[Arturo-B]

Hi,
I have a friend who is looking to start playing soon. Unfortunately he doesn't have a credit card. How would someone like this pay his monthly fees?

I've looked within my own playonline, and the help there under fees says only No information available. I can't check my own payment options, as it insists when I go to that option that I refill out all of my data, which I'd rather not do.

Does anyone know what options there are without a credit card? Thanks!

Best Regards,
Alex

[bungiefan]

North American accounts only accept VISA and MasterCard, but those can be any card with those logos on them and not just credit cards. There are prepaid rechargable VISA and MasterCard gift cards that can be used to pay the fee.

Japanese account accept Visa, MasterCard, JCN (a Japan-only credit card), OCN, @nifty, and WebMoney (the last three are Japanese forms of web money which can be purchased online or at many Japanese convenience stores.).

[Blitz15]

I HAVE THE BIG ANSWER TO ALL YOUR QUESTIONS :-) Yes, you can use the Simon Mall Giftcard (as someone said before) You must put at least $20-500 on the card, and I believe there is a $1.50 activation fee- not sure. YOU CAN NOT ADD MONEY TO IT AFTER YOU PURCHASED IT. So, if you use tetra master and have one character so you are paying $14 per month, put exactly $42 on it for 3 months payment, or any interval on $14 or whatever you are paying. WARNING: REMENBER TO PURCHASE A NEW CARD AND INSERT THE NEW CARD NUMBER IN YOU PLAYONLINE ACCOUNT OR ELSE YOU WILL NOT BE CHARGED!!!!! So, if you have any other questions, send a message to me or on AOL Instant Messanger, my screen name is blitzball18

[bside]

u can also use ur debit cards (or sometimes referred to as check cards) as long as they bear Visa or Mastercard logo. most of US banks offer such cards to anyone w/ checking accts, and there's no age limit. yes, u can get it even if u r under 18, as long as u have a checking acct under ur name. tell him to check w/ his bank if they offer this type of cards, if this option is right for ur friend. and best of all, depending on the banks and acct type, there's no fee for its usage. (most banks don't charge for its issurance, nor for its usage, while some do. he'll have to check this w/ his bank.)


btw, just so u know;

the "Japan-only credit card" that bungiefan referred to is JCB, not JC"N" (stands for Japan Credit Bureau), and this card is actually offered in US, too, though u have to be a resident of one of several states where offered. also this JCB card may be used outside of japan, too, unlike Discover which can only be used within US. of course, it can be used in US, too, like Mobile stations and some major malls, but ah..., no need to carry if u have Visa or Mastercard. :spin: acceptance is waaaaaay limited outside of Japan. and if u r ever coming to Japan, don't even worry about getting one coz Visa and Mastercard r just as well accepted.

as a side note, actually Visa is better than Mastercard in Japan. and the reason is so stupid; there's a company called Mitsui-Sumitomo Visa, that is the largest Visa card issuer in Japan, and majority of Visa card sales in Japan r conducted through this company. however, there's no such company for Mastercard in Japan, and Mastercards r issued through other creditors, such as DC cards and UC cards, that r the #2 and #3 card issuers. and retailers display their logos, DC and UC, and NOT the Mastercard logos. (it's like displaying FirstUSA and MBNA America's logos instead of that of Mastercard.) and that makes some ppl think that they can't take Mastercards issued by other companies, and reject Mastercards. however, this is not true. any Masercard issuers r required to take other issuer's Mastercards on their POS terminals, no matter where in the world they may be issued. thus, any Mastercards should work fine at any Japanese retailers who take at least one of the cc's of Mastercard issuers. (as in the above example, as long as the retailer takes FirstUSA's cc, they can take any Mastercards issued by any creditors in the world.) but for some reason many don't know this, and causes trouble when trying to use Mastercards issued outside of Japan. w/ Visa sales, this won't happen, which is really stupid. but because of this, Visa is better than Mastercard in Japan.

also, OCN and @nifty r the names of ISP's, and they offer their customers the ability to pay for contracted online retailers and services w/ their user id's and passwords. (this is how i pay for my acct, btw.) charges will be on the ISP's bills.

just as a side note to this, Japan still is a much of cash economy. many sales r still conducted w/ cash, even if we're paying for thoughsands of dollars. we buy laptop computers w/ cash. and for online purchases, many r in forms of either bank wire transfer, which is the most popular way, and COD's. this is why w/ japanese accts, u have more ways to pay.

WebMoney indeed is a form of web money, as its name tells.


not a big deal at all, and nothing about ffxi, but just some travel tips to Japan. :spin: