One time purchases

[Z3Dreamer]

Here is an old thread about BOA's Shop Safe being terminated:
https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/bank-of-amer-shop-safe-discontinuing-97294-2.html

What I want to do is sign up for certain things and not risk that they will charge my card after the trial period is over or that it will be difficult to cancel the service before they charge me again. I am talking about streaming packages and Sirius XM.

The obvious answer is: "If you don't trust them, why even sign up?" That is what I currently do, but wanted to explore other options. Some of the ones in that old thread look good but wanted to see if the group had any new ideas?

 

[njhowie]

Do they accept Paypal? Paypal allows you to individually terminate merchants from within your Paypal account who you've allowed to make recurring charges.

I liked ShopSafe when it was around. Discover had a similar service, but they also terminated it.

 

[tulak]

Use a one time credit card number or a credit card gift card?

Seems like a hassle though.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

Do they accept Paypal? Paypal allows you to individually terminate merchants from within your Paypal account who you've allowed to make recurring charges.

I liked ShopSafe when it was around. Discover had a similar service, but they also terminated it.

They don't accept Paypal. Only virtual cc for one time use is Citibank.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

Use a one time credit card number or a credit card gift card?

Seems like a hassle though.

Only Citibank has one time use. Anyone use them? I have no Citibank cards. Maybe I should.

When the streaming service gets credit card approval, they want to verify the address. Gift cards have no address, so I don't know if that will work.

 

[Aerides]

I doubt new services will appear, for throwaway/one-time card numbers. They were all the rage to develop in the early aughts, but most customers cannot be bothered. They aren't profitable for the issuers. My CC Megacorp made a huge push for this, to be first out of the gate, and then a few years later quietly decommissioned the program as it wasn't even worth the opex cost to manage. I saw the usage numbers and they were embarrassing.

Problem is, most credit card companies have already done a pretty good job with security and fraud management, so there's little incentive to the customer to see one-time-use card numbers as an enhancement, and worth the bother to sign up.

 

[walkinwood]

Using a one-time CC # does not absolve you of your commitment if you've agreed to have a company take periodic payments.


What services are you considering? You'll probably find people here using it and will get some idea of their trustworthiness.



It's been a very long time since I've had any issue cancelling a subscription - I do make sure that the site allows online cancellation in a clear manner.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

Using a one-time CC # does not absolve you of your commitment if you've agreed to have a company take periodic payments.


What services are you considering? You'll probably find people here using it and will get some idea of their trustworthiness.



It's been a very long time since I've had any issue cancelling a subscription - I do make sure that the site allows online cancellation in a clear manner.

Just clarifying, not disagreeing with anything you say. Some companies do not allow online cancellation, so you would not take a trial offer unless you could cancel online. Correct?

Occasionally, I will get trial offers from my ISP/Cable Company - Spectrum. Also, Sirius XM. Neither allows online cancellation. Must call. So the answer is to stay away from those that insist you call.

 

[Walt34]

Only Citibank has one time use. Anyone use them? I have no Citibank cards. Maybe I should.

I have a Capital One cc that is similar in function, although it is not a one time use cc number. They will generate a cc number that is valid at only that one merchant/vendor. After the transaction goes through you can then delete that number. It actually worked when I used it to make a small purchase at a hobby vendor, then got notice from Capital One that a different and unknown-to-me merchant had attempted to make a charge to that cc number. The charge did not go through and I promptly deleted the number. No further issues.

That said, I don't know if they will honor a charge made with a recurring service or charge such as a monthly or yearly subscription after the user deletes the number. I tend to doubt it but I do not know for sure.

 

[freedomatlast]

Just clarifying, not disagreeing with anything you say. Some companies do not allow online cancellation, so you would not take a trial offer unless you could cancel online. Correct?

Occasionally, I will get trial offers from my ISP/Cable Company - Spectrum. Also, Sirius XM. Neither allows online cancellation. Must call. So the answer is to stay away from those that insist you call.

What's wrong with calling to cancel? Usually a great way to get a better deal.

 

[Sunset]

Here is an old thread about BOA's Shop Safe being terminated:
https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/bank-of-amer-shop-safe-discontinuing-97294-2.html

What I want to do is sign up for certain things and not risk that they will charge my card after the trial period is over or that it will be difficult to cancel the service before they charge me again. I am talking about streaming packages and Sirius XM.

The obvious answer is: "If you don't trust them, why even sign up?" That is what I currently do, but wanted to explore other options. Some of the ones in that old thread look good but wanted to see if the group had any new ideas?

I've signed up and cancelled these streaming services online without any issue:
Netflix
CBS
HBOMax
Disney+

 

[Closet_Gamer]

What I want to do is sign up for certain things and not risk that they will charge my card after the trial period is over or that it will be difficult to cancel the service before they charge me again. I am talking about streaming packages and Sirius XM.

i think the vendor could come after you for failure to pay/ding your credit rating.

You signed a (digital) contract that said in exchange for a free trial period they could begin charging you unless you canceled. If you simply stop paying by shutting down the CC while they are still providing the service, you've violated that contract.

I don't think the $10/mo guys can be bothered to chase the foregone revenue one customer at a time, but I bet they could legally.

And the credit card company certainly can't chalk it up to a "failure to deliver services" and back charge to the merchant. So the credit card company eats at least one payment to the merchant. I'm guessing that's why these things are disappearing. Rough economic model. There may even have been some litigation between the larger merchants and the credit card companies for contract interference.

 

[Chuckanut]

Only Citibank has one time use. Anyone use them? I have no Citibank cards. Maybe I should.

When the streaming service gets credit card approval, they want to verify the address. Gift cards have no address, so I don't know if that will work.

Capital One has their ENO virtual card numbers. They are used at only one merchant. I often use one when ordering something from a new source. After the charge hits my account, I delete the the virtual card. They also let you lock the virtual card number.

I use this as an insurance policy in the event I cancel something (like a subscription) but they don't stop it. It's especially useful with subscriptions that automatically renew at some unknown rate. If I subscribe and pay for a year of the Howdy Doody channel, then when the year is up, I should be done. Period. I don't like automatic renewals.

 

[walkinwood]

Just clarifying, not disagreeing with anything you say. Some companies do not allow online cancellation, so you would not take a trial offer unless you could cancel online. Correct?

Occasionally, I will get trial offers from my ISP/Cable Company - Spectrum. Also, Sirius XM. Neither allows online cancellation. Must call. So the answer is to stay away from those that insist you call.

If it is a big, well known company, having to call is fine. I use Comcast internet, but I don't know if I need to call to cancel or do it online. I'm comfortable with that because they also have B&M stores.


If I understand it correctly, anytime you use payment apps like Google Pay, the app generates a one time credit card number.

 

[JRon]

I had a Sirius XM trial and then called and canceled after trial period - no issues.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I had a Sirius XM trial and then called and canceled after trial period - no issues.

I had SiriusXM and called to cancel when staying at home became all the rage. It was like pulling teeth to get them to cancel me. Even when the guy on the phone finally said I was canceled the follow up email said the account was only temporarily suspended. I had to start all over again.

 

[sengsational]

There was a company advertised on the twit network a few months back that did virtual credit cards. It wasn't assigned to a single credit card. I don't know what the name is, though. I tried to search, but came up empty.

 

[Dash man]

I had SiriusXM and called to cancel when staying at home became all the rage. It was like pulling teeth to get them to cancel me. Even when the guy on the phone finally said I was canceled the follow up email said the account was only temporarily suspended. I had to start all over again.

I recently received a renewal notice from SiriusXM with an outrageous price increase. I called to cancel. They offered a much, much lower price, so I took it. It’s only for a year, so I’ll take it a year at a time.

 

[sengsational]

privacy.com

The personal version is free for privacy.com. I don't know the details, but I think it does what we want...to have an "out" for the vendors that make it difficult to cancel.

• Everything you need…
• Create up to 12 cards per month
• Secure merchant-locked & single-use cards
• Set spend limits, pause and close cards
• Our awesome browser extension
• Access your data through our API

 

[sengsational]

The personal version is free for privacy.com. I don't know the details, but I think it does what we want...to have an "out" for the vendors that make it difficult to cancel.

The bad news about privacy.com is:

• You must give them your cell phone number (something capable of receiving an SMS text message)
• You must link to a debit card or bank checking account (not a credit card)
• You must disclose your online bank account password to them (for verification)

So you're giving up a lot of potentially damaging data in order to protect yourself from someone who would abuse your credit card number. Obviously you can immediately change your online bank's password after they verify your bank.



Today, I was going to buy from a sketchy site (sketchy defined as selling something so strange, it's not on Amazon or eBay). I'm going to open another checking account at the credit union and make that the one linked to privacy.com. I'll fund it as needed. Minimum balance is $1 and there are no fees, so not much more than a tad more book keeping. Of course I won't put overdraft protection on it, and I'll set it up for text alerts so if someone tries something fishy, I'll call the fraud department.