Once upon a time, credit cards were charged when one's online order shipped.

For some time now, Apple has charged one's card at the time the order is placed. It's Apple, their walled garden, and I accepted it.

Lately, I've noticed a lot of vendors are charging when an order is placed, and not when shipped.

Not that it's a huge deal, but I wanted to get a couple items shipped, and presumably charged next month, just to keep the billing cycle easily cleared.

No joy. I made several purchases yesterday, today, and will tomorrow, and they'll all be on one billing cycle.

As I said, it's not a big deal, but I would have felt like there was an extra bonus had my haul covered two cycles.

Oh well, it's only plastic.

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When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

Perfection is the enemy of progress. -Winston Churchill

-An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

Mister, that's a ten-gallon hat on a twenty-gallon head.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

When I order something online, my credit cards generally show "pending" until something ships.

Quote
freeradical
When I order something online, my credit cards generally show "pending" until something ships.

My experience too, it's a temporary charge (to make sure you have the funds and the CC info is correct), but it doesn't become permanent until it ships.

I've even seen the single temporary charge turn into multiple smaller permanent charges that add up to the original total, if the items ship in separate packages from different warehouses.

[www.creditcards.com]
“The seller is not breaking federal law by charging your credit card before she ships. The Fair Credit Billing Act and the Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule protect you so you don’t have to pay for merchandise you order but never receive.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, however, many credit card issuers do not allow merchants to charge your credit card before they ship. If you want to pursue this, you should contact your credit card issuer and ask about its policies for prematurely charging your account. You can then send a complaint letter with specific information about this merchant. According to the FTC, “If you can’t ship within the promised time (or within 30 days if you made no promise), you must notify the customer of the delay, provide a revised shipment date and explain his right to cancel and get a full and prompt refund.”
In this example the merchant would ship about two months after the sale. Extreme case



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/02/2019 12:47AM by Carm.

“The seller is not breaking federal law by charging your credit card before she ships."

Interesting, although not relevant.

---

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

Perfection is the enemy of progress. -Winston Churchill

-An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

Mister, that's a ten-gallon hat on a twenty-gallon head.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Right now there's a Snapfish sale that shows as "pending" on my account. But, 2 weeks ago Santa ordered a particular golf bag for me that was discontinued a year ago and we only found available at 2 retailers. It was ordered and immediately charged to our card. A couple of days ago I got an email from the owner that they had run out of the bag and offering a different one. I declined and he refunded the charge immediately. So, I'm experiencing both types of credit card charges.