Problems paying for Vietnam Evisa?
 

Are others having problems paying the $25 fee for the Vietnam evisa via Payoo.vn?

I've tried 4 different US based credit cards. Each time I try, my bank accepts the charge but the Payoo system says the transaction is rejected. When I query this with Payoo, they just say try another card.

Each time the charge on my card gets credited back.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to solve this? I've tried paying on Firefox, Safari, and iPhone Safari.

Any suggestions? Thank you!

Do your cards have 2FA, like Verified by Visa, for online purchases? US cards often don't and sometimes overseas payment systems automatically reject cards without 2FA.

No. But Payoo says that we need to have it. I explained that US cards don't have it. In fact, if you go to the US Visa/MC website, it won't even let you set it up anymore.

It's available in the US -- now called Visa Secure -- but few US banks implement it. If your bank offers it you activate it on your bank's site.

Online sellers like it because they take less risk when accepting a card with 2FA.

The standard that is probably being required here is probably aligned to the EUs Payment Services Directive 2, also known as PSD2. The very disparate nature of the card payments industry in the US with many 100s of acquiring banks verses typically a handful in most other countries means that making changes to payments in the US is a very slow process. Most of your cards still don't support chip and pin, it's still chip and signature...

If your bank in the US doesn't support this kinda tech, look for newer more nimble modern banks who are generally fully virtual and app based, and can probably issue you with a virtual card number almost immediately once your application is approved. For example I personally opened an account in the UK with Chase, completely in their app, I had my account approved and card number issued within 15mins of applying for the account. Do banks like Monzo or Revolt operate in the US?

There maybe options to get virtual cards issued alongside other payment systems like PayPal or Wise (formerly TransferWise)... I have named a couple of companies there but not sure if they do this, similar modern payments businesses may have some options

You're not going to get anywhere arguing with them. This has been a common problem with US-issued cards for years now, as US banks have militantly refused to implement these newer security measures that are required in many places around the world.

Can you get your hands on a non-US card? That's the only real solution I've found; my UK and Singapore-issued cards work without issue.

But it would be worth your while sharing your displeasure with anyone who will listen at the bank, the US will be forced to catch up because their customers slowly find themselves being denied the ability to make purchases, and the more this is highlighted to the bank, the more of a business case there will be to force the necessary investment to upgrade.

Grab (rideshare) switched to cards with 2FA only a while back. Only 1 out of several cards works from U.S.

My BofA Alaska Airlines Visa card worked. I know Amex has it but Payoo doesn't accept Amex.

If you see a flash window on the browser 'secured by VISA' which then disappears and you get the message that the transaction did not go thru, call the card issuing bank and ask them to connect you to the VISA Secure department. The thing is that 2FA transaction which is denied by VISA network does not even reach your bank's systems, so you need to be connected to the VISA agent, and they will see and confirm that transaction came and got denied. They will be able to put the flag so next time you attempt the transaction, it will go thru.

I had such cases with online shopping places in Asia which require SMS-based 2FA to be entered at checkout with my US-issued credit cards. After calling th VISA Secure department, I was able to complete the transaction.

Nothing wrong trying that but it's hardly a cure-all.

Most online sites use middle-man processors that among other things evaluate the risk of a transaction. No 2FA means higher risk is assigned and often that means the middle-man aborts the transaction mid-stream.