Unable to buy books from B&N after an account lock

[slex]

I made three unsuccessful attempts to log in today to my B&N account (I entered wrongly the password for another website) and after I got my password reset and logged in again, I tried to buy a book, I got the following message at checkout:

"! You must reside within the United States to receive this item. We currently do not support international, U.S. territory or APO/FPO billing addresses."

I live in Eastern Europe and I had purchased a dozen books from BN before that (OK, some of these were free offerings, but now I can't download even free offerings anymore).

How can I unlock my account? I even tried setting up a new account with the same credit card and billing address, but of no avail. I know that some people have problems buying e-books from outside USA, but I didn't have this problem, at least until tonight.

[Rob Lister]

Change your billing address to a U.S. address. Pick one at random. Unless they verify your billing address with the credit card company (which would be unusual) it should get through.

Just for fun, I recommend you change it to:
P.O. Box 111
Lyndhurst, NJ 07071

[slex]

Hello,Rob Lister.

I used the address of family members living in USA, but I got the following message:

"You've placed an order with an invalid credit card, so you cannot download at this time."

As far as I know, my credit card is not invalid. The address in USA, however, does not correspond to the address of the credit card, as it is in Europe.

Maybe I have been under the radar for some reason, before I had my account at BN locked, and this allowed me to purchase books. Go figure.

[Rob Lister]

Suppose you sent your family in the US a $100 and asked them to buy and send you a B&N gift card.

Actually, they wouldn't have to 'send' it to you. You just need the number of the back.

[Doug Pardee]

Originally Posted by slex

As far as I know, my credit card is not invalid. The address in USA, however, does not correspond to the address of the credit card, as it is in Europe.

Is it an American credit card? B&N reports that they recently changed their rules to require an American credit card but they no longer check the IP address to see if the user is in the US.

[slex]

Originally Posted by Doug Pardee

Is it an American credit card? B&N reports that they recently changed their rules to require an American credit card but they no longer check the IP address to see if the user is in the US.

No, it is not an American credit card. I didn't know anything about their policy change, but if there is such a thing, probably it explains it, not my account being locked.

[geertm]

Originally Posted by slex

No, it is not an American credit card. I didn't know anything about their policy change, but if there is such a thing, probably it explains it, not my account being locked.

I can still buy e-books at B&N with my Dutch Visa card here in the Netherlands. My account is registered with an US shipping and billing address and I am using alwaysVPN.

Last year I made the mistake of letting a screen protector for my NC ship to my Dutch address. After that I could not use my credit card anymore to buy e-books. It seems because I shipped something to the Netherlands, the B&N system flagged my credit card as not being a real US credit card.
I assume that you had to contact B&N to reset the locked account? It would not surprise me if because of that your credit card was flagged as not being really US.
I solved my problem by using another credit card.

[slex]

@ geeterm

I have used a Bulgarian credit card, a Bulgarian address and no proxy or VPN so far and I didn't have problems until I entered my pass incorrectly on three occasions.

I don't know if I will try to purchase from BN with a new credit card or will consider buying a Kindle instead. If my account is locked, maybe from now on not only my credit card but also my address is going to have my purchases rejected.

I don't know how BN intend to compete, provided that they restrict themselves only to the US markets. The market for books is, in my opinion, intrinsically global, and the sellers who reach out internationally, will gain a competitive edge.

For now Bookdepository and Kobo could serve as a replacement for me for BN store, but Kindle is still an option, due to the bigger variety of the Amazon store.

[geertm]

Originally Posted by slex

@ geeterm

I have used a Bulgarian credit card, a Bulgarian address and no proxy or VPN so far and I didn't have problems until I entered my pass incorrectly on three occasions.

I don't know if I will try to purchase from BN with a new credit card or will consider buying a Kindle instead. If my account is locked, maybe from now on not only my credit card but also my address is going to have my purchases rejected.

I don't know how BN intend to compete, provided that they restrict themselves only to the US markets. The market for books is, in my opinion, intrinsically global, and the sellers who reach out internationally, will gain a competitive edge.

For now Bookdepository and Kobo could serve as a replacement for me for BN store, but Kindle is still an option, due to the bigger variety of the Amazon store.

Very strange you could buy e-books from B&N this way. That should not have been possible.

You should still be able to buy B&N e-books from the B&N website, using your PC:
1. Register your B&N account with an US shipping and billing address. Any valid US address will work, just Google something.
2. Install a VPN on your PC, like Hotspot Shield (free) or AlwaysVPN ($8.50).

To buy e-books first start the VPN. When the VPN is active go to the B&N website and buy the books. After the books have been bought you can sync the library of the Nook to download the books using the Wifi connection.

[DiannaInVA]

If you want to stick with the nook but can no longer buy from B&N, you could do the vpn route or you could buy your books from other sites and remove the drm. Then, if those books aren't epub you could use calibre to convert.

[psercki]

Let me tell you my tale of woe.
I bought a gift certificate and put it on my account because my default card is a debit card, and I don't alway want to verifiy if we have funds in tha account when I want a book. I bought some books the day I bought the gift certificate. Two days later I found another book I wanted. I tried buying it. My purchase was declined stating I had an invalid account.
Barnes & Noble kept verifing my default credit card even though I had a gift certificate. My bank will lock up my debit card if a vendor send mutiple inquires within a short time frame for security reasons. A phone call to the bank and the card was unlocked. I called B&N customer service twice. I was told even though I had a gift certificate they see my default card as invalid. Why was it even checked when there were funds on the Gift Certificate.
My first experience with customer service was a little over a month after buying my Nook. The button cracked, and I was told by customer service I did not have a warrenty because I purchased my Nook at Best Buy.
Now I placed two more calls to customer service, and first I was told all supervisors were gone for the day, and someone would call me; I never recieved a call. Next day I was put on hold for 40 minutes.

Because of these 3 really bad experiences with customer service, I returned the new Nook Simple Touch I had just bought and bought a Kindle.

Moral of the story is, a gift certificate with funds will not insure you will be able to buy books.

[geertm]

Originally Posted by psercki

Let me tell you my tale of woe.
I bought a gift certificate and put it on my account because my default card is a debit card, and I don't alway want to verifiy if we have funds in tha account when I want a book. I bought some books the day I bought the gift certificate. Two days later I found another book I wanted. I tried buying it. My purchase was declined stating I had an invalid account.
Barnes & Noble kept verifing my default credit card even though I had a gift certificate. My bank will lock up my debit card if a vendor send mutiple inquires within a short time frame for security reasons. A phone call to the bank and the card was unlocked. I called B&N customer service twice. I was told even though I had a gift certificate they see my default card as invalid. Why was it even checked when there were funds on the Gift Certificate.
My first experience with customer service was a little over a month after buying my Nook. The button cracked, and I was told by customer service I did not have a warrenty because I purchased my Nook at Best Buy.
Now I placed two more calls to customer service, and first I was told all supervisors were gone for the day, and someone would call me; I never recieved a call. Next day I was put on hold for 40 minutes.

Because of these 3 really bad experiences with customer service, I returned the new Nook Simple Touch I had just bought and bought a Kindle.

Moral of the story is, a gift certificate with funds will not insure you will be able to buy books.

B&N's DRM uses your credit card information to encrypt the e-books. That is why you always need a valid credit card in your B&N account, even when using gift certificates. This is clearly mentioned on the B&N website. Should have done your research before buying the Nook.

I you buy a Nook at Best Buy you have the same warranty as if would have bought it at B&N. But B&N will only honor the warranty after Best Buy has sent the information of your sale to them. If the sale of your Nook is not registered at B&N, they cannot honor the warranty. If that was your problem, you should have contacted Best Buy.

[slex]

This is the response I got from the BN customer service:

Dear Customer,


Thank you for your email regarding NOOK Books purchases for
international customers.

Because selling books in digital format to international customers
involves international copyright laws, tariffs, VAT taxes, currency
conversions, etc., only US and Canadian residents are able to purchase
NOOK Books on the Barnes & Noble website at this time.

The interesting thing is, then, why was I allowed to purchase books before I got my account blocked in the first place. BTW, today I got a new credit card and tried to purchase a book with it, but I couldn't do it either.

[geertm]

Originally Posted by slex

This is the response I got from the BN customer service:



The interesting thing is, then, why was I allowed to purchase books before I got my account blocked in the first place. BTW, today I got a new credit card and tried to purchase a book with it, but I couldn't do it either.

As I wrote in my post #9 you need to use a VPN and an US address.

I have no idea why you have been able to buy books before. That should not have been possible.

[oldehappycat]

I live in the Philippines and have a Nook Color. I have a US credit card, US address and StrongVPN. I can buy books with no problem, I download my Financial Times with no problem but my subscription to the New York Magazine does not work. I was able to purchase the subscription and the issues show up as available for download but the download fails every time. Any ideas?