I can't place orders

[Martin Russell Schmidt]

I have been trying to purchase the Bestiary 5 and when I click the "place your order" I am instead taken back to payment method, is this an issue with the website itself or is it only happening to some users, myself included? To make matters worse, not only does the purchase not go through but the money is still deducted from my account.

[Diego Valdez]

Hello Martin,

Your card is being declined due to failing the address verification system. Usually this happens when the billing address attached to the card is not matching what the bank has on file for it. What you are seeing are not charges, they are authorizations. When an attempt is made on the card the bank gets pinged to make sure the card is valid. When this happens most banks put a temporary hold on the funds. This can look like a pending charge on your end. If the authorizations are finalized, which these cannot be since the card was declined, the authorization will expire and the holds will be released. How long this takes is entirely up to your bank and not something we can control, but usually takes a few business days. I have issued authorization reversals, which let the bank know we cannot finalize the authorizations and they can release them. This should help speed up the process, but again how long it takes is ultimately up to your bank.

[Martin Russell Schmidt]

I have just tried to place an order again, using both my previous address and my current address, neither of them worked. One of those addresses has to be correct so why am I still getting the same results no matter which address I am attempting?

[Katina Davis]

Hi Martin,

I'm sorry that you're having trouble with this order! I've taken a look, and it does seem that the error message we're receiving is the same - stating that the billing address did not pass the Address Verification System check. Our card processor can be very picky about it, so sometimes the address can be correct but if there's a tiny thing off, it won't go through.

I've made sure to reverse the authorizations that were pending, so those should be released to your account within 1 - 5 business days, depending on your bank. It may help to double-check with them which address is listed as the billing address for your card, and make sure that it matches what's in our system as closely as possible.

I will be sending you a more detailed email about this issue in just a moment. Please feel free to review the message and your addresses and see if you may be able to spot the problem. If you need to respond with a correction or a new address, please be sure to do so via email, since the messageboards are public.

If there are any further questions or concerns that you may have in the meantime, please don't hesitate to ask and I will be more than happy to assist you.

Thanks!
Katina