I need that Silver-fed and runecrafters salvage o matic >.>

I hope it gets resolved for you quickly. Maybe also contact your bank too? If that helps at all. I don't really know the workings of how AN charge.

It's definitely not an issue with my bank. I've had instances elsewhere in the past where I made an online transaction and my bank was the party responsible for declining it because it was from a source that they weren't familiar with. The attempt also showed up in the "pending charges" section of my account. In this case, it's solely an issue on this end because my attempts haven't been showing up as pending charges and the people I talked to at my bank haven't been seeing any such attempts being made. Like I also said, I had no trouble at all with buying the game on the actual website so as far as I can tell, it's specifically an issue with whatever process is being used in-game that's causing the problem(s). All I know is that I'm not going to bother making any other purchases if this issue happens as frequently as it's been happening to you because that's ridiculous!

yoguil.7320 · March 26, 2021

@"Warming Hearth.3819" said:Having the same problem. The recent changes to online shopping in Europe require you to confirm your online purchases by double verifying with your bank, such as a face recognition with your bank's app. After a successful verification, the buying gems window just closes, no money is charged, and I get no gemsYeah, "recent"... The changes actually date back to 2019 requiring more strict and more secure payment methods in online shopping. As usual EU lawmakers set a quite generous deadline until March 2021 for all companies and services involved which - as usual - led to some hectic last-minute implementations and quite a few services no longer working now. Because relaxed scheduling and careful testing are for pussies, you know. Anyway...@"Phasmaplasma.3907" said:I think i found workaround. I wasn't able to buy cetain ammount of gems, but when i lowered the price below the ammount that requires PIN in supermarkets then it worked for me. So try to buy smaller ammounts gems but in bulk. I think the issue it self is with 3D-Secure payment method, it promps when You exceed certain value taken from the card. Hope it works for all of You....that's our current way to go as consumers in EU. The "new" requirements are only valid for transactions of 30 EUR or more. So, in case of GW2 gems you can buy up to 2399 with your credit card in one go without additional authentication and annoying bugs tied to it.

AshkyLicious.4729 · March 27, 2021

@"Phasmaplasma.3907" said:I think i found workaround. I wasn't able to buy cetain ammount of gems, but when i lowered the price below the ammount that requires PIN in supermarkets then it worked for me. So try to buy smaller ammounts gems but in bulk. I think the issue it self is with 3D-Secure payment method, it promps when You exceed certain value taken from the card. Hope it works for all of You....that's our current way to go as consumers in EU. The "new" requirements are only valid for transactions of 30 EUR or more. So, in case of GW2 gems you can buy up to 2399 with your credit card in one go without additional authentication and annoying bugs tied to it.

Well for me it doesn't work even if I want to buy 800 gems for 10 €... All I get is a white window opening up and nothing more happens... so no workarounds for me atleast :/

Live in EU aswell...

TheQuickFox.3826 · March 27, 2021

Many EU bank / credit card payment systems seem to be broken yes. You could try to make a PayPal account and pay with that or get a prepaid PaySafeCard.

Mausumaus.5894 · March 27, 2021

@TheQuickFox.3826 said:Many EU bank / credit card payment systems seem to be broken yes. You could try to make a PayPal account and pay with that or get a prepaid PaySafeCard.

Even PayPal doesn't seem to work so I guess the only other options left would be using a prepaid card or waiting...and waiting...for the support staff to get around to correcting the issues with our accounts. Personally, I'm just going to go with the prepaid route for now since I found a source that sells gems for the same price that this company does and there's no waiting involved. As soon as the transaction is approved, you get a code sent to your e-mail address.

yoguil.7320 · March 28, 2021

@AshkyLicious.4729 said:
Well for me it doesn't work even if I want to buy 800 gems for 10 €... All I get is a white window opening up and nothing more happens... so no workarounds for me atleast :/
Live in EU aswell...Ok, it's a bit more complicated with these exemptions from the now required so-called Strong Consumer Authentication or SCA.

From our consumer point of view the most common exemption applies to transactions below 30 EUR as said. But that doesn't mean every credit card payment up to 30 EUR isn't affected. SCA is not required when transaction value is below 30 EUR AND last SCA-check happened less than five transactions ago AND the total sum of transactions since last SCA-check doesn't exceed 100 EUR. And it's an exemption your bank has to grant you - any even stricter implementation of SCA is not prohibited, I've only listed the minimum standard required by EU directive.

A bit more complcated as I said... :-)

Caldori.7251 · March 28, 2021

I also have been having issues buying gems on the store. I live in Canada and PayPal and visa do not work. And you can’t get gem cards anywhere. Maybe Arena Net should evaluate its contract with Digital River. It seems they would have less issues if they used a company that liked taking money from people giving it to them. I feel like it’s Opposite Day right now.

Mausumaus.5894 · March 28, 2021

@Caldori.7251 said:I also have been having issues buying gems on the store. I live in Canada and PayPal and visa do not work. And you can’t get gem cards anywhere. Maybe Arena Net should evaluate its contract with Digital River. It seems they would have less issues if they used a company that liked taking money from people giving it to them. I feel like it’s Opposite Day right now.

I feel the frustration, buddy. I'm not sure how things work in Canada so all I can suggest is hopping in line with a support ticket and wait for them to get around to fixing your account. They finally sent me a response stating that they made some more adjustments to mine and things do seem to be working. For how long, I don't know...but like I said earlier in this thread, if I get another one of those error messages, then I'm just going to leave it be since it's just plain silly to have to go through this routine as often as other people in this thread have been claiming. I'm fortunate to have the option of using an online retailer but I probably won't even do that in the future since this company is apparently satisfied with the results that they've been getting. So, if they can't be bothered to keep the process of making in-game purchases hassle-free like any other MMO, then I can't be bothered to go through an online retailer.

Winterhart.1423 · March 28, 2021

Having this issue as well and having done some research this goes back more than 5 years with this issue perhaps Arenanet needs to re-evaluate their relationship with Digital River and/or provide the ability to purchase from their webiste directly (as I had zero issues purchasing PoF).

AshkyLicious.4729 · March 29, 2021

Dont get why this isnt Anets top priority right now?! specially since gw2 doesnt have any monthly fee. I mean they loose money for every customer who cant buy anything from the gemstore...

JustTrogdor.7892 · March 29, 2021

@"TheQuickFox.3826" said:Players are actually waving their money / credit cards at ArenaNet. They're begging them to take their money because they like the game and offerings.Why do these issues persist for many players and for many years?

I think Anet's solution is just this very thread. Make it a merged thread with "contact support" stated over and over if you really want to give them your money. It is probably cheaper for lowest tier support to get bogged down with support requests than it is for Anet to fix it or look for a payment processor that maybe does not have these chronic problems that have been going on for years.. That's just my guess. Honestly given how prevalent this problem seems to be I'm surprised how many people are willing to go out of their way to give Anet their money. I would have just said no thanks, not worth my time. I do wonder how much money they have lost though from people that think like me and get an error and just stop trying.

Puck.3697 · March 30, 2021

@JustTrogdor.7892 said:
@"TheQuickFox.3826" said:Players are actually waving their money / credit cards at ArenaNet. They're begging them to take their money because they like the game and offerings.Why do these issues persist for many players and for many years?

I think Anet's solution is just this very thread. Make it a merged thread with "contact support" stated over and over if you really want to give them your money. It is probably cheaper for lowest tier support to get bogged down with support requests than it is for Anet to fix it or look for a payment processor that maybe does not have these chronic problems that have been going on for years.. That's just my guess. Honestly given how prevalent this problem seems to be I'm surprised how many people are willing to go out of their way to give Anet their money. I would have just said no thanks, not worth my time. I do wonder how much money they have lost though from people that think like me and get an error and just stop trying.

well its not working, i submitted a ticket 7 hours ago regarding this problem and no response. it seems mad to me that someone trying to give anet money is just left for 7 hours.

Aminodextrous.1869 · March 30, 2021

I just tried again out of curiosity and it worked.It just worked.No two-factor ID required anymore also (mmmh...). Now excuse me, I'm going to do LW Season 4. ;)

TheQuickFox.3826 · March 30, 2021

@Daddy.8125 said:
@JustTrogdor.7892 said:
@TheQuickFox.3826 said:[...]

[...]well its not working, i submitted a ticket 7 hours ago regarding this problem and no response. it seems mad to me that someone trying to give anet money is just left for 7 hours.

You will need to give Support more time. In my experience, they are quite helpful and I think they will do their best to help you.Please be aware that support employees are not management. They cannot help that ArenaNet selected DigitalRiver as their e-commerce partner and/or the problems that it brings. They are just handling tickets. Nothing more, nothing less.

If you want to discuss the fundamental nature of this problem, support is probably not the best way. (And to be frank: I do not know what would be the best way to speak to ArenaNet upper management. Maybe an old-fashioned letter would be an option?)

Mausumaus.5894 · March 30, 2021

I'll give a +1 to the support staff's efforts and yes, do keep in mind that they aren't the ones to blame for hiring Digital River nor are they the ones to blame for the wonkiness of their software. Response times will also vary as is the case with any supporting staff since there's only a finite amount of people available to do the job at any given time while there's practically an infinite amount of tickets being submitted around the clock.

Kuronca.4138 · April 1, 2021

EU. I want to buy LWS2 because its on discount today, but cannot pay, no error nothing.Already a week and it still not fixed?

TheQuickFox.3826 · April 5, 2021

@"Kuronca.4138" said:EU. I want to buy LWS2 because its on discount today, but cannot pay, no error nothing.Already a week and it still not fixed?

Contact support.https://help.guildwars2.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=98998

https://help.guildwars2.com/hc/en-us/articles/115016021188-Problems-When-Purchasing-Gems

Carmilla.1560 · April 11, 2021

Well, if they get interested to get more money again, they will fix it. :p

Seriously, though, since that weird autheticatorjghdkhjadvfk thing appeared, I was able to buy gems just by clicking away from that other webpages, but now even that doesn't work.

Hell Nirvana.9045 · September 27, 2021

For the last few months, my bank here in Finland, Nordea, has started to demand more and more verifications for debit/credit card purchases online. So now I, too, am in a situation where I cannot buy gems. The Trading Post's browser doesn't seem to support the popup necessary to perform the verification. All I see is a white box.

ArenaNet should poke Digital River to get this sorted out, unless this is an issue with the TP browser itself.

P.S. I just checked, and cannot find gem card retailers here anymore.

P.P.S. Having a store outside of the game would also be useful. Could avoid compatibility issues with the TP browser.

Edited September 27, 2021 by Hell Nirvana.9045

Jukhy.2431 · September 28, 2021

Since the credit card payment problems began I've changed to using the paysafecard option and it has worked without any issues so far. You can find the countries listed in this news article: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/paysafecard-now-accepted-in-gem-store/

Basically it works as you were buying any gift card or code card. Find store/kiosk offering the service near you. Go there, ask for it and pay the sum you want. You'll get a receipt with a code in it (worth the sum you paid) which you can then use to pay your online purchase.
There's also an option to make an account, download the app (paysafe direct) and use it to choose a sum with a barcode which the store scans and you pay. It will go to your account balance which you can then use to pay online.

TheQuickFox.3826 · September 28, 2021

For anyone who still has trouble buying gems in-game - There are alternatives via authorized retailers:

Consider buying gems from authorized retailers instead. The list of authorized retailers at GuldWars2.com is not up-to-date, but you can safely assume that the retailers that were selected in the -20% off spring sale of gem card codes are safe to buy from. Please note that the -20% off sale is long over, but they still sell gems at the regular price without the possible headaches of the DigitalRiver in-game store.

USA went with Amazon.com in the sale:

(link)

US:
https://www.amazon.com/Guild-Wars-Gems-2000-Online/dp/B08R21J9P7

These are the retailers that participated in the 20% off gem card sale for Europe, so these do have legit offers:

(EU/NL)
https://gamecardsdirect.com/nl-en/gw2-end-of-dragons-standard-edition/
https://gamecardsdirect.com/nl-en/gw2-end-of-dragons-deluxe-edition/

https://gamecardsdirect.com/nl-en/guild-wars-gems-pc/

(DE)

https://www.gameliebe.com/guild-wars-2-end-of-dragons-standard-edition-download-kaufen.html

https://www.gameliebe.com/guild-wars-2-end-of-dragons-deluxe-edition-download-kaufen.html

https://www.gameliebe.com/guild-wars-2-gem-card-2000-download-online-kaufen.html

(HU)

https://cdgalaxis.hu/shop/letoltokod/81319/guild-wars-2-end-of-dragons-letoltokod.html