4 ms·

Isnt this what the pre-authorization is to prevent? Basically ensures it CAN charge the card but then doesnt

djrogers 7y ago
That's easy enough to get around - accept the pre-auth today, and deny the real charge in 30 days. It's all time bound, so there's no magic required.
tempsy 7y ago
Usually when you sign up for a subscription service you need to provide a credit card but won't be charged until the free trial period end, at which point you would be charged using the credit card you provided when you signed up initially. The point of this service is to actually cancel the service right before the trial ends so you won't ever actually be charged.
- spiznnx 7y ago
  > The point of this service is to actually cancel the service right before the trial ends so you won't ever actually be charged. The Free Trial Card is a virtual credit card you can use to sign up for free trials of any service anonymously, instead of using your real credit card. When the free trial period ends, the card automatically declines to be charged, thus ending your free trial.
spiznnx 7y ago
No. Pre-authorization times out after 5 days. The merchant does pre-authoriziation first for a small amount (like one dollar) just to make sure the payment is actually valid, which disappears after 5 days with no capture. It's just a card validation method, it doesn't reserve any funds (besides the single dollar). Consumers would be rightly upset if starting a free trial with no obligation immediately reduced their available funds by a significant amount. This is unrelated to the later charge when the trial ends, which is usually more than 5 days later, and will be a distinct charge for the full amount. There isn't anything unethical about automatically declining purchases. It's not any different, cost-wise, from manually cancelling the trial. The merchant could however continue to provide the service, claiming that you never really cancelled it, then consider you indebted for the declined charges, but that wouldn't go over very well.
- londons_explore 7y ago
  Some companies pre-auth for a significant amount (eg. 3 months service), and then cancel the pre-auth immediately. They do that on the basis that if you don't have funds to cover 3 months service, they probably don't want you as a customer. Any service with upfront costs (eg. Sending out hardware) is likely to do this.

That's easy enough to get around - accept the pre-auth today, and deny the real charge in 30 days. It's all time bound, so there's no magic required.

tempsy 7y ago

Usually when you sign up for a subscription service you need to provide a credit card but won't be charged until the free trial period end, at which point you would be charged using the credit card you provided when you signed up initially. The point of this service is to actually cancel the service right before the trial ends so you won't ever actually be charged.

spiznnx 7y ago
> The point of this service is to actually cancel the service right before the trial ends so you won't ever actually be charged. The Free Trial Card is a virtual credit card you can use to sign up for free trials of any service anonymously, instead of using your real credit card. When the free trial period ends, the card automatically declines to be charged, thus ending your free trial.

spiznnx 7y ago

No. Pre-authorization times out after 5 days. The merchant does pre-authoriziation first for a small amount (like one dollar) just to make sure the payment is actually valid, which disappears after 5 days with no capture. It's just a card validation method, it doesn't reserve any funds (besides the single dollar). Consumers would be rightly upset if starting a free trial with no obligation immediately reduced their available funds by a significant amount. This is unrelated to the later charge when the trial ends, which is usually more than 5 days later, and will be a distinct charge for the full amount. There isn't anything unethical about automatically declining purchases. It's not any different, cost-wise, from manually cancelling the trial. The merchant could however continue to provide the service, claiming that you never really cancelled it, then consider you indebted for the declined charges, but that wouldn't go over very well.

londons_explore 7y ago
Some companies pre-auth for a significant amount (eg. 3 months service), and then cancel the pre-auth immediately. They do that on the basis that if you don't have funds to cover 3 months service, they probably don't want you as a customer. Any service with upfront costs (eg. Sending out hardware) is likely to do this.