If you shop at Amazon, watch your credit and debit cards.

JD Mandrell

JD Mandrell

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Anyone that orders regularly from Amazon, watch your credit/debit cards. Every order I've placed with Amazon this month, they have charged my card...the next day they refund the money, then charged it a second time. They are not charging any more than they should, but the "refund" is causing me to get hit with a "Foreign ATM Fee" of $1.50 every time they do it. I called my credit union and they don't understand why Amazon is doing it either, and email to Amazon got a response of a $6.00 refund, no explanation as to why they did what they did, and the $6.00 refund....got me hit again for another $1.50 "Foreign ATM fee".
 
That's odd... I don't buy much on there, but will have to keep an eye on my card when I do.
 
Thanks for the info -

I use Amazon a lot, prime member.

Our lovely state just caught up with the concept and now, starting this weekend, is requiring Amazon to start collecting state sales tax from Illinois residents.

That will definitely help balance the budget!

Thanks again for the info, I'll be watching much more closely now.

best

mqqn
 
mqqn said:
Thanks for the info -

I use Amazon a lot, prime member.

Our lovely state just caught up with the concept and now, starting this weekend, is requiring Amazon to start collecting state sales tax from Illinois residents.

That will definitely help balance the budget!

mqqn
Click to expand...

I just moved here in July from Michigan. The tax laws here are mind boggling and impossible to keep up with. BOHICA doesn't begin to cover how I feel about IL taxes.

I have Amazon Prime as well and order a lot from them. I'll be watching for this (as well as sales tax:rolleyes:).
 
Still sorting it out, it appears my transactions somehow got processed as some "PIN less debit", instead of a credit charge and that's what triggered it. Amazon was fast to refund all the charges, but ALL of the service people I've dealt with by email have English that is almost as bad in print as when spoken.

Not trying to be mean, but it makes things more aggravating than they need to be. :confused::confused:
 
Some parts of Amazon are so weird that all you can do is try to avoid them, and "PIN-less Debit Payments" is one of those parts.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201132790

Other World Computing is an Illinois business I have bought computer equipment from for many years. Since they are also a dealer in Amazon's Marketplace, one option they offer (or used to offer) to shoppers on their web site is "free Amazon shipping." I tried it once and had to jump through so many ridiculous Amazon hoops that I never did it again.

Illinois has been a leader in trying to collect sales tax from internet shoppers, thanks in large part to "Dick" Durbin, who has made national internet sales tax the signature of his obscure career in the U.S. Senate. Since this is Community Center and not the Political Arena, I will only note that most Illinois voters don't even know their senator's real name.

http://www.skateplymouthstate.com/sen-penis-durbin-talks-student-loans-at-niu/

Amazon's business model says sales tax collection will hurt their smaller competitors more than it hurts them. That is why they have gone from opposing to endorsing internet sales tax, and lobbying to make proposed legislation less insane and burdensome to giant businesses. So they won't fight this one in court. Besides, they plan to open an Illinois mailing center in 2017.
 
Last edited:
Piso Mojado said:
Some parts of Amazon are so weird that all you can do is try to avoid them, and "PIN-less Debit Payments" is one of those parts.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm finding that out, weird part is, nobody seems to know how my payment option got switched to this "PIN Less" thing. I've bought from them practically weekly for several years with the same card, but somehow it got changed to this just this month.
 
That seems to happen a lot on the net. People find their account settings at Bladeforums have changed, too, untouched by human hands. Maybe it's the Net Demons.... :confused:
 
Cougar Allen said:
That seems to happen a lot on the net. People find their account settings at Bladeforums have changed, too, untouched by human hands. Maybe it's the Net Demons.... :confused:
Click to expand...

Amazon has called it a "technical billing error" at this point. They have been changing things to start charging Illinois sales tax on us, starting Feb. 1st, so maybe it had something to do with that.

Seems fixed now, just wanted to give folks a "heads up" to prevent them getting hit with these charges without knowing it.
 
Bear Claw Chris Lappe said:
Anyone that orders regularly from Amazon, watch your credit/debit cards. Every order I've placed with Amazon this month, they have charged my card...the next day they refund the money, then charged it a second time. They are not charging any more than they should, but the "refund" is causing me to get hit with a "Foreign ATM Fee" of $1.50 every time they do it. I called my credit union and they don't understand why Amazon is doing it either, and email to Amazon got a response of a $6.00 refund, no explanation as to why they did what they did, and the $6.00 refund....got me hit again for another $1.50 "Foreign ATM fee".
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up.

mqqn said:
Thanks for the info -

I use Amazon a lot, prime member.

Our lovely state just caught up with the concept and now, starting this weekend, is requiring Amazon to start collecting state sales tax from Illinois residents.

That will definitely help balance the budget!

Thanks again for the info, I'll be watching much more closely now.

best

mqqn
Click to expand...

Did not know this, just tested it out and you're right, the shopping cart is now estimating sales tax.

Looks like I won't be renewing my Prime membership in March.
 
calc said:
Did not know this, just tested it out and you're right, the shopping cart is now estimating sales tax.
Click to expand...

Yep, they started collecting Illinois sales tax Feb. 1st. Got hit with them for the first time on an order yesterday.
 
Bear Claw Chris Lappe said:
Yep, they started collecting Illinois sales tax Feb. 1st. Got hit with them for the first time on an order yesterday.
Click to expand...

I'm glad I stocked up on stuff right at the end of January - soap, vacuum bags, just about everything for the rest of the year. Would've cost me a decent amount.

Amazon's prices are low, but they're not that low after sales tax. This will seriously put a dent in my Amazon usage.
 
Thanks for the heads-up!

amazon plays fast & loose with pricing (especially Subscribe & "Save"), but until now, I've not seen them play games with actual card transactions.
 
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