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Let's face it, the web is full of interesting "Free Trial Offers". Unfortunately, all these offers require a credit card number....and if you forget to cancel the trial, they go ahead and bill your credit card for the full price of service. If I signed up for everything I was interested I would have to fill my calendar up with little notices like "July 25 - Cancel AnalMidgets" and "Aug 7 - Cancel FreeCreditReports".

Not to mention that a lot of these offers come from fly-by-night places that I don't want to know my credit card number.

So the necessary solution is to get valid CC numbers that will check out when you register, but decline charges if you forget to cancel. What's the quickest and easiest way to do this?

I know that Visa sells "Gift cards" that work like Visas, but are really just attached to a small debit account for $10-$50. Has anyone tried them? You could keep like $5 on the card, and presumably any charge over that amount would just get declined. Seems like a decent idea, though it's going to be a big hassle ordering them over and over, waiting for the mail, etc, etc. Isn't there an instant way to get a valid number over the internet? IIRC, people were using them way back last fall to scam over the FreeVideoGames.com offers.....they'd just buy little amounts for $2.95 while preventing re-billing.

 

[StoOgE]

either get a visa gift card, or get an ATM card and have them put something like a 5 dollar daily limit on it... or 4.95 that way a charge of 5 bucks couldnt go through.. since most of those places charge alot more than that you should be fine, in fact they normally memopost a dollar on your card that falls off the next day, so anything over a dollar will work.

 

[xsarien]

The closest I can think of is what American Express used to do. They had an option on their website that would give you a sort of one-time use, temporary number that acted as an alias to your real one if you were feeling a little insecure about giving your credit card number to a website.

There were some caveats, you couldn't use it for cycled-billing, like, say, an automatic bill payment system (e.g., wireless carriers). Overall, it seemed like a good idea. I never really came across a time when I needed it, but in principle I appreciated the effort.

 

[Pochacco]

I usually wait outside bars at night. It usually works better if you wear dark clothes and hide behind something like a garbage can or some boxes. Anyway, when a scrawny guy or woman comes out, I pop out from behind the garbage can (or boxes) and ask them to give me their wallet (or purse). It's pretty simple.

Sometimes, there aren't any credit cards inside the wallet (or purse) though

 

[robochimp]

As the originator of the freevideogames thread you're looking for Web Certificates. I think They're mastercard only. You buy them in a denomination of 20s, I think and they charge you a 2.95 fee. THen you have a card that is completely independent of your credit or debit cards. I think they actually mail you the card though. I could be wrong or maybe its different now.

 

[border]

LOL

I just PM'ed you asking about this...

 

[robochimp]

ANd the one time use numbers vary amongst the credit card companies. If you sign into your credit card account online I'm sure you can find some info on Shoping safe on the internet which will often lead you to their one time use number generators.

 

[Drexon]

Heh, god bless Sweden.

I got this thing called an "E-card", wich basically is a virtual Visa/Mastercard. I simply start the program, type in my social security number and password and then I'm free to create as many Visa numbers as I see fit. Ofcourse you can limit them to any amount you want, also make them expire after x months, but usually I just create a number and after the transaction is done I cancel the number. Super smooth, and free.

 

[DJ Demon J]

While that sounds like a great idea to avoid getting charge, you're most likely entering into a legal agreement with the company when you sign up for their free-trial-now-charge-you-monthly-if-you-don't-opt-out products/services. So even if you screw them by giving them a CC number that will never be able to be charged, they could pursue you in court for the remaining monthly payments and breach of contract.

 

[hooo]

DJ Demon J is right on the money. If you start setting up CCards (real or virtual) and just allow companies to bill and get denied, you could end up in trouble. At the very least your credit report will be trashed.

 

[border]

Too bad that 10 minutes of a lawyer's time costs more than the $20-30 that I might end up owing them.....I don't think any of this would end in litigation. I'm not entirely sure how "legally binding" crap over the internet is....the Visa gift cards are more-or-less anonymous anyhow. It's questionable how much of a case a website would have anyway, since the credit card charge comes BEFORE the services rendered. It's not like I am skipping out on a bill for something I have already received, so I dunno how much of a case they would have anyway.

I imagine that if you burn the same company over and over they might blacklist you, but other than that it's probably too time consuming to hunt down a few people that are abusing the system.

 

[DJ Demon J]

Too bad that 10 minutes of a lawyer's time costs more than the $20-30 that I might end up owing them.....I don't think any of this would end in litigation. I'm not entirely sure how "legally binding" crap over the internet is....the Visa gift cards are more-or-less anonymous anyhow. It's questionable how much of a case a website would have anyway, since the credit card charge comes BEFORE the services rendered. It's not like I am skipping out on a bill for something I have already received, so I dunno how much of a case they would have anyway.

I imagine that if you burn the same company over and over they might blacklist you, but other than that it's probably too time consuming to hunt down a few people that are abusing the system.

Keep thinking that, AnalMidgetMan.

 

[robochimp]

Yeah I would use the virtual numbers and web certificates as more of a line of defense from these companies than a way to not have to bother to call and cancel your memberships. Sure its a little annoying but it doesnt take very long.

 

[Alcibiades]

darn anybody got anything new on this front...

I used Web Certificates once (the Mastercard ones), but the site doesn't seem to be allowing any purchases of web certificates anymore... pretty weird...

Yeah I would use the virtual numbers and web certificates as more of a line of defense from these companies than a way to not have to bother to call and cancel your memberships. Sure its a little annoying but it doesnt take very long.

yeah is this how I see them as...

 

[fart]

the old american express service was great. wonder why they discontinued it.

 

[Cauliflower of Love]

for porn, right?

 

[borghe]

holy shit. this thread kind of messed with me. you should have probably just created a new thread instead of bumping one over a year old.. lol.. :lol

 

[Alcibiades]

not for porn, for protection against charges if there are every any problems with offers...